Davidoff: Don't expect some rowdy fans to turn off Lee

SAN FRANCISCO

Cliff Lee and family, scared away from New York by a few unruly Yankees fans?

You should be so lucky, Yankees Universe.

A lifetime of hard work and three years of excellence thrown off by some beer suds and saliva?

Sounds like a Bronx fairy tale to me.

No, if the Yankees pay enough, they should get their top free-agent target of this offseason. And, as always occurs when you sink that sort of money into a player you don't know firsthand, they'll be assuming substantial risk onto a roster already stocked with plenty of those.

This latest kerfuffle began with the publication of Tuesday's USA Today and a feature on Lee, who will start World Series Game 1 for Texas Wednesday night against the host Giants.

Lee's wife, Kristen, told USA Today's Bob Nightengale about abuse the Rangers players' families suffered during the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium: taunts, cups of beer thrown, fans spitting from the section above.

"The fans did not do good things in my heart,'' Kristen Lee said.

Cliff Lee, in his news conference Tuesday, sounded less bothered. Said Lee: "I brush that off as fans being fans. You can't control 50,000 people and what they're going to do. There were some people that were spitting off the balcony on the family section and things like that, and that's kind of weak, but what can you do?"

Asked whether the experience would impact his decision as a free agent, Lee responded: "No, I don't know the guy that did it. It could be anyone. Who knows? Who cares? They're at home right now." Zing!

The Rangers have put themselves in the running for Lee. Unlike CC Sabathia's family, which moved to New Jersey upon the lefthander's decision to sign with the Yankees, the Lees intend to stay in Arkansas. You probably know that New York can't match Texas in the "proximity to Arkansas" category.

New owner Chuck Greenberg, furthermore, is talking tough about going toe-to-toe with the Yankees for Lee.

Greenberg has a bright general manager, Jon Daniels, who has tried to mitigate risk with his acquisitions. Daniels' Yankees counterpart, Brian Cashman, shares that thinking. The Yankees signed Sabathia to that seven-year, $161-million deal out of desperation, Cashman said. Will they prove just as desperate only two years later?

Because when you look at the Yankees' roster, you see Alex Rodriguez, signed through age 42 and coming off his worst major-league season. You see A.J. Burnett, a gargantuan question mark just two years into a five-year deal. You see Derek Jeter, also coming off a career-worst year, primed to re-sign as a 36-year-old shortstop.

They can navigate through such rough waters because Cashman has built a young nucleus and a strong farm system. Yet with every deal that guarantees money to baseball senior citizens, the room for error shrinks. Lee turns 33 in August. The odds that he can be this dominant at age 37 or 38? Not real good.

If Lee signs with the Rangers, the Yankees would have a void to fill. Maybe they'd trade for Kansas City's Zack Greinke and convince him to play in New York. Perhaps they'd try to shuffle up the outfield mix and spend big bucks on Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth.

Definitely, they shouldn't panic. What's the cliche? When one door closes, another opens? They'd work to figure it out.

Probably, though, the Yankees will bid enough to land Lee. The offending fans will be thrilled. As will the Yankees . . . for now, at least.