NEW YORK _ Brian Cashman has said since early November the Yankees have an interest in free agent Manny Machado.
This week brings the logical next step of that interest.
The All-Star infielder, this winter's headliner free agent along with Bryce Harper, will be in New York Wednesday to meet with the Yankees, a source confirmed.
With a glut of outfielders already in tow, the Yankees at the moment won't be pursuing Harper.
With Didi Gregorius set to miss at least the first two months of the regular season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, there is an interest in Machado, though likely not at the price tag the 26-year-old is seeking.
If the Yankees are scared away from Machado, indications are it will be his asking price _ various reports have him desiring an 8-10-year deal in excess of $300 million _ that scares them and not what happened in the postseason.
Machado, while with the Dodgers, had an up-and-down October. He was involved in a handful of on-field incidents that didn't make him look especially good and compounded that by telling Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he would never be considered "Johnny Hustle," and that of hustling in general "that's not my cup of tea."
This winter Cashman, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and Aaron Boone have been asked about those comments and none of them said those remarks were disqualifying. Steinbrenner did say he wanted to hear much more from Machado in the way of explanation.
"If it's a $300-million guy, or a $10-million guy, clearly those comments are troubling," Steinbrenner said last month at the owners' meetings in Atlanta. "But that's really (Cashman's) job _ if we're interested in any player _ to sit down with them face to face, and the agent, and ask them, 'Where did this come from? What was the context around the entire interview? Was there a point you were trying to make? How do you justify it?' Because that ain't going to sell where we play baseball. And that conversation will happen no matter who it is."
Speaking on the "Michael Kay Show" on ESPN Radio Dec. 5, Boone said, "There is an expectation that we have" of players and effort, but that can manifest itself in a variety of ways.
"You hope all players all the time run things out, play hard or give it their all," Boone said. "But (it's) not necessarily the No. 1 thing I look at when I am defining whether a player is giving his all."
