George Steinbrenner offers Pedro 4 years...

[TheYanks04]

It's not in George's nature to drive up the price of a player going tothe enemy?...please. You obviously do not know George very well. He may not do that for players going to LA but to the Red Sox the gloves are off and the nukes are rolled out. It would be foolish and outright incompetent if the Yanks did not do everything they could to drive Pedro's price up. If you do not think the Yanks and Red Sox are in a DEFCON 1 state and will do whatever it takes to screw over the other you have not been watching the developments and outright hatred between the 2 organizations the past 2 or 3 years. George hates the Boston owner probably more than any other owner in baseball...even Peter Angelos and Commisar Selig (who he despises).

[Amazinz]

I don't buy into the King George conspiracy theories either. I think it's much more likely that he actually wants Pedro and will overpay to get him. I can see him wanting Pedro partially to stick it to the Red Sox but if he's dedicating Yankees resources solely to drive to up Pedro's price rather than improving his team than he's a bigger idiot than I already thought he was.

[TheYanks04]

He has made no formal offer according to just about everyone outside one reporter with teh Bergen Record who is by no means a fan of the Yankees or George historically, so just how is that dumb? Talk is cheap...leaks to the media are even cheaper. Letting Pedro's agent do the lying and BSing and letting yourself be used by him is part of the game. Maybe George does want Pedro, but I tend to doubt it.

[Amazinz]

He has made no formal offer according to just about everyone outside one reporter with teh Bergen Record who is by no means a fan of the Yankees or George historically, so just how is that dumb? Talk is cheap...leaks to the media are even cheaper. Letting Pedro's agent do the lying and BSing and letting yourself be used by him is part of the game. Maybe George does want Pedro, but I tend to doubt it.

No I agree with that. Steinbrenner and the Yankees may just be victims of bad reporting. But Pedro did meet with Steinbrenner in Tampa which is what lends a little credibility to the story. Before that story broke I didn't think the Yankees were going to go after Pedro.

[NZF]

It's not in George's nature to drive up the price of a player going tothe enemy?...please.

It is not in George's nature to stuff around wasting time negotiating with a player with the sole intention of driving his price up.

Give me some names of players he's done this with in the past 5 years?

If he has been in serious talks with Pedro and his agents then you can be assured George definitely wants Pedro in pinstripes. And usually what George wants, George gets.

[TheYanks04]

Meeting with Pedro and his agent lends credibility to the bluff. Without an offer on the table it is just talk and talk is cheap as I said. George has not done such things in the past as a general rule because he has no vested interest in doing so and escalting the pay scales of players. And no one likes to be played. But in the case of Yanks vs Boston, you could feel pretty safe an exception is being made here. I know I would make sure the Red Sox pay as much as possible for him. George is anything but stupid and has to see that making the the team with the second highest payroll in the league overpay for someone like Pedro is in his best interest and the pay scales of the league will not be affected in any tangible way by what Pedro ultimately gets. It is possible George has interest in Pedro, I just don't think so. All indications have been that RJ is the guy Geoorge REALLY wants.