While the Yankees are willing to wait until Oct. 31 for Joe Girardi to accept their offer to remain as manager because he can’t go anywhere else until the next day, they had an ear pointed toward Major League Baseball and Players Association offices Monday.
And it had nothing to do with Alex Rodriguez, whose appeal hearing last week produced a carnival atmosphere at MLB’s Park Avenue offices.
The Post confirmed MLB is looking into Dodgers part owner Magic Johnson’s remarks last week in Atlanta about Robinson Cano, who will easily be the biggest name in the free-agent pool following the World Series.
“Though I can’t talk about it, that other guy in New York is going to get paid,” Johnson said. “Not by us, but he’s going to get paid.”
Even though Johnson didn’t mention Cano by name, he clearly eliminated the deep-pocketed Dodgers from the field of teams Cano can expect offers from. MLB frowns on clubs talking about players on other teams still under contract.
And the union isn’t taking Johnson’s comments lightly.
“The Players Association is aware of the comments made by Magic Johnson, as well as comments made by others, about Robinson Cano and other prominent, pending free agents, including Jacoby Ellsbury and Shin-Soo Choo. We see this a serious matter and monitoring the issue closely,’’ the Players Association said in an e-mail to The Post Monday evening.
While MLB isn’t expected to severely discipline Johnson, a neophyte when it comes to baseball protocol, it does take tampering issues seriously.
Cano, who asked the Yankees for a 10-year deal worth $310 million, becomes a free agent after the final out of the World Series. The Yankees would like to keep their best player on a seven-year pact in the area of $170 million.
Several baseball executives believe Cano will remain a Yankee no matter how much money is offered by another team, because the Yankees are all he knows.
Asked last week about Cano by The Post, Johnson said, “You can’t have two guys, I mean, come on man, anybody who knows numbers. A year from now, two, here comes Hanley [Ramirez]. We’ve got guys we need to keep. When it is all said and done, the numbers probably don’t add up.’’
The Dodgers also need money to re-sign ace left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
As for Girardi, there was nothing new Monday, according to several people with knowledge of the situation. The Yankees offered Girardi a contract last week believed to be for three years and north of $12 million. It could include bonuses that would get him to the $15 million mark.
Even though other clubs can’t talk to Girardi until his contract expires on Halloween, the Cubs, who are willing to wait, believe they will get a chance to chat with the 48-year-old manager at some point and are willing to bestow more years and dollars on the former Cubs catcher.
For that to happen before Oct. 31, Girardi would have to inform the Yankees he isn’t coming back to the team he has managed for the past six years. The Yankees won the World Series in 2009 under Girardi, who missed the postseason in 2008 and this past season.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the White Sox will be serious bidders if Curtis Granderson, a Chicago native, hits the free-agent market. The Yankees are expected to make Granderson a qualifying offer of approximately $13.8 million after the season. If he accepts, he becomes a signed player. If he rejects it and goes to another team, the Yankees get a draft pick as compensation.