MLB

Yankees’ GM Cashman could meet with Hunter’s agent

ANGEL SWINGS: The Yankees may have interest in free-agent right fielder Torii Hunter, 37, who spent the past five seasons in Anaheim. (Getty Images)

The Yankees’ efforts to find a right fielder should advance this week, when general manager Brian Cashman will have the chance to meet with Torii Hunter’s agent, Larry Reynolds, at the General Managers’ meetings in Indian Wells, Calif.

Cashman leaves today for the meetings, which run tomorrow through Friday.

Cashman typically meets with every agent who comes to the meetings, which draw a considerably smaller crowd than the Winter Meetings in December.

Reynolds, who also represents free-agent center fielder B.J. Upton, is based in the Riverside area of California and is expected to attend the GM meetings given their proximity to his home and the significant interest in his two clients.

Cashman likely will bump into Scott Boras, Rafael Soriano’s agent, but won’t see Mariano Rivera’s rep, Fernando Cuza. Cuza is in the Dominican Republic today and will travel to Rivera’s native Panama.

Though there is a chance the Yankees and Rivera can get a deal done before the GM meetings end, it might have to wait until next week.

Boras said Sunday there is enough room for Soriano and Rivera in the Yankees’ 2013 bullpen.

Soriano opted out of the final year of his contract last week and the Yankees extended him the one-year, $13.3 million qualifying offer. He has until Friday to accept or decline.

With Nick Swisher a strong bet to turn down the qualifying offer, the Yankees are not interested in giving the high-maintenance Swisher the sort of big-dollar, multiple-year agreement he hopes to land.

Hunter looks like a strong fit because, at 37, he probably would settle for a two-year deal. Furthermore, because the Angels did not make him a qualifying offer, Hunter will not cost his new team a draft pick as compensation. The Angels, with a surplus of outfielders, appear inclined to let Hunter leave after completing a five-year, $90-million contract.

The Yankees, Rangers and Tigers all appeal to Hunter, who has yet to play in a World Series. The Phillies loom as an outside possibility.

An acclaimed defensive center fielder, Hunter switched to right field in August 2010 and continued to provide significant value. In 140 games for the Angels this past season, he put up a .365 on-base percentage and .451 slugging percentage and played strong defense.

The Yankees could sign Upton, 28, to play center field and deploy Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner at the corner spots. That seems less likely, though, because Upton figures to draw more dollars and years than Hunter and the Yankees are determined to get their 2014 payroll below $189 million in order to avoid paying baseball’s luxury tax.