Yankees rumors will be flying during the GM meetings
Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, left, and Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado. Credit: Composite: Getty Images, left; AP
The annual general managers’ meetings start Monday in Carlsbad, California, and two of the biggest names in the sport, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, will be front and center.
Neither will be signed during the meetings – the free-agency process is just getting started for the 2018 offseason, and big names rarely come off the board that quickly – but get ready for an onslaught of rumors, more rumors and reports of rumors.
Especially when it comes to the Yankees.
They at long last fulfilled owner Hal Steinbrenner’s wish to bring the payroll under the $197-million luxury-tax threshold this year, thus avoiding for the first time having to pay the luxury tax that gets doled out to lower-revenue teams.
The questions already being bandied about regarding the Yankees this offseason basically are these: Did Steinbrenner get under the threshold simply so he could blow past it again by committing the $300 million-plus it likely would take to get Harper and/or Machado? Or is it his intent to spend but within the context of staying under the threshold, which next season will be in the range of $206 million?
“Mission accomplished in terms of the payroll this year and taking away advantages that teams have been getting from us because we were exceeding the threshold,” general manager Brian Cashman said earlier this offseason. “Obviously, the best spot to be in would be to put great teams on the field and not have to exceed it.”
For his part, Steinbrenner has said a form of this for several years running and never has wavered: “I shouldn't have to have a $200-million payroll to win a world championship.”
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Patrick Corbin throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Orlando Ramirez) Credit: AP/Orlando Ramirez
But the owner also repeatedly has said he wouldn’t rule out exceeding the threshold if he could be persuaded that doing so would be the difference in winning a title.
“His last name is Steinbrenner, and they’ve [ownership] acted accordingly, always,” Cashman said. “He’s a very open-minded person. He makes informed decisions and he takes his time doing so. So I don’t think he’s going to limit anything from his standpoint for consideration.”
The Yankees went 100-62 this season but were ousted in the ALDS by the eventual World Series champion Red Sox. There is plenty for them to consider this offseason, as they have plenty of needs.
Harper and Machado, though clearly superstars, are not high on that list. The club already has a glut of outfielders, and although shortstop Didi Gregorius will miss the first part of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, he is expected back at some point in 2019.
Machado had an eventful postseason (mostly not in a positive sense) for the National League champion Dodgers. The Yankees did try to acquire him at the trade deadline, but indications were that had more to do with the short-term desire to provide an immediate jolt to an inconsistent offense and also give the team a better defensive option at third base. There has been speculation that the Yankees might sign Machado -- who reveres Alex Rodriguez and has told confidants of his desire to someday wear pinstripes -- to play third base and move AL Rookie of the Year candidate Miguel Andujar to first base or perhaps to another team in some kind of mega-deal. But it's all speculation.
What isn’t speculation is the need for rotation help. As of now, the Yankees have only two for-sure pitchers in their 2019 rotation – Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino. J.A. Happ is a free agent whom they’d like back and CC Sabathia, also a free agent, also is a possibility. Sonny Gray is under club control, but Cashman has said he’ll look to deal the righthander, who has not performed well in New York.
The Yankees will be in on one of the top pitchers on the market, lefthander Patrick Corbin, and the positive feelings seem to be mutual. The 29-year-old, who went 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA for the Diamondbacks in 2018, grew up a Yankees fan in the Syracuse suburb of Clay.
“It would definitely be great to play there,” Corbin told USA Today in April.
Like Machado and Harper, Corbin’s place of employment for 2019 probably won’t be determined at this week’s meetings. But the groundwork for where they – and other available players – end up will start in earnest.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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