East Notes: Yankees, Red Sox, Lester, Nationals

The Yankees’ restraint so far this offseason is to be commended, New York Daily News’ Bill Madden writes. The Yankees have kept top prospects like Luis Severino, Gregory Bird and Aaron Judge, and they’ve avoided risky big-money free agent contracts, suggesting they’ve “learned their lesson about trying to buy a championship as opposed to building from within.” Still, the Yankees need to find a starting pitcher after losing both Brandon McCarthy and Shane Greene. Here are more notes from the East divisions.

• Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino didn’t mince words today about the team’s failure to sign Jon Lester, John Tomase of the Boston Herald writes. “We didn’t succeed, so I don’t give us a very good grade,” said Lucchino. “We were trying, sincerely, to get him signed, and wanted him to come back here, but free agency is a special opportunity for a player, and it only comes up once or twice if you’re lucky in your career.” Lucchino again characterized the Red Sox’ $70MM extension offer from the spring — widely perceived to be an attempt to lowball Lester — as just a starting point for negotiations, but noted that offer didn’t create the dialogue the Red Sox hoped for. Lucchino said that the Red Sox’ $135MM offer was sincere, and that they would have been happy had he accepted.
• With Ian Desmond, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister, Denard Span and Tyler Clippard all eligible for free agency following next winter, the Nationals feel a strong sense of urgency about the coming season, MLB.com’s Andrew Simon writes. Friday’s trade of Ross Detwiler to the Rangers showed some Nationals that they and some of their teammates could be headed elsewhere soon. “Makes you realize we’ve got to get this going,” says Craig Stammen. “If we want to do it with this group, we’ve got to get it done as quick as possible. Hopefully, we’ll get it done next year.”
• Nats exec Mike Rizzo says he’s striking a “delicate balance” between winning now and winning in the future, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes. Nonetheless, perhaps unsurprisingly, it sounds like the Nationals are going to take another serious shot at winning in 2015, despite the possible departures of so many core players after the season. “We have a good team we know that can compete to play meaningful games in October. We’re going to take that and run with it,” says Rizzo.