Brian Cashman talks Yankees payroll, status of Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Brian Cashman can take the Yankees’ roster in many different directions this winter, be it changes in the infield, outfield, pitching staff or behind the plate. And that’s not even getting into the coaching staff.

Yet wherever the Yankees’ general manager takes things, it appears set to go in one direction payroll-wise: North.

“Well, it’s going to have to be. We don’t have a lot of stuff coming off,” Cashman said Tuesday at the general managers’ meetings. “So obviously I’ll have some latitude.”

The Yankees, Cashman confirmed, reached their goal of taking their 2021 payroll under the luxury-tax threshold of $210 million, a mandate created by managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner in the wake of the financially bruising, COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. While they do lose a few commitments off their books, only one, Corey Kluber ($11 million), earned eight figures, and the team employs a number of arbitration-eligible players who will receive raises if they get tendered contracts.

With the owners and players negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, talks that will likely create an owners’ lockout on Dec. 2 (which will essentially shut down the business), it’s impossible to know what the new luxury-tax thresholds, if there are any, will look like.

So Steinbrenner probably won’t issue specific guidelines to his baseball operations staff until he knows the guardrails. However, the Yankees had committed to a 2020 payroll of approximately $258 million before the pandemic dramatically reduced that.

For sure these Yankees see voids that can be filled with a budget increase, starting with their shortstop position. Cashman said that he “had two separate conversations with two separate agents that represent shortstops,” notable among arguably the best free-agent shortstop class ever that features Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and Javier Baez. Seager, who hits lefty, and Semien, who spent 2021 playing second base for the Blue Jays, appear to be the best Yankees.

Part of the shortstop equation, Cashman acknowledged, includes their two shortstop prospects Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe: “Obviously we have two young kids coming, too, that aren’t ready yet, but we have high hopes for them in the future too that factor into things. We’ll just try to get more information so we can try to strategize better over the coming weeks.”

In his first public talks since the Yankees announced their decision to re-sign manager Aaron Boone on Oct. 19, Cashman touched on a number of other team matters:

— Former Mets manager Luis Rojas and former Yankees infielder Eric Chavez (first reported by New Jersey Advanced Media) are among those who have interviewed for the coach openings in the wake of the departures of Phil Nevin, P.J. Pillitere, Marcus Thames and Reggie Willits. Rojas appears a strong likelihood to become the team’s third-base coach.

— Cashman had a conversation with the representative for Anthony Rizzo, the trade-deadline import who is now a free agent, “expressing the possibility of bringing him back. He obviously was really good for us, we feel, both on the offensive side and on the defensive side and on the leadership side, so he brings a lot of good things to the table. … I know he liked it here, I know we liked having him, but nothing has gone past that.”

—  There have been no talks about extending the team’s best player Aaron Judge, who can be a free agent after next year, although Cashman said he has been focused on the coaching staff and wouldn’t rule out such an outreach.

— Asked what his talent evaluators thought of free agent Justin Verlander’s throwing session Monday, Cashman said, “I wouldn’t say, but we were certainly represented in a number of different ways,” referring to a scout as well as director of player health and performance Eric Cressey, who ran the workout.

—  Luke Voit’s left knee, which plagued him throughout the season, is “resolved,” Cashman said. “He’s working out in Tampa [at the team’s minor league complex].”