Billion-dollar plan for Yanks

Franchise will look to spend big in free agency.

About the time No. 9 hitter Christian Vazquez’s 338-foot home run disappeared over the short porch in right field and Vazquez raised his right arm in celebration rounding first base, you kind of had the feeling Game 4 of the ALDS last week wasn’t going to be the New York Yankees’ night.

Vazquez’s Yankee Stadium special in the fourth inning of Game 4 of the ALDS gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead. It felt insurmountable. It was. Barely. Boston went on to a series-clinching 4-3 victory and the Yankees’ 102-win season came to a crushing end.

The Yankees won 100 in the regular season and two in the postseason. As a wildcard team, they needed to win 10 more postseason games to bring World Series trophy No. 28 to the Bronx.

So how do they get those extra 10 wins in 2019? Simple: They go on the most historic free-agent spending spree in baseball history.

How historic? We’re going to lay out a realistic plan for the Yankees to spend a cool billion dollars this offseason. That’s “billion” with a “b.”

You are the New York Yankees. You can afford it. Your fans pay through the nose to watch this team. They cram into a ballpark that is so expensive to visit it may as well be gold-plated. They love this team and its young stars, the disappointing ALDS result notwithstanding.

Just win, baby? Sure. But first, just spend, baby.

First off, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Sign ’em both.

With dozens of moves over the past few years, the Yankees under Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman have gotten under the luxury tax threshold for the first time since the payroll penalty was instituted in 2003. They did it with this offseason in mind because the Yankees’ penalty if they go over the threshold next season resets from 50 percent to 20 percent.

You be the GM: What should the Yankees do in offseason?

This free-agent class includes two once-in-a-generation talents in the prime of their careers. Machado turned 26 on July 6. Harper turned 26 on Tuesday.

Hall of Fame caliber players just do not come onto the free-agent market at that age. The last was Alex Rodriguez, who was 25 when he signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers before the 2001 season.

So the Yankees may have to pay about three times that much — $750 million — to land Machado and Harper. They have it. How about $375 million each for the next 12 seasons? That’s an average of more than $31 million per season per player. Nice work if you can get it.

If you’re wondering where Harper and Machado would fit in the lineup, don’t wonder too long. Talent makes its own room. Harper takes over left field from Brett Gardner, who saves the Yankees $10.5 million when he is allowed to leave as a free agent, and Machado becomes the third baseman, just as his mentor A-Rod did when he joined the Yankees in 2004. Miguel Andujar, a wondrous offensive talent but a butcher at the hot corner, can move to first base.

Or, if the Yankees really want to get radical and save money to pay the two freeagent studs, they can make Andujar a near full-time designated hitter by trading Giancarlo Stanton. Let’s face it: Stanton never seemed comfortable in his first season in pinstripes. He gets mad props for staying in the lineup on a bad hamstring when Aaron Judge was hurt, but there’s just something lacking in Stanton’s overall presence. Something tells us he may approve a trade to a less pressurized market, perhaps for some prospects or a defense-first catcher or an arm or two.

Stanton’s need for DH at-bats took away an avenue the Yankees could have used for Andujar and Gary Sanchez to get more DH time. Sanchez is a special offensive talent who, in my opinion, is in danger of getting severely diminished by the mental and physical challenges of catching. Why grind a bat like that into the dust when Sanchez is never going to be more than an average catcher? And he has a long way to go to become just average.

Here’s the projected 2019 lineup: Harper LF, Judge RF, Machado 3B, Didi Gregorius SS (when he returns from Tommy John surgery), Sanchez DH, Aaron Hicks CF, Andujar 1B, Gleyber Torres 2B, DFC (defense-first catcher) C.

Steinbrenner and Cashman can figure out how to make the money work. Or we can do it for them.

Going into the offseason, key Yankee free agents include CC Sabathia, J.A. Happ, Lance Lynn, David Robertson, Zach Britton, Andrew McCutchen and Gardner (assuming his $12.5 million option with a $2 million buyout is declined). Forget about the guys the Yankees added midseason in trade. If you delete just Stanton, Gardner, Sabathia and Robertson from the 2019 payroll, that’s nearly $60 million in savings based on their current salaries. That should cover Machado and Harper’s combined 2019 salaries, give or take a few million.

The Yankees also are going to have to spend for the rotation as the only starters who are signed for next season are Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka. Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances will be back to anchor the bullpen.

Good news! The free-agent market has attractive pitchers, too, such as Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, Arizona’s Patrick Corbin and former Yankees reliever Andrew Miller. And there’s nothing that says the Yankees can’t bring back Happ, Sabathia, Robertson or Britton if the price is right.

So let’s say the Yankees shell out $250 million for a bunch of new (or returning) arms. There’s your one billion dollars.

And there’s your best chance to wipe out the horror of seeing the Red Sox celebrate at Yankee Stadium.

DUSTIN BRADFORD / GETTY IMAGES Nationals All-Star Bryce Harper, who just turned 26, could take over left field in 2019 from Brett Gardner, who saves the Yankees $10.5 million when he is allowed to leave as a free agent.

ROB CARR / GETTY IMAGES Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado, 26, could become the Yankees’ third baseman in 2019, but he could also fill in at shortstop until Didi Gregorius returns from Tommy John surgery in the summer.