Yankees decline options on Quantrill, Lee

NEW YORK -- The Yankees declined their 2005 option on first baseman Travis Lee on Friday and their 2006 option on reliever Paul Quantrill.

Quantrill, who struggled late last season, agreed last December to a $7 million, two-year contract that called for salaries of $3 million annually in 2004 and 2005 and included a $3.6 million team option for 2006 with a $400,000 buyout. The Yankees had until Monday to make a decision on the option, and they must now pay the buyout by Dec. 31.

A 35-year-old right-hander, Quantrill was 7-3 with a 4.72 ERA and one save, setting a team record with 86 relief appearances. Late in the season, Tanyon Sturtze supplanted him as New York's primary seventh-inning pitcher.

Lee, 28, signed with the Yankees in March but played just seven games before going on the disabled list May 1 with a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Lee, who had surgery May 11, batted .140 (2-for-19) with two RBIs. He was paid $2 million this year and gets a $250,000 buyout rather than a $3 million salary next season.

John Olerud and Tony Clark, both eligible for free agency, shared first base for most of the second half of the season after Jason Giambi was sidelined by a benign tumor and other ailments.