Yankees, Mets floating vets in deals as only way to tweak rosters

The price for Aroldis Chapman and Yoenis Cespedes went beyond their contracts. Both the Mets and Yankees are currently in holding patterns, and unless they can remove salary from their payrolls, then what you see might be what you get as far as rosters are concerned.

In the aftermath of prefer to deal the $13 million owed Jay Bruce in 2017 rather than the $15 million of Curtis Granderson.

“It’s like buying a new house without selling your old one,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said last week. “Sometimes you get stuck in the transition, and it’s not a good place to be.”

The Yankees are in the same situation, according to agents who have spoken to the team about their free-agent clients. This is why the Yankees continue to gauge interest in Chase Headley (two years, $26 million) and Brett Gardner (two years, $25 million) as a way to cut a significant salary.

The Yankees, like the Mets, also are interested in setup men such as Boone Logan and Brad Ziegler. But Hal Steinbrenner continues to mandate lowering payroll in 2017 to give the team an opportunity to get under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold for 2018.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said, “I don’t think it is legally OK [by the collective bargaining agreement] for me to say [whether the team is pursuing major league free agents].” But, tellingly, Cashman added, “I wouldn’t focus on us.”

The Yankees were the only team not to sign a major league free agent last offseason. They added Chapman and Matt Holliday so far this offseason and project to around a $210 million payroll. After this season, the Yankees will shed the contracts of Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Holliday and Tyler Clippard and thus would have a real shot at getting under the threshold if they hold steady and/or remove Gardner and/or Headley.

But for 2017, that just might mean not adding another veteran reliever to mix in with Dellin Betances and Clippard late in games. They could turn to a few of the arms who do not gain the final two spots in the rotation from among Luis Cessa, Chad Green, Brian Mitchell, Luis Severino and Adam Warren.

As for the Mets, they project to about a $150 million payroll and would like to obtain a late-game reliever to team with Addison Reed as they brace for a Jeurys Familia suspension via MLB’s domestic abuse protocols.