SAN DIEGO — Chase Headley was expected to make his free-agent decision before the Winter Meetings concluded Thursday, very possibly Wednesday.
The Yankees remained engaged. But the way I hear it, as their budget is currently set, if the Yankees pony up what it will take to sign Headley, then they will have to bottom-feed for starting pitching.
The Yankees did not really go beyond the three-year, $39 million range with Headley. But they know to get him, it almost certainly will take a four-year pact to land the third baseman. But they do not seem anxious to exceed $44 million to $48 million. If the switch-hitter indeed has that rumored $65 million proposal, the Yankees are said to be uninterested in approaching that.
If the Yankees sign Headley at any of the dollar figures, then they will not be able to do anything significant on a long-term deal with a starting pitcher at a time in which their rotation is rife with red flags for Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova.
Now, keep in mind the Yankees have changed their budget in previous offseasons as ownership has seen a player they liked or a player who is perceived as the difference between being a playoff team and not.
But, as it stands currently, for the Yankees to invest more significantly in a starting pitcher, they would have to play Martin Prado at third base and an inexpensive player such as Jose Pirela or Rob Refsnyder at second. In that scenario, the Yankees would have an inexperienced double-play combo with either of those second basemen pairing with recently obtained shortstop Didi Gregorius.
No matter which way the Yankees go with their infield, I have heard they are against giving Brandon McCarthy a three-year deal because as good as the righty was for them after his July acquisition, his injury history is worrisome.
The Yanks could end up shopping more in the one- or two-year bin for someone such as Edinson Volquez. It also remains possible the Yanks could try to re-sign Hiroki Kuroda, should the righty decide he wants to play in the majors another year.