With respect to the New York Yankees’ pursuits, if you can call them that, of Freddie Freeman and Carlos Correa, it appears there was far more smoke than fire.
The Yankees had been linked to the first baseman and shortstop throughout free agency, especially once the lockout concluded and, in Freeman’s case, the Atlanta Braves traded for Matt Olson.
But Correa took a monster deal with the Twins that will allow him to opt out after this season and re-test the market, while Freeman inked a long-term contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers that will take him into the twilight of his career.
Speaking Monday on WFAN’s “Carton and Roberts,” the messaging from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made it sound as though New York never seriously went after either player.
“Certainly was aware that his circumstances were changing,” Boras said when asked about Correa warming up to a short-term deal after the lockout. “I would receive phone calls from Scott Boras, not a lot, but Scott did reach out – I’m sure not just to me but to all clubs that he thought might be a possibility. I was aware and certainly sharing with ownership that the world that was changing at that time for that particular free agent, along with other free agents that wound up landing deals elsewhere.”
Freeman seemed like a lock to return to the Atlanta Braves prior to the lockout. But once it was lifted, things apparently started souring between the two sides, and really came to a head when the Braves traded for Olson.
That didn’t open the door for the Yankees, in their eyes, to push harder for the first baseman.
“We were aware of what (Freeman’s camp’s) interests were financially and what their goals were to accomplish," Cashman said. "That was the type of bet too that with the long term that we – we never made an offer, an official offer, whether it was Correa or Freeman. But we were certainly aware and in touch with their representation of what they were looking for. As the landscapes were playing out, even after the Atlanta trade with Oakland took them off the board, their interest levels being communicated to us and the levels in terms of term and dollars we certainly were aware of every step of the way.”
Ultimately, the Yankees addressed a few needs by trading Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez to the Twins, which brought Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt to New York.
On the surface, it seems like the Yankees could have elected not to do that trade and instead just directly pursued Correa.
Cashman pushed back on that notion.
"It just didn’t fit (financially),” Cashman said of the short-term, high-money option with Correa. “You’re talking about a $35 million number, so I would say we’d have to have a number of different things to change the landscape if you’re going to place that type of bet for that type of number in this particular calendar year for our payroll, then it would preclude us from having the ability to do other things that we were able to do.
“So even though it’s apples and oranges because the opportunity in the end that existed at the end for Carlos Correa’s free agency, that wasn’t available in the beginning when the decision on the Minnesota trade took place. … Ultimately at the end of the day, when the dust settles the Minnesota deal accomplished a lot of different things for us that we were happy with.”
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