Yankees general manager Brian Cashman dismissed the Gary Sanchez trade rumors, said he didn't know when Patrick Corbin would make a decision on where he would sign and commended the Mets for acquiring Robinson Cano.
Cashman called a report that suggested the Yankees were showing interest in Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto to replace Sanchez "completely false," according to the New York Post's George A. King III.
"I saw that somebody had written that we had offered for Realmuto," he said. "That is completely false.''
Though Realmuto is coming off an All-Star season after hitting .277 with 21 home runs and 74 RBIs and Sanchez struggled mightily in 2018 with a .186/.291/.406 batting line, Cashman reiterated that Sanchez would be New York's catcher on Opening Day.
"We definitely look forward to him coming back to what we saw a little bit in the postseason and what we saw in the previous years," he said.
While Cashman was adamant that the Yankees would keep Sanchez, he said he has no indication yet when Corbin, the highly-valued free-agent pitcher with whom New York met last week at Yankee Stadium, will make his decision.
Though Corbin, who has also met with the Phillies and Nationals, has family that wants him to become a Yankee, Cashman previously said his family's fandom won't play as much a role.
"Usually in this process," Cashman said last week, "the thing that's most important is ... the financial opportunities that exist at various locales weight heavily in the decision-making process."
Cashman also believes the Mets improved their team after they agreed to a seven-player trade that brought Cano back to New York and made All-Star reliever Edwin Diaz a Met.
In nine seasons in pinstripes, Cano hit .309 with 204 home runs and 822 RBIs. But he left in 2014 and signed a 10-year deal with the Mariners, with whom he hit .296 with 107 home runs and 411 RBIs. Seattle packaged him with Diaz, a 24-year-old closer who recorded 57 saves last season, and made him a Met.
"The Robbie we had here was a tremendous player," Cashman said. "He has been five years in Seattle so I can't speak to that, but I think the Mets got a great player. They are a better team today because they made the moves.''