MLB

Dodgers asked about CC & Tex, but Yankees should push A-Rod on them

DODGER GREEN: Alex Rodriguez, in The Bronx before last night’s game against the Blue Jays, may have an onerous contract, but the Dodgers proved this weekend that no contract should be deemed untradeable. (Christopher Pasatieri)

The Dodgers essentially found a will and a way to have free agency during a season, and that led to them not only absorbing expensive contracts from the Marlins and Red Sox, but also making a call to the Yankees to inquire about CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, The Post has learned.

Looking both short term in trying to win the NL West and long term in restoring the Dodgers’ brand, Los Angeles officials refused to wait for a free-agent class they anticipate being uninspiring. Instead, they began calling their counterparts in earnest in July with this message: We not only are unafraid of your big contracts, we are interested in them.

The Dodgers recognized this would put them in a unique position:

1. Few teams had much wiggle room to add even a bit of salary for 2012, much less take on huge money for multiple players both now and into the future.

2. Many teams were looking to jettison their bad deals.

That is how the Dodgers were able to get Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins, who went from avid buyers in the offseason to July sell-off mode. And it is how they obtained Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and roughly a quarter of a billion dollars of future contracts from a Red Sox team anxious to cleanse its payroll and clubhouse.

But it also is what led to a phone conversation with the Yankees about Sabathia (four years at $99 million left after this season) and Teixeira (four years, $90 million left after this season). The Yanks told Dodgers executives they had no interest in moving either.

However, the more interesting concept is Alex Rodriguez. Now there are no signs the Dodgers were interested in A-Rod. Ramirez is playing short now, but they view him as their long-term third baseman with the currently injured Dee Gordon at short. And it is not hard to find executives who think A-Rod would not hold up as an everyday third baseman in the DH-less NL.

But, if nothing else, this episode should dissuade us from using the word “untradeable” to describe any contract. In Crawford, for example, the Dodgers just took on a player who recently underwent Tommy John surgery and, thus, is no lock to be ready for next season. Crawford was miserable under a microscope in a big city in Boston. He will not play for the Dodgers this year and has five years at $102.5 million left after this season.

By comparison A-Rod has five years at $114 million left after this season, has a fading body and is a polarizing figure. Plus, he is six years older than Crawford.

Nevertheless, you could make a case for a Yankees-Dodgers winter deal involving A-Rod:

From the Dodgers perspective, they no longer are owned by penny-squeezing Frank McCourt. Not only is the extremely wealthy Guggenheim group in charge, but the Dodgers have a potential record cable deal looming. In advance of that negotiation, they have shown money is no object in assembling a star-driven Hollywood blockbuster. A-Rod is nothing if not a huge name.

Remember, the Yankees re-signed A-Rod to his 10-year, $275 million deal with YES in mind, thinking they would be able to do extra programming and add extra revenue as Rodriguez chased the all-time homer record. That is why they were willing to put $30 million of homer milestone bonuses into that deal. Of course, Rodriguez subsequently was outed as a steroid cheat, which has poisoned the allure of his homer chase.

Still, he remains a productive player, a massive star and could conceivably play third while Ramirez retains short. So far the Dodgers have shown such audacity in adding salaries and stars that they have been dubbed the Yankees of the West Coast. But several executives with whom I have spoken have said to stop thinking even in Yankees terms with a version of the Dodgers acting so far out of the major league mainstream — namely in their willingness to deal top prospects and take on onerous, long-term contracts in the same trade. Until these executives see restraints, they believe it is possible that the Dodgers would be willing to take their payroll to $250 million — or beyond.

Ironically, the Yankees would love to move A-Rod for payroll reasons. Specifically, they are vowing to get under the $189 million luxury tax threshold for 2014 and Rodriguez is the biggest hurdle. He counts as $27.5 million toward the payroll each year and any time he receives $6 million for reaching a prescribed homer milestone, that also counts. Removing that would make it far easier for the Yanks to stay below $189 million while still re-signing Robinson Cano long-term, and possibly Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher, too; plus making sure the rotation stays stocked, especially if the low-cost duo of Michael Pineda and Manny Banuelos never materialize as high-end starters.

A-Rod, though, has a no-trade provision — as do Sabathia and Teixeira — and has always said he would not leave New York. But he pretty much splits his time between Miami and Los Angeles in the offseason, and if he were to accept deals anywhere, those would be the most logical locales.

For now, though, this is all just fantasy baseball. Of course, the Dodgers seem to be playing just that these days.

joel.sherman@nypost.com