The Yankees will gladly take Don Mattingly back - as long as he is willing to take a significant pay cut. The club's top decision-makers, meeting this week in Tampa, believe they can save a potential public-relations disaster by keeping their captain while still saving a few bucks.

The Yankees are prepared to make Mattingly an offer, but he shouldn't expect anything close to the $4.02 million he made this past season. If he can be re-signed for about $1.5 million, club officials figure they can free some money to concentrate on their obvious starting-pitching problem.

New general manager Bob Watson and new manager Joe Torre have been briefed the past few days about club personnel, and Watson conceded there is more to Mattingly than his .288 batting average and seven home runs. Way more. "There's more to this equation than just hitting and catching and fielding," Watson said. "It's a big equation." In other words, the Yankees realize losing Mattingly could become a publicity bomb that would make the Buck Showalter mess look like nothing.

Watson said he hopes to meet soon with Mattingly and that "if he doesn't want to come to [us], we'll meet somewhere in the middle." Watson was speaking about location, but he could have been talking about dollars as well.

"I understand he has an interest in playing for the Yankees," Watson said, "and at this point, we want to talk to him and see what his thoughts are."

The Yankees hope they can retain Mattingly at a modest cost so their big bucks can be targeted for free-agent starting pitchers. However, if Mattingly can't be re-signed, the next first-base option would be Fred McGriff, a free agent with big power. The whole first-base situation could become somewhat dicey because both Mattingly and McGriff are represented by Tampa-based agent Jim Krivacs. Krivacs did not return calls yesterday.

While the Mattingly situation will be closely watched, Watson reiterated that pitching and middle defense are the keys to any club. To that end, the Yankees will pursue free-agent catcher Mike Stanley and free-agent pitcher David Cone, and possibly pitcher Jack McDowell, another of their many star free agents. However, they have yet to make any offers to free agents, their own or others, Watson said.

Because Jimmy Key, Melido Perez and Dwight Gooden come with major question marks, the Yankees can't go through the winter without signing at least one free-agent starting pitcher. Other top starters available through free agency include Kenny Rogers, Jim Abbott, Ken Hill, Ramon Martinez, Chuck Finley and Jaime Navarro. However, the Yankees seem more inclined to try to retain Cone and / or McDowell than go after the others because they know those two can win in New York.

Watson said, "First we have to decide what we have before we look at other free agents." According to Watson, the club's payroll, which led baseball at $55 million (counting the contracts of Cone and Ruben Sierra), will be "south of that" this coming season. However, Watson would not say if the Yankees need to go below $50 million, too.

It is believed the Yankees see third base as a spot for saving money. Sources have indicated they most likely will give prospect Russ Davis a chance, which means the still-productive Wade Boggs, 37, may have to go elsewhere.

While Pat Kelly was a major disappointment at second base, there is no guarantee the Yankees will heavily pursue either of the two top free-agent second basemen, Roberto Alomar or Craig Biggio. Biggio's agent, Barry Axelrod, said his client, a Long Island native, would be excited to play at home. Baltimore is the favorite to sign Alomar, while Colorado and St. Louis are expected to go after Biggio.

It seems the Yankees have other priorities. The Yankees can't possibly offer arbitration to Kelly, who made slightly more than $1 million this past season, but may ask him back at a lower rate or find a cost-effective replacement.

Watson will fly to Puerto Rico to monitor Darryl Strawberry's outfield progress. However, it will have to be mighty special to convince the Yankees to pick up his $1.8-million option.

Buck Interviews. Buck Showalter spent the past four days listening to three teams make a pitch for his services, including the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks. He met with Tigers general manager Randy Smith in San Diego Friday, traveled to Oakland for an interview with Athletics GM Sandy Alderson Saturday and finished the whirlwind tour in Phoenix yesterday.

The former Yankees manager attended a Suns game with owner Jerry Colangelo Sunday night and met with senior vice president Roland Hemond, Diamondbacks president Richard Dozer and general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. yesterday afternoon. Arizona figures to be a longshot for Showalter because the team does not begin play until 1998, but Colangelo seemed willing to make him an enticing offer.

It would have to be lucrative for the 39-year-old manager to sit out next season. Showalter spurned a two-year contract worth $1.05 million from Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, a deal that Joe Torre accepted last week. The Tigers still appear to be the frontrunner, and Smith will interview a fourth candidate, Davey Lopes, this week before making a decision. Indians coach Buddy Bell and Rangers coach Jerry Narron are the other candidates. Showalter was scheduled to return home to Pensacola, Fla., yesterday and did not return calls. By Jon Heyman. STAFF WRITER

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