So I was having a conversation with Edwantsacracker about our free agent situation, and he sagely pointed out this overlooked tidbit in that Jacob Jackson article:
"If 39-62 players qualify as Type A and B free agents, no team may sign more than three, with the limits increasing accordingly for higher totals"
By my count, 47 players qualify as either Type A or B free agents this offseason, which means that the Yankees can sign three.
Here's the Yankee A and B FAs:
Mariano Rivera A
Luis Vizcaino B
Alex Rodriguez A
Jorge Posada A
This is another reason it was so important for Arod not to opt out.
Here's where things get really interesting:
Andy Pettitte has not exercised his option yet- it's due by November 8th. What if he wants to wait until Mo and Jorge are safely within the fold before making his decision? That's 3 free agents.
This rule explains why we've heard so little from Yankeeland about Viz, Lowell, or any of the center fielders.
The one thing I'm not clear on: if the Yankees sign Mo or Jorge by the exclusive negotiation deadline (Nov 11th) does it still count against them?
If I had it to do over again, I still would not want Cashman to have signed either Mo or Posada to an extention before the season: his concerns about their effectiveness were legitimate, and so long as this particular Pettitte scenario doesn't play out, we're only choosing between Viz and Lowell/Arod.
This makes Kerry Wood (a C) even more attractive to me.