Last week, we dug into the uncomfortable truth that the Yankees might have to get creative in order to keep two essential players, DJ LeMahieu and Zack Britton.

With less than three days to go until the team must decide what to do about Britton, here’s a new suggestion: Work out a contract extension with Britton that lowers his salary for 2021 in exchange for another guaranteed year.

Here is the basic problem: The Yankees owe Britton $13 million next season and have until Friday to exercise Britton’s $14 million option for 2022. If they decline to do so, Britton can choose to become a free agent.

LeMahieu, one of the best hitters in the sport, is expected to seek at least $20 million per year on the free agent market.

If the Yankees want to get under the $210 million luxury tax -- and we believe that they do -- they have about $30 million to spend on players this offseason. Britton and LeMahieu add up to more than that.

A Britton extension under the terms suggested is one way to get around this problem. A salary reduction for next season, while certainly not merited by his performance, would allow the Yankees more short-term flexibility. In exchange, Britton would have his age-35 season guaranteed in 2023.

For the Yankees, it would be a small gamble that industry and team revenue will improve after the pandemic finally ends. With no fan in attendance this past season, and next year very much in question, clubs are exercising mass layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.

By 2023, perhaps they can slightly overpay a reliever without worrying as much about it.

Britton's agent, Scott Boras, did not immediately respond to a message asking if he and Britton are willing to renegotiate.

One league source speculated that Boras could argue that, even in a depressed economy, this season proved once again the value of high-end relievers, and that Britton would do well in free agency.

If this does not work, the Yankees could pick up Britton’s option and try the same strategy with LeMahieu. For months, sources have said that a reunion between the Yanks and LeMahieu is likely. What if he took a lower salary for 2021 in exchange for a fifth year, or an attainable vesting option?

Tangentially, these questions make it harder to imagine the Yankees re-signing free agents Brett Gardner and Masahiro Tanaka.

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