Yankees should break their own rules if Mets emerge in LeMahieu chase

If the Mets prepare to overpay for DJ LeMahieu, should the Yankees remove all restrictions?

We’ve preached financial caution in the DJ LeMahieu chase before. But if it’s Steve Cohen’s New York Mets and not the Toronto Blue Jays that emerge as the Yankees’ most aggressive competitors for LeMahieu’s service, should there be rules anymore?

Should the Yanks ignore all previous mandates and simply pummel the Mets’ offer with excess cash one last time before ceding the free agent market to Mr. Cohen? Should the rule of law dissolve into the night?

In our opinion, yes.

The only excuse for chaos is the reveal that the Mets’ offer for LeMahieu fulfills all of the second baseman’s desires. If the Mets are willing to jump, the Yankees are required to ask — nay, demand — how high.

Now, let’s temper our expectations for insanity here.

How deep are the Mets in on LeMahieu? We don’t know. We do know, however, that it would’ve been agency malpractice for LeMahieu’s people not to keep the Mets in mind (or, at least, in the conversation) once Robinson Cano went down for the count.

If you don’t stir the pot and let the rumor involving the one free-spending team with a new second base hole leak throughout this process, you’ve made a grave negotiating mistake.

But if the Mets’ rumor quickly changes its tone from “contact” to “heavy interest,” then it’d be time for the Yankees to buckle down, now that their exclusive negotiating window has been forever ruined.

When it comes to the Blue Jays, you can at least make the argument that if Toronto is willing to fork over the full demand (five years and $125 million), that would likely take them out of the Francisco Lindor chase, and the Yanks might be willing to live with that tradeoff (don’t shoot the messenger).

It’s different if the Mets pull ahead, though. That’s a cross-town rival, and it will not be their final winter that features a spending spree. No “bad contract” (not that this would be one) will slow them down.

The worst-case scenario for the Yankees would be the Mets deciding to make a serious play, spending on LeMahieu, plucking themselves out of the George Springer chase, and sending that potent bat to Toronto.

By any means necessary, the Yanks have to match the Mets’ highest offer. No more mental gymnastics.

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