Robinson Cano and Masahiro Tanaka remain at the center of the Yankees’ offseason plans, but the team isn’t ignoring other areas that require improvement.
And there is always a chance Cano — who hasn’t dropped his wish for a 10-year, $310 million deal — could wait too long for the Yankees, who have multiple needs that could be filled via free agency, and thus exhaust their dollars as they attempt to get their 2014 payroll to below $189 million.
According to industry sources, the Yankees are engaged with free agents Brian McCann, Omar Infante (Cano’s possible replacement), Johnny Peralta, Stephen Drew, Shin Soo-Choo and Carlos Beltran. They would like to bring back Hiroki Kuroda and will be major players if Tanaka eventually gets posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan.
The Post has also learned the Yankees have an interest in bringing back the popular and productive Raul Ibanez to be the DH against right-handed pitching.
Some voices within the organization believe it was a mistake to let Ibanez leave following the 2012 season, when Ibanez grew impatient waiting and signed for a second stint with the Mariners.
The Yankees eventually inked Travis Hafner to a one-year deal worth $2 million. After a solid April (.318 batting average, six homers and 17 RBIs) the often-injured left-handed hitter with no position experienced a right shoulder problem that eventually limited him to 82 games and only one after July 26. He finished the season hitting .202 with 12 homers, 37 RBIs and a .679 OPS. Hafner went hitless in his final 23 at-bats.
Ibanez, who will be 42 in June, made $2.75 million last year with Seattle, and hit .242 with 29 homers, 65 RBIs and a .793 OPS in 124 games. He was far more than a DH, playing 97 games in left field and hitting 21 homers and driving in 46 runs while playing the outfield.
The Yankees don’t need Ibanez, a career .276 hitter with a .809 OPS across 18 seasons, to play the outfield. Even if they don’t land Choo or Beltran, they have Alfonso Soriano in left, Brett Gardner in center and Ichiro Suzuki in right. Any additions would allow the Yankees to trade Suzuki.
And it’s not as if Ibanez can’t handle lefty pitching. In 73 games last season he batted .244 with eight homers, 18 RBIs and posted a .802 OPS. Against right-handers, he hit .242 with 21 homers, 47 RBIs and a .790 OPS.
As for the catching market, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and McCann had to like the Phillies keeping Carlos Ruiz with a three-year, $26 million deal Monday. Ruiz will be 35 in January. Saltalamacchia will be 29 in May, McCann 30 in February.
In 92 games, Ruiz had 21 extra-base hits with a .688 OPS while Saltalamacchia had 54 extra-base hits and a .804 OPS in 121 games and McCann had 33 and a .796 OPS in 102 games.
Ruiz’s deal makes him the fourth highest paid catcher in terms of average annual value behind Buster Posey ($18.56 million), Yadier Molina ($15 million) and Miguel Montero ($12 million). Some believe McCann will do better than Molina’s five-year, $75 million pact.
“It shows catching, especially good catching, is hard to find,’’ McCann’s agent, B.B. Abbott, said of Ruiz’s deal. “If it shows anything it shows you are going to have to pay to get it. [McCann] is going to have a healthy market.’’