Via Jon Heyman, the Yankees offered Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechevarria an $8.5M contract, but he instead took $10M from the Blue Jays. We don’t know how that money would have been distributed – how big was the signing bonus, what was the year-to-year breakdown, etc. – but the largest signing bonus the Yankees have ever given to a young prospect (meaning Hideki Irabu and Jose Contreras don’t count) was the $3.35M they gave Andrew Brackman two-plus years ago. The Red Sox gave Jose Iglesias a $6M bonus, and I’d have to think Hechevarria would have cleared that.
You can always tell how much a team likes a player by how much they’re willing to pay him, and clearly the Yanks’ had a ton of interest in the rail-thin Hechevarria. Can’t blame them for not trying, that’s a tremendous offer.