Yankees fans have been looking forward to this winter for a long time. This was the offseason when generational talents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado would finally become free agents. This was the year that one or both could finally don the fabled pinstripes.
Doubt about the Yankees’ intentions began to creep in about a year ago, when the front office announced that the organization’s number one goal was to duck under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold. We yearned to hear that winning the World Series remained the club’s priority above all else, but we didn’t get what we wanted.