LAS VEGAS — What was an eight-game gap between the Red Sox and Yankees shrunk in the past 24 hours. New York appeared to be close to signing durable lefthander J.A. Happ, while Boston admitted a coming payroll crunch, which it could address proactively by trading durable righthander Rick Porcello.
New York had held its negotiating line on Nathan Eovaldi and Patrick Corbin—losing out on both starting pitchers for want of another year—but stepped up with a third year to close the deal for Happ, an indication of his importance in the AL East and mostly his reliability.