Francisco Lindor is going to Queens, but that hasn’t changed the Yankees’ attitude or schedule towards the search for DJ LeMahieu.
While keeping LeMahieu in the Bronx remains the Yankees’ top priority during this off-season – and they continue to be optimistic that they will finally reach an agreement – the two sides are not close, the sources said, as the free agency throughout the baseball continues next stoppage.
There were significant negotiations, from Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the Mets in exchange for Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez and a couple of candidates, as well as the Fathers acquiring Blake Snell from the Rays and Yu Darvish from the Cubs, but the glacial pace of the agent market did not. shows signs of recovery.
On Sunday, the biggest contract delivered this off-season is the four-year, $ 40.6 million contract that the Mets gave James McCann.
LeMahieu, JT Realmuto, George Springer and Trevor Bauer remain available, with just over a month to go before spring training camps begin.
The tie issues are what have been over the off-season: uncertainty about when the season will begin, how many games will be played and whether fans will be allowed in the stadiums, all due to the high rates of COVID-19 across the country.
Joel Sherman of the Post reported last month that the two sides were separated by more than $ 25 million, with LeMahieu, 32, who must be looking for a five-year contract and the Yankees hoping to bring him back with a three-year contract.
General manager Brian Cashman said last month that he was willing to let other options leave the board while waiting for LeMahieu.
One of those options would have been an exchange for Lindor. The Yankees checked the exchange price for the 27-year-old shortstop, but chose to stay focused on LeMahieu, as the Dodgers and Blue Jays hide as possible landing points.
The Dodgers, however, still as third-base free agent Justin Turner and the Blue Jays, although linked to several available free agents, have not yet signed an expensive item in this off-season.
With the goal of staying below the $ 210 million luxury tax threshold next year, the Yankees are likely to be able to pay LeMahieu and an additional starting pitcher this off-season.
Masahiro Tanaka is among the pitchers who are still on the market, but Cashman said that although he has been in contact with agents from both the right-handed and veteran Yankee Brett Gardner, they are still reserving their biggest expense for LeMahieu, which is coming out of a contract two years, $ 24 million and two excellent seasons with the Yankees.
Other than that, they showed “some interest” in Kyle Schwarber – according to Schwarber – before the outside player signed a one-year contract with the Nationals for $ 10 million and distributed some minor league deals to veteran pitchers like Adam Warren and Jhoulys Chacin.
The only player added to the 40-player squad was outfielder Greg Allen, whom the Yankees hired in an exchange with the Padres for the left-hander of secondary league James Reeves.