GM Brian Cashman says the Yankees anxiously await the next collective bargaining agreement, and says that previous CBAs have “crippled” them, writes George A. King III of the New York Post.

“The previous CBAs have really hindered us, so I think the next one is something we’re clearly going to be interested in on how it will impact us over the entire course of the term of the contract,” Cashman says. “In the short term, I don’t think it will affect how we do business in 2017. The last few have impacted us exactly as they were expected to and why it was done the way it was. Lot of teams benefited significantly.”

Cashman is referring to the Yankees’ uncharacteristically quiet approach to free agency last season (when they didn’t sign a single big-league free agent), as well as “a lot of the international markets I’ve been taken out of,” presumably including the Yankees’ restrictions on international bonus spending for 2015 and 2016 after their spending spree in 2014. This winter, the Yankees are expected to spend more heavily on the free agent market than they have in the recent past.

Cashman adds that he is excited about top prospect Gleyber Torres, who the Yankees acquired when they sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs and who recently won the MVP of the Arizona Fall League at the tender age of 19.

“When I was out there for the GM meetings, I went to see him play and the buzz among all the baseball people, the scouts and front office execs alike was ’this is the best player in the league,'” Cashman says. “And he was the youngest player in the league, so that’s pretty exciting to hear.”

In the 2016 regular season, Torres batted .254/.341/.385 for Class A+ Tampa. Despite his outstanding .403/.513/.645 showing in Arizona, Cashman says Torres will start the 2017 season with Double-A Trenton. MLB.com currently rates him the Yankees’ second-best prospect, behind Clint Frazier.