Yankees fans were given a jolt over the weekend when it was reported that the team and DJ LeMahieu remained more than $25 million apart on a deal.
On Wednesday, Brian Cashman joined WFAN’s “Carton & Roberts” to reiterate the Yankees’ stance: DJ LeMahieu is their No. 1 priority.
“We’re in the negotiating phase,” Cashman said. “We’re going through emotions of trying to secure DJ’s services going forward. Clearly there’s competition. Sometimes these things take time. I can’t guarantee we’ll get positive result we want, but the intent is there. I know he’d like to come back. We’re working on it.”
LeMahieu is reportedly seeking a five-year, $100 million deal and has begun to engage with other teams. The Yankees, meanwhile, have other areas of need to address – such as pitching – but Cashman was clear that LeMahieu remains atop the Yankees’ wish list.
“I can tell you our No. 1 focus is LeMahieu and everything [else] after that,” he said. “I doubt you’ll see us do much until we cement that decision.”
Whether or not that means LeMahieu signs with the Yankees or another team will dictate what the Yankees do next.
“Yankee fans are anxious to get improvements. It starts with bringing with DJ back,” Cashman said. “Worst case scenario, we’d have to pivot and come up with different alternatives. Every year we go in with laser focus on something or somebody, some years successful, other years we’re not. … We have a good team. DJ LeMahieu makes it obviously better. There are other needs we have and we need to address as well at the same time. LeMahieu we’re not going to shy away from recognizing he’s the focus.”
Because there is such a singular focus on LeMahieu and reported budget constraints, there have been reports that there may not be room for the Yankees to bring back Masahiro Tanaka.
Cashman said he has been in contact with Tanaka’s agent, as well as the agent for James Paxton, who is also a free agent.
“Our players have served us well. They’ve done a nice job,” Cashman said. “[Brett Gardner] as well. We’d like to have them all if we can, but have to have realistic side, too.”
However, the cards may play out with LeMahieu, it is evident that the Yankees do need to add more pitching – whether it is Tanaka or someone else. Behind Gerrit Cole the Yankees have a ton of question marks in their rotation.
“Never feel comfortable, especially when it comes to pitching,” Cashman said. “Never be comfortable. Try to add to it. The fallback is Cole is No 1; [Luis] Severino coming back in summer from Tommy John; [Domingo] German coming back … Jordan Montgomery is someone we really like; Deivi Garcia showed us something might be expected. … do we have enough? The answer is you never have enough. Fallback is it is a workable solution combined with offense we have. If it’s good enough? Assume it’s not and work from there.”
Listen to Cashman's entire segment with Carton & Roberts below!
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