LAS VEGAS — As Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman continued to kick the tires on free agents and trade proposals that might bring him a coveted starting pitcher, an injury replacement for shortstop Didi Gregorius and some bullpen fortifications, the only news he relayed Monday was what would not be happening. Bryce Harper won’t be walking through that clubhouse door. After a series of questions about Harper — the magnetic, 26-year-old star who turned down a $300 million from the Washington Nationals to become a free agent — Cashman went from bemused to incredulous. “At no time at all — all winter — did I say I’m looking for an outfielder,” Cashman said, speaking in his suite here in Las Vegas to a group of reporters who cover the Yankees. “So the Harper stuff — I’m surprised you’re still asking.”Such a swift, public dismissal of his interest in a player whose personality and game seem so finely tailored to the Yankees and their brand was the Yankees’ latest, and perhaps most forceful, attempt to distance themselves from the way they once operated under George Steinbrenner.

Source: New York Times December 11, 2018 03:19 UTC