Around the Empire: Yankees news - 12/9/20

Yahoo! Sports | Scott Thompson: The pursuit of DJ LeMahieu is ongoing, but even the Yankees admit his return is no sure thing. One of the best position players available on the market, DJ is expected to fish for as many bids as he can get, and depending on how the Yankees feel about payroll, he may price himself out of their plans.

New York Daily News | Kristie Ackert: The White Sox have made the biggest splash of the offseason so far, landing Lance Lynn in a major trade late Monday night. The Yankees need a whole lot of pitching help, and he would have made an excellent addition to a thin group. (Word is that acquiring him “probably would have cost Clarke Schmidt.”) With Lynn off the market, the team still needs some arms, but every option is just a little bit worse, and a little bit more costly now.

New York Post | Peter Botte: Speaking of pitching help, Masahiro Tanaka is also available to shore up the Yankee rotation, and his familiarity with the organization may work to New York’s advantage. Like LeMahieu, though, the team’s self-imposed budget may end up costing them a serviceable MLB piece, as even if Tanaka takes a pay cut over 2020, his salary still pushes the Yankees close to the CBT threshold without any other moves made.

FanGraphs | Craig Edwards: As a way of wrapping up the budget talks, Craig gives us a breakdown of payrolls across MLB midway through the Winter Meetings. You can see that the teams rumored to be chasing some of the same free agents as the Yankees — the Mets, Blue Jays, and others — have a little more room to play with than the Yankees do, perhaps putting the Yankees at a disadvantage if they’re dead set on coming under the $210 million CBT first ring.