New York Yankees: Bombers Passed Up on Miami Marlins 2012 Fire Sale Offer

November 15, 2012   ·   Doug Rush   ·   Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees

In the short time that the winter offseason has begun for baseball, the New York Yankees have been quiet.

Whether that type of quiet will be a trend for the rest of the winter or that Yankees GM Brian Cashman is slowly game-planning on how he will approach it actually remains to be seen.

However, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, the Yankees and Cashman did turn down an opportunity to make an early splash.

Feinsand said that the Miami Marlins made all other 29 teams well aware at the general manager meetings that they were conducting a fire sale of the roster and put their top players on the market.

The Yankees decided to pass on the opportunity to make additions that likely could have helped their 2013 roster.

Instead, the Toronto Blue Jays swept in and made the first blockbuster deal of the winter, landing starters Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, shortstop Jose Reyes, catcher John Buck and outfielder Emilio Bonafacio from the Marlins.

The deal is still pending MLB approval, but unless something catastrophic happens, the trade is likely happening.

Right now, the Yankees’ main focus, according to Feinsand, is their rotation and the quest to bring back Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte for one more season.

Despite the rumors of the Yankees having interest in him for right field, they also chose not to pursue Torii Hunter, who just signed a two-year, $26 million deal with the Detroit Tigers.

The fact that the Yankees not only passed on Hunter, but also passed up a chance to add guys like Johnson, Buehrle and Reyes shows that the Yankees are dead serious on getting to the $189 million mark for their payroll in 2014.

But it wouldn’t have helped their quest to lower payroll, as Reyes is due $96 million over five more years, Buehrle is due $48 million over three years and Johnson is due $13.75 million in 2013.

If the Yankees had decided to pursue the trade that the Blue Jays just pulled off, that would have added on $50 million in salary alone for 2013 between Reyes, Johnson and Buehrle.

In years past, the Yankees likely would have made the deal. With the old Yankees under George Steinbrenner, they would have easily made the deal.

But not the the 2013 Yankees with Hal Steinbrenner running the show now.

The free spending days of the Yankees really may, in fact, be a thing of the past.

There is still a lot of winter offseason left to be determined, and the question of if the Yankees decide to actually participate in it or not.

Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.

Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com