ESPN New York’s Wallace Matthews reports that the Yankees’ brain trust discussed the possibility of signing Carlos Beltran during their organizational meetings in Tampa:

Not long ago, it was considered a slam-dunk that the Yankees would pick up Nick Swisher‘s $10.25 million option for 2012, despite another miserable postseason performance.

Now, it’s not so clear.

The reason? Carlos Beltran, a free agent after seven up-and-down, and mostly down, seasons with the Mets. Beltran is being shopped hard by his agent, Scott Boras, and his name came up in discussions at the Yankees organizational meeting in Tampa on Wednesday.

“He’s on our list,” said a team official who was present at the meeting. “But we have to make a decision on Swisher first.”

The notion that this is a bad sign for Swisher is probably an overstatement. The organization isn’t going to leave any stone unturned during these meetings, especially not when it comes to one of the better hitters available. We don’t know the seriousness of the discussions, and they certainly could have just been due diligence. In any case, Beltran certainly is an option, so it would be irresponsible of the organization not to discuss him.

None of that should affect Swisher’s option, however, which should be picked up regardless. At $10.25 million for just one season, the option is certainly a bargain for a hitter like Swisher, and it would be downright insane for the Yankees to buy it out and let Swisher walk for mere draft picks. I don’t think the Yankees will have a new right fielder next season, but even if they do they will almost certainly pick up Swisher’s option and trade him, most likely for a starting pitcher.

You don’t see Scott Boras walk a statement back very often, but now he’s saying his comments about Robinson Cano wanting to negotiate a new contract were “in jest.” The actual wording of the statement/report aren’t really that clear, but I think what Boras means is that his statement that Brian Cashman wasn’t returning his phone calls was a joke. Obviously, ignoring phone calls from the agent of one of your best players is not something a GM should be doing, so someone may have spoken to Boras about it, prompting him to clarify. I assume Cano still wants a new contract if he can get one.

No surprise here, but George King reports that Scott Boras says in no uncertain terms that Rafael Soriano won’t be using the opt out clause in his contract, and will be returning to the Yankees in 2012. Boras engages in a lot of prattle about Soriano but, suffice it to say, there’s no way Soriano could get a better deal than what he has left on his current contract right now, so he’s electing to stay with the Bombers.

Heckuva job Randy.