Yankees fans are ready for their Bryce Harper era to begin, as Scott Allen writes.

Every time there is a great young star with another club, the New York Yankees are linked to said player because of the team’s well-established history of spending on great stars. They landed Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson. They bid heavily on Greg Maddux, perhaps offering the most money before he signed with Atlanta. They traded for Alex Rodriguez after the Rangers realized they couldn’t really afford Rodriguez’s record-setting contract and signed CC Sabathia to a $161 million deal, crushing all bidders.

In a lot of cases, the speculation linking the Yankees to someone like Joe Mauer or Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols has turned out to be ridiculous, especially with players so young and so far from reaching free agency.

But Harper-to-the-Yankees is like baseball’s version of a Bush or Clinton running for president: The possibility seems inevitable.