Baseball’s winter meetings just started and according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, the slow pace of the Cliff Lee contract talks is already frustrating the Yankees (more specifically GM Brian Cashman). The Bombers have money to spend and damn it they want it spent already.

Everyone knows that from a monetary standpoint, the Yankees will come up with the best offer. There’s really nothing more for them to do than to sit back and wait so why not do just that? Why not exercise some patience?

Of course, it’s easy for me to say that because it wasn’t my faulty pitching that cost me a chance to go to the World Series last year. The Yankees obviously are feeling the pressure of having to sign Lee and I’m sure that’s where Cashman’s frustrations are coming from. He knows he can’t feasibly go into next season hoping that A.J. Burnett will bounce back after a brutal 2010.

There also may be some concern on Cashman’s part because reportedly there’s a mystery team offering Lee a seventh year. The Yankees and Rangers would prefer to stay at six years, but I’m sure Cashman doesn’t want to see Lee land with another team just because he wasn’t willing to fork over that extra year. This is the Yankees’ top free agent target so you know they’re taking an at-all-costs approach to signing him.

It’s interesting to see the affect that a free agent is having on the Yankees. Usually they just throw a bunch of money at a player and he comes running in on all fours with his tongue hanging out. But now that Lee isn’t doing that, it’s kind of humorous to hear that Cashman is frustrated by it (assuming of course that Rosenthal’s report is accurate).