WATCH: What Yankees’ Brian Cashman thinks of Manny Machado’s lack of hustle

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was asked about free agent Manny Machado’s comment that he doesn’t like to hustle at the 2018 MLB GM Meetings in Carlsbad, California, on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 (11/5/18).

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CARLSBAD, Calif. — All-Star shortstop Manny Machado threw baseball into a fit when he said in an interview during the playoffs that he doesn’t like to hustle, that it’s not his “cup of tea.”

Machado, then playing for the Dodgers, was mere weeks from a free agent period that seemed oh-so-sure to nail him a payday of $300 million — or maybe even more — as a 26-year-old with a potent bat an likely still-untapped potential.

Why would Machado think that would be a good idea to admit?

And why would he want to admit it then, with so much on the line?

And why would he use the postseason as a showcase for his loafing ways, too?

Who knows what’s going on in Machado’s head.

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But Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did his best to avoid the topic Monday.

At the General Managers Meetings at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Cashman sidestepped a reporter asking what the general manager thought of a player admitting he doesn’t want to hustle.

Watch Cashman respond in the video above. Here’s his full quote:

“Can’t answer that only because it’s applying to a specific player. So I’m not going to do the roundabout. I might as well just answer it about the player then. But ever year you’re charged with trying to determine, with the available markets, who would be a good fit for your club, who you want to move forward with, and obviously who you don’t. We’ll make those determinations or will have made those determinations and will act accordingly and then make our recommendations to ownership and then ownership will always tell us what they want in the the end when they have all the information in front of them, also.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.