Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says he faked interest in Carl Crawford last winter to drive up his price as the Red Sox courted the outfielder as a free agent. "I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up," Cashman admitted. "The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.'" The Yankees had put all their eggs in the Cliff Lee basket and Crawford wasn't even on their radar.