Sanchez deal a luxury Yankees unlikely to spend on

BRIAN Cashman has explained the Yankees are trying an unfamiliar path for the organization with a more aggressive youth movement.

So I wondered if the Yankees would attempt something else unfamiliar — locking up young players to longterm deals well before free agency, as Cleveland recently did with Jose Ramirez, St. Louis did with Stephen Piscotty and Texas did with Rougned Odor. “It’s a bit premature,” Cashman said of his prearbitration players such as Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez. So I asked about Didi Gregorius, who can be a free agent after 2019. Cashman replied, “It’s not the same answer,” as far as it be- ing premature, but indicated no movement in that area.

Teams try to do longterm extensions to save money in the future. But the Yankees’ thoughts on doing that are complicated by a more short-term goal: They are hoping to get under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold in 2018.

For luxury-tax purposes, salary is determined by the annual average value of a contract. Someone such as Sanchez probably will make less than $1 million in 2018 because he is not yet eligible for arbitration. But say he signed a five-year, $50 million extension: The charge toward the luxury tax would be $10 million, even if he only makes $1 million in 2018 under the terms of the deal. And because if the Yankees do get under the threshold, it probably would be by not much, every dollar is going to count.

“It can be an issue,” Cashman said. “I am not saying we have confronted the issue with Hal [Stein

brenner], but that would be a hurdle to get past. I am not saying it is unsurpassable, but that [it would be] is my best guess.”