More than just deciding about whether to import one of the game’s great player, the Yankees will be deciding their very identity with the decision of whether to relentlessly pursue Manny Machado.
Even last offseason, in trading for Giancarlo Stanton — owner of the largest contract in MLB history — the Yankees crafted a deal that, between removing Starlin Castro and having the Marlins potentially assume $30 million of the slugger’s future pact, enabled them to slash his salary just so to stay under the luxury-tax threshold.
Even if he were to take less years to go with the Yankees than the Phillies, White Sox or some other club, Machado almost certainly would score the highest annual value in history (at least until Bryce Harper signs).