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CBS Sports | Katherine Acquavella & Mike Axisa: We’re about a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting and somehow (read: collusion) Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are still free agents. A mystery team has emerged for Harper’s services, but no one knows who it is so it could be the Yankees! Also not happy with his offers, Machado is supposedly still holding out hope for a deal with the Bombers, even if they’re not interested. It’s almost like he could fall into their laps, but the front office decided to stand up instead.
NBC Sports | Vinnie Duber: Going a little bit further into Machado, the question remains what exactly is he waiting for? Are the offers really that bad for a superstar of his caliber or does he really just want to be a Yankee? A one-year deal now could give the Yankees enough time to decide if Miguel Andujar can’t handle third, and maybe they’d be more interested in him a year from now. Although there’s literally no reason to believe if Machado were a free agent next year, and they decided Andujar wasn’t the future, that they’d go after him.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Continuing MLB.com’s detailed spring preview, this week Hoch takes a look at the projected Yankee infield. While it’s far from a guarantee, the infield has the potential to be reliable and productive for the team. They’re going to rely on a pair of veterans to help their promising sophomores get through the season. If (read: when) Troy Tulowitzki breaks, the Yankees would look to slide Gleyber Torres to short and DJ LeMahieu to second with Tyler Wade waiting in the wings as the utility man.
Fantasy Baseball
As SF has canvassed the market for OF help, they've talked about Jacoby Ellsbury, probably would be open to a bad contract swap. For example, speculation: Cueto owed $68m, coming back from TJ surgery; NYY could recoup insurance in '19. Ellsbury owed $48m. $ would have to even out
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 4, 2019
NYY, SF could benefit from an Ellsbury-Cueto swap.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 4, 2019
SF could swap a player who won't help them in '19 for somebody who can play OF role, with CF experience. NYY, overloaded with OF, could move Ellsbury off roster and get insurance relief on Cueto. Again, $ would have to work.
Let’s file this under “uh huh, sure” and call it a day.
A Dream of Spring
Bags packed, doors locked, tank filled.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 4, 2019
Next stop: Tampa. pic.twitter.com/UGrK5fH1Rj
Wow, impressive that only one tank of gas will get this truck from New York to Tampa.