Didi Gregorius’ free-agency conundrum could lead to Yankees reunion

Good players not only lust for the day they become free agents. They dream of being the best free agent at their position and having their pick of teams flush with millions burning holes in the corporate vault.

Half of that equation is in play for Didi Gregorius, the slick-fielding, productive shortstop the Yankees declined to offer the $17.8 million qualifying offer on Monday.

Gregorius is by far the class of the free-agent shortstop crop, despite hitting .238 with 16 homers, 61 RBIs and a .718 OPS in 82 games in a 2019 season that didn’t begin until early June because of offseason Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow.

There are two sides to Gregorius’ timing.

The market is skeletal unless anybody believes Adeiny Hechavarria, Jose Iglesias, Jordy Mercer or Chris Owings is better than Gregorius. That’s a plus for the left-handed-hitting Gregorius, who turns 30 in February.

But the two teams that might be looking for shortstops — the Reds and Brewers — aren’t among the clubs with the deepest pockets. And the Reds have veteran switch-hitting Freddy Galvis to play short. Orlando Arcia of the Brewers will play most of next year at 25 and is under control through the 2022 season. Having so many teams set at shortstop seemingly doesn’t help Gregorius.

Which leads back to the relationship between the Yankees and the man who seamlessly replaced Derek Jeter potentially continuing. Not only didn’t Gregorius crumble under the pressure of following Jeter, he thrived.

When the Yankees didn’t tag Gregorius with the $17.8 million qualifying offer, it sent two signals. One, they believed Gregorius might accept it and be a signed player for 2020, using that as a bounce-back season; he would then have become a free agent again following the 2020 season, when the QO wouldn’t be in play. Two, the Yankees might be thinking $17.8 million for one year was more than they were willing to pay, but might be agreeable to a one-year deal in the $13-14 million neighborhood. Gregorius made $11.7 million last year.

Of course, it only takes one team to make Gregorius a target and drop a multi-year deal on him that would sweep him out of The Bronx, where he is respected in the clubhouse and adored by a fanbase in love with his upbeat personality and social media presence. Not to be dismissed is that the Yankees’ strongest defensive infield was DJ LeMahieu at first, Gleyber Torres at second, Gregorius at short and Gio Urshela at third. Should Gregorius split, the Yankees could move Torres from second to short.

There is no way to sugarcoat Gregorius’ 2019 season. After hitting .268 with 27 homers, 86 RBIs and a .829 OPS in 2018, his 2019 season wasn’t good. However, as a talent evaluator who follows the Yankees regularly explained, missing spring training and more than the first two months of the season played a big part.

“I don’t think he took a step back. You have to take into account he missed a lot of time,’’ the scout said. “He should come back.’’

There might be a point there. Aaron Hicks missed almost all of spring training with a back issue and suffered through an injury-filled season in which he hit .235 with 12 homers, 36 RBIs and had a .769 OPS in 59 games. Pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel didn’t debut until June 21 and June 27, respectively, after finally signing as free agents. Keuchel was a pedestrian 8-8 with a 3.75 ERA in 19 starts for the Braves. Kimbrel had a 6.53 ERA in 23 games for the Cubs.

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