MLB

Yankees plotting to keep Damon, Pettitte, Matsui

CHICAGO — The Yankees are strategizing ways to retain all three of their major free agents — Johnny Damon, Andy Pettitte and Hideki Matsui — sources told The Post.

Damon and Pettitte are the priorities. But when asked if that meant Matsui had played his last game in pinstripes, one team executive said, “No, I hope we can figure out a way to have them all back.”

Right now, the Yankees are much more focused on their own trio than they are on the three big outside free agents: Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and John Lackey.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman has yet to meet with his whole staff to formalize a concrete plan, and that won’t come until next week.

However, the early internal read is the market would have to fall drastically for them to pursue one of the major free agents, with Lackey being the most likely, especially if Pettitte did not re-sign.

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But at this moment, the Yankees are philosophically against giving another long-term contract to a thirtysomething player such as Lackey, when they have so many of those deals on their books already.

That is why the Yanks want to push for one-year contracts with Pettitte, Damon and Matsui, all of whom the organization believes want to return in 2010. The trickiest negotiation probably will be with Damon.

He officially was designated a Type-A free agent yesterday. So if the Yanks offered him arbitration, it very likely would mean he would be back with the team next year because outside suitors would be concerned about giving a 36-year-old a multi-year contract and losing a first-round pick.

However, an arbitration award probably would be in the $15 million range for 2010, and Yankee officials are averse to paying that much for Damon, even on a one-year contract.

But would Damon come back on a negotiated one-year contract in the $10 million range or, perhaps, one year with an option?

Typically, Scott Boras clients stray toward the highest bidder at the end of a protracted negotiation. But it’s no sure thing the Yanks would wait all winter for Damon to decide. Thus, Damon might have to pick the Yanks or chase the best deal possible.

As for Pettitte, the Yanks recognize they will probably have to double his 2009 base of $5.5 million, at the least.

“We would be very receptive,” a Yankee official said of working out something with Pettitte.

Keep in mind, though, that Pettitte never did get over having to take a pay cut from $16 million to the $5.5 million, and might demand more.

Matsui, on the other hand, should expect an offer with a significant reduction from the $13 million he made last year.

There is a flood of DHs available, and that could depress the market and push Matsui back toward the Yanks. However, there is a contingent within the organization that feels the Yanks need to get younger and more athletic, and that now is the time — painful as it is — to say goodbye to the World Series MVP and his damaged knees.

Cashman said he would not be influenced by the strong postseason of all three free agents. “What they were going into October is what we still think they are,” he said. Of course, the Yanks liked all three before and the early indicators are they want to try to keep the band together for a shot to defend a title.

joel.sherman@nypost.com