3 free agents Yankees will absolutely not be signing

2. Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor, a second baseman/center field hybrid with postseason bonafides, is available. The Yankees need additional outfield help, and could use a roving DJ LeMahieu-type.

And yet … six or seven teams are connected to Taylor, none of them the Bombers. It’s simply not going to happen.

The future Taylor deal already feels like one that will seem too expensive from April through September, and then seem just right all October long. Perhaps the Yankees want to “fortify” center by going big or going home with a Byron Buxton trade? Maybe they believe in Aaron Hicks too much to brush him aside, and will use Joey Gallo in center if need be?

Regardless, a Taylor contract will either be a significant overpay as the regression stick hits — something that will definitely happen if he goes to, say, Seattle or Philly — or another pitch-perfect use of $15 million on a team that prioritizes October heart over anything else.

That’s why we, uh, don’t really want him to go to the Red Sox. Boston seems like a front-runner, as we speak.

There’s not much in-between with Taylor. It’ll either be a tough-to-handle Year 3 and Year 4 for whichever team pays the man with 107 and 110 OPS+ marks in his two recent full 162-game seasons, or it’ll be the type of move that makes anguished rivals grunt, “God, roster-building is so easy. Of course that worked.”

Either way, the Yankees won’t be the team finding out. They’ve already been lapped in the process.