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New York Notes: A-Rod, Overbay, Francisco, Draft

The Yankees publicly wish Alex Rodriguez a quick recovery and a return to the lineup, but CBS Sports' Jon Heyman points out that the club may privately hope Rodriguez retires so it can save roughly 80% of the third baseman's remaining salary due to an insurance policy.  Rodriguez would still be paid what he's owed but the Yankees would recoup around $70MM if A-Rod's hip surgery prevents him from taking the field again.

Andy Martino of the New York Daily News has a few more items about both the Bronx Bombers and the Amazins...

• Lyle Overbay has become a crucial depth piece for the Yankees, which has surprisingly led to the career first baseman playing right field.  With Mark Teixeira's wrist still a question mark, the Yankees doesn't want to lose Overbay but still wants to find playing time for the veteran.
• The Mets are slightly more likely to draft a college player in Thursday's draft since they feel they're a bit closer to contending.  After taking high schoolers in the first round in each of the last two seasons, the Mets could be tempted to take a player who is closer to contributing at the Major League level.
• Frank Francisco's two-year, $12MM contract stands out as the most glaring of the errors the Mets have made in trying to fix their bullpen, Martino writes in a separate piece.  Francisco hasn't pitched this season due to an elbow problem and threw what Martino described as "the worst bullpen session [several Mets staffers] could remember" in March during Spring Training.  One of the staffers present said the sesssion "was disgusting" and that Francisco "is either hurt or he doesn’t care.”  Sandy Alderson said he thinks Francisco will pitch in 2013 though the GM gave no timetable about when the right-hander could return.
• As reported earlier today, the Yankees released outfielder Ben Francisco.

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