Time to stop dreaming of Yankees signing Corey Seager after latest report

Ken Rosenthal’s latest insider column about the free agent market is littered with so many breadcrumbs hinting the Yankees won’t pursue Corey Seager that you can basically reconstruct an entire piece of toast out of them.

As Thanksgiving approaches, it seems the only question remaining is, “Which useless stopgap will the Yankees fool themselves into signing instead?”

Will it be a trade? Will they pay pennies to a Tyler Wade knockoff? Will they dare to plug Oswald Peraza in there Day 1 after failing to trade him for Matt Olson?

Only time will tell how exactly we’ll be disappointed, but the possibility of the left-handed Seager gracing the short porch repeatedly while rocking the pinstripes seems as dead as a doornail.

Rosenthal’s latest notes weren’t intended to disappoint us, specifically. They were supposed to be a league-wide wrapup about Freddie Freeman, Marcus Semien, and all sorts of non-Yankee nonsense.

Unfortunately, though, every paragraph seemed to include a targeted attack, amounting to confirmation of Joel Sherman’s report (and the Daily News report that preceded it) claiming the Yanks are out on the league’s clearest fit.

The Yankees are really stupid enough to be out on Corey Seager.

Your anger is justifiable.

Breathe … deep breaths … should I say it? I’ll say it. There is no reason for you to be “nervous” about giving Seager $300 million. The only reason you should be “nervous” is if you’re thinking like a Yankees owner, spooked by artificial limits.

Unfortunately, by now, we’re all conditioned to fear big contracts. In reality, the Yankees can afford to dole out double the number of big contracts per year, and still have enough cash left over to finance a new All-Gold wing on the White House. If you’re scared of paying Seager, it means Yankees ownership has brain-poisoned you, too.

In the above column, Rosenthal drops so many hints about the Yankees taking themselves out of the market that he’s basically screaming.

First, he echoes the recent reporting that New York isn’t really in the deep end of the free agent pool, and is waiting for the market to crater. Then, he admits the Dodgers are the favorites to bring back Seager in the section of the article that’s intended to address a Freddie Freeman pursuit.

Then, in case it wasn’t already obvious enough where this was landing, he calls Seager “itchy” to sign before a Dec. 1 lockout. There you have it. All in a row. The Yankees are waiting for the market to collapse, the Dodgers are the clear favorite (and money’s no obstacle for them), and Seager wants to sign in the next 10 days, giving the market no time to collapse.

It’s all there for you. At least the disappointment’s going to happen quickly.

Cancel those customized “Seager” shirts for Christmas, Yankee fans. See if they can switch the name on the back to “Simmons.”

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