Cashman: Yankees Never Made Official Offers to Correa, Freeman
The Yankees were tied to several top-shelf, external free agents this past offseason, but no such names appeared on their Opening Day roster when New York began its season on Friday.
The Yankees did add Josh Donaldson in a trade with the Twins, but zero high-priced free agents were signed. Following the lockout, SS Carlos Correa and 1B Freddie Freeman were two of the best players still available. Rumors involving the Yankees and the duo swirled, but Freeman inked a six-year, $162 million contract with the Dodgers. Correa, meanwhile, joined the Twins on three-year, $105.3 million pact – after New York cleared Donaldson’s lofty salary from Minnesota’s payroll. Correa’s deal allows him to opt out after each of the first two years.
With both of those stars having already debuted for their new teams, Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke about New York’s pursuit of the pair on Monday. Appearing on WFAN’s Carton & Roberts, Cashman said that Correa and Freeman never received official offers from the Yankees.
“We were aware of what their interests were financially and what their goals were to accomplish,” Cashman said. “We never made an official offer, whether it was Correa or Freeman, but we certainly were aware and in touch with their representation about what they were looking for."
What constitutes an official offer may be a matter of semantics, but Cashman’s comments follow the Yankees and Aaron Judge failing to reach a long-term extension before Opening Day, in addition to an offseason that saw free agency’s premier talents sign elsewhere, much to the chagrin of fans. First base and shortstop were holes, hence the connections to Freeman and Correa, but New York addressed those positions by re-signing Anthony Rizzo and trading for Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the Donaldson deal.
Despite not signing a big-ticket free agent, New York's luxury tax payroll is over $262 million this season, a club record, per FanGraphs.
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