Whether or not it is a long shot, the Yankees appear to be serious about the possibility of bringing Brian Giles to the Bronx. Brian Cashman has spoken with Giles’ agent six times in the past ten days, and Joe Torre has even picked up the phone, as he did with Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi in the past, to brief Giles on what it is like to play in New York. According to The Daily News:

“In those situations, I just want to talk to (players) about what it’s like to come to New York,” Torre said, speaking generally about his approach to these types of conversations. “It’s not that complex. I remember when I did it with (Mike) Mussina, who people said he wouldn’t want to come here. I just want to give them an idea of what’s true about playing here and what’s not.”

Meanwhile, Michael Morrisey reports in the Post that Cashman spoke with Bernie Williams’ agent, Scott Boras briefly on Tuesday:

“I told him, it’s for another day,” Cashman said. “In the event there’s a role here for Bernie, it would be a secondary role, not an everyday situation.

“And how we approach that every winter is that doesn’t get pushed up front. We deal with that after we tackle the other areas: our bullpen, if we can upgrade center field.

“That’s all I can say. We haven’t had any negotiations with Bernie at this point.”

I like Bernie so much that I would be happy to see him return in Ruben Sierra’s role. But as several fans have pointed out recently, Williams on the bench makes them nervous, mostly because they feel that Torre–who loves his veterans–would wind up giving Williams far more burn than he deserves.

Lastly, Matt Smith, a left-handed pitcher in the Yankee system has been discussed as a possible addition to the major league bullpen next season.