Toronto Blue Jays' Troy Tulowitzki looks to first after forcing...

Toronto Blue Jays' Troy Tulowitzki looks to first after forcing out Yankees' Brian McCann on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Toronto. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn

Brian Cashman insisted Friday that the Yankees’ plan is for Troy Tulowitzki to be their Opening Day shortstop, and he will remain at the position until the return of Didi Gregorius.

As for Manny Machado? Well, dinner was nice.

“I don’t necessarily get a chance to break bread with players from opposing teams very much,” Cashman said after again being steered toward Machado during the Tulowitzki conference call. “I thought it was a real positive experience from our perspective.”

Positive enough to put Machado in pinstripes, with Alex Rodriguez’s former No. 13 on his back? That remains to be seen. But the Yankees’ meet-and-greet with Machado and agent Dan Lozano took place in the Bronx on Dec. 19. Twelve days later, Cashman pledged his vacant shortstop position to Tulowitzki, who agreed to take the job on a one-year deal for the MLB minimum of $550,000. The Blue Jays will pick up the $38 million left on Tulowitzki’s contract after releasing him last month.

Cashman refused Friday to make any direct correlation between Tulowitzki’s signing and his interest level in Machado, other than to say he speaks to Lozano frequently and made sure to inform the agent of the Tulowitzki move before the news first broke publicly on New Year’s Day. But as much as Cashman talked up Tulowitzki and tried very hard to sound entirely satisfied with his current infield alignment, he made sure to attach the usual disclaimer to these statements.

“We’ve got a very honest dialogue,” Cashman said, speaking generally about his conversations with Lozano. “We’re excited about the opportunity that Tulowitzki is providing and we’re hoping that we can continue to find different ways to address any need this club has.

“Some will make more sense than others, given the circumstances of who we already have on the roster and what our payroll happens to be and where we’re willing to take it. But my job is to continue to remain open-minded.”

That’s how Tulowitzi ended up in the Bronx. Cashman wasn't sure what to expect until the Yankees dispatched their scouting contingent to a pair of December workouts at Long Beach State — the first one open to all 30 teams and the second a private one arranged by Cashman.

Tulowitzki, 34, didn’t play at all last season after double-heel surgery to remove bone spurs on April 2 and has logged only 66 games in the past two years. But Cashman, who watched the video from those auditions, described him as having that “bounce back in his step,” and after huddling with his evaluators, he determined that the Yankees would be “all-in” on him as a viable replacement for Gregorius.

While there is no timetable for Gregorius' return — Cashman reeled off a period from June to August — the GM maintains that Gregorius will be the shortstop again when healthy. Evidently, Tulowitzki was fine with being the stopgap solution, and Cashman will figure out the logjam when the problem eventually presents itself.

“We obviously gravitated rather quickly and easily [to Tulowitzki] after seeing what we saw,” Cashman said. “In talking to him, I feel like he’s got a chip on his shoulder. He wants to prove that he can re-establish himself. He’s looking forward to showing everybody what he’s capable of doing, but more importantly, mixing and meshing with the group that we already have and trying to contribute, simple as that.”

Tulowitzki has a .290/.361/.496 slash line in 12 seasons: .299/.371/.513 with the Rockies and .250/.313/.414 with the Blue Jays. Cashman acknowledged that giving the job to him is a calculated risk and that nothing is guaranteed. The fact that the Yankees are paying him the major-league minimum salary is what made this gamble possible, along with the fact that the loaded Yankees — with the glaring hole at shortstop — stood out as a desirable destination.

The perception is that Machado always has seen the Bronx as a preferred landing spot as well. But if Machado ultimately chooses to sign with the Yankees, the Tulowitzki signing seems to indicate it will have to be more on the Yankees’ terms now than it was two weeks ago. At least that was the vibe Cashman was throwing off Friday as he gushed about Tulowitzki. 

 “There’s going to be a curiosity of what Troy Tulowitzki is going to provide, and who is Troy Tulowitzki in 2019, and we’re all going to be evaluating that,” Cashman said. “But obviously returning the rest of that infield that helped toward 100 wins, I feel good about it.”

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