The Yankees have had an aggressive offseason, retaining Aaron Judge on a record free agent deal while bringing in Carlos Rodón on a six-year contract. Those additions, plus a new two-year deal for Anthony Rizzo, accomplished most of the club’s heavy lifting.
It also positioned the organization to top last year’s franchise-record spending level. New York has roughly $272MM in player payroll commitments, per Roster Resource, handily above last year’s $254.7MM figure. The club’s luxury tax number is right up against the $293MM line that marks the highest tier of CBT penalization. Roster Resource projects the organization at $292.3MM at present.
That latter number seems particularly important to the organization. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports the Yankees don’t want to exceed the $293MM threshold. Considering where their payroll stands, rigidly sticking to that goal would rule out any other notable addition unless the club finds a way to shed some money.
The Yankee roster looks strong, with Rodón replacing Jameson Taillon in the rotation for a team that won 99 regular season games and made it to the AL Championship Series. Left field seems their biggest question mark, as last summer’s deadline acquisition Andrew Benintendi departed on a five-year free agent deal with the White Sox. The Yankees currently have veteran Aaron Hicks and youngster Oswaldo Cabrera as their top left field options. Hicks has posted below-average offensive numbers for the past two seasons. Cabrera showed well as a rookie but has only 44 games of MLB experience under his belt.
Heyman reiterates the Yankees’ previously reported interest in free agent left fielder Jurickson Profar but casts doubt on their chances of actually landing him in light of the club’s payroll stance. Heyman reports that veteran utilityman Josh Harrison is also of interest — presumably as a depth infield target who could also factor into the left field mix — but even a low base salary for Harrison would figure to push them past the $293MM CBT mark.
The fourth tax tier was introduced during the most recent round of collective bargaining. Set $60MM above the season’s base figure ($233MM this year), it involves at least an 80% tax on every dollar spent past the fourth tier. Teams paying the luxury tax for a second consecutive year — as the Yankees will be — are taxed at a 90% clip on additional expenditures.
One can argue whether it’s prudent for the Yankees to treat the $293MM figure as a strict cutoff as they look to repeat as division winners in another competitive AL East. As thing stand, the club is set to pay around $29MM in CBT fees. They’re already slated to see their top selection in the 2024 draft moved back ten spots for surpassing the $273MM mark. There’d be no additional draft penalties for surpassing the fourth threshold, though the financial disincentives are even higher. The Yankees certainly haven’t been frugal this winter, guaranteeing upwards of $570MM overall and pushing to second in 2023 spending. The crosstown Mets have proven thoroughly undeterred by the final tax tier, running a CBT payroll north of $360MM that’s easily the league’s highest.
A club’s competitive balance tax figure isn’t calculated until the end of a season. The Yankees could go above $293MM during the offseason while subsequently dipping below that threshold before year’s end. Alternatively, they could stick below the marker for now but reconsider going over at the summer trade deadline if they’re in contention as expected.
If that threshold is truly the line in the sand, trades would be the primary means of clearing additional breathing room. New York would surely welcome the opportunity to reallocate some of the $25MM CBT hit on the Josh Donaldson deal or the $10MM number of Hicks’ contract, but they’ve seemingly found little interest around the league. Players like Gleyber Torres or Isiah Kiner-Falefa would draw more interest if New York wanted to make them available, though doing so would obviously deal a hit to their infield depth. Starter Frankie Montas is making $7.5MM and may have been a potential trade target after the club added Rodón; that’d be tougher to do now that Montas is a couple months behind schedule because of continued shoulder troubles.
yankees need to cut the nonsense and spend whatever it takes to win.
Exactly. It’s only 90% over the limit not a total of payroll. So if they give Harrison $3-$4 million it $5.7-$7.6m. Big whoop for a team with championship aspirations. Especially, if Volpe or Peraza struggles and someone like Torres goes down with injury. The Rodon signing was foolish with his injury history. I have no doubt the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI Tube will be renamed in his honor before his contract is up. Benintendi and Manaea (check his NYC stats) would have been far better and cheaper signings.
also the donaldson trade was the most unnecessary trade in recent memory
I would take him on the Orioles
I would never take Donaldson on the Orioles. We have so many infielders. We don’t need a 37 year old one who is about completely cooked.
The Giants might take most of his contract if the Yankees are willing to package him with
a real prospect.
I think it’s great that the Yankees want to try to stay under the luxury tax. If they go slightly over it, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. Hal obviously is no George though. Lol.
Should have gotten cashman fired
The Padres’ Galvis trade was more unnecessary.
“New York would surely welcome the opportunity to reallocate some of the $25MM CBT hit on the Josh Donaldson deal or the $10MM number of Hicks’ contract, but they’ve seemingly found little interest around the league.”
Hey Giants’ Farhan, make the trade along with a couple of top Yankee prospects. Giants have enough cap space
Alternate headline: “First World Problems”
I don’t hate this, some Yankees fans have been asking for more focus on scouting and development and you don’t get those higher draft picks with ludicrous spending habits. It shouldn’t take 300M to win a World Series.
Truth bomb. The Astros won and didn’t even spend $200 million. Fire Cashman and hire Jeff Luhnow. That’d piss off you Yankee fans
I don’t know why this app has duplicated my comment but trust me when I tell you this, firing Cashman and hiring a World Series winning GM wouldn’t piss off a single soul in New York.
Who really cares anything about the Astros? It definitely seems like your on the wrong thread, truthfully.
I’m a FAN of the game. Certainly not the wrong thread for me
Brian Cashman as GM and not spending $300MM or so to win a WS are mutually exclusive ideas. The team has to spend in order to compensate for Cashman’s mistakes.
Moreover, I don’t really care if they spend $500MM. It’s about winning, plain and simple. I want the Yankees to be in the WS and win as often as possible.
Hey clipper, good evening to you, unfortunately you and Steinbrenner are not in agreement on this. We know that steinnbrenner cares little about winning, it’s about making money. Plain and simple. If you cared about winning World Series, Cashman would’ve been gone long time ago.
True Doc. Honestly, after hearing him talk, I think he would say he wants it to be equitable, even if that means the Yankees are left behind. It’s someone who doesn’t appreciate what it means to have no rabid fanbase like Goerge contended with. George saw the lean years, the down years. Hal walked into a dynasty. They keep doing this crap and they will lose money. Perhaps then he will care, or perhaps he will be happier that the standards are being progressively lowered.
That is quite true clipper
Have you seen that local TV deal, and what they charge for tickets? Its impossible for the most world renowned team, in the largest media market, to lose money. The money the NYY pocket goes well beyond anything the small markets get accused of.
Yankee’s operating income (how much they made) pre tax.
2017 – $14M;
2018 – $29M
2019 – $35M
2020 – lost $190M
2021 – lost $40M
Steinbrenner hasn’t been the highest paid in the organization for awhile now. And also lost $230M the last two seasons. Impossible to loss money you say?
Weak!
Paying an extra 5 mil in taxes doesn’t impact scouting. More focus on scouting doesn’t mean any real fans wanted less spent on payroll to do it or to leave a contending team incomplete to save 5 or 10 million.
Do you buy every single excuse you hear?
Have you heard of a budget? If spending an extra 5MM on the roster, and you stick to budget, that money has to come from somewhere. Removing $5MM from the scouting budget could do a lot of damage.
I have.
Have you ever heard of a multi billion dollar corporation that picked random budget figures out of their rear end & used it as an excuse to not finish building their store/factory or workforce?
Don’t pull out the word budget and pretend that enough or that it means this is a question of signing a left fielder or fully funding the scouting department.
Why yes I have, I just saw Google eliminate 12,000 jobs, experienced executives on down. Twitter 8,000. My company cut 1,000. 3 weeks ago.
For the record, the Yankees revenue last year was $600M…
See the operating income numbers from the past 5 years. If the players really want to win, why don’t they give back 5% of their contract. If Judge really wants to win, why didn’t he ask for $35M instead of $40M?
I don’t know how you think you got their operating income figures. The Yankees aren’t public. The Braves are though. Take a look at those.
In no world are the Yankees in a worse financial situation than that club.
BStrowman… According to Forbes… Found 2 other sources with similar data.
forbes.com/teams/new-york-yankees/?sh=3a2eca0a4e6e
It’s having patience. New York doesn’t give kids time to develop. They haven’t won in how many years. Let them buy and try a young kid
I don’t hate this. I have long been calling for more focus on scouting and development as opposed to trying to fix all your problems with money. It shouldn’t take 300M to win a World Series, and if it does that automatically disqualifies 20 out of 30 teams from getting a ring which is abysmal for the growth of the sport. Eventually something must be done about the disparities regarding financial might in free agency. I don’t know about you but I would love to see the Pirates, Reds, A’s, Rays, Guardians, Rockies etc be perennial contenders too!
The problem is Cashman falls in love with prospects that don’t pan out ie Sanchez, Bird, Frazier, Andujar etc etc and let’s so many valuable role players go for nothing Garrett, Torrens, Estrada etc. His talent evaluation has a lot to be desired. His main problem is his need to always look like an immediate winner in every trade. I was shocked at the Bader trade until Montas happened. I am sure he was confident it was going to happen first. It’s time for him to go. He isn’t horrible but his strength has always been with money and Hal keeps him handcuffed with that now.
Just do the Ottavino trade again. Staple an interesting arm who can’t start but has the stuff to develop into late inning relief, to IKF while paying some of his salary down. Bring in some boring LF option that way.
Aggressive off-season? The add was Rodón and they subtracted Taillon. Track record of the two is about the same although Rodon gets more press for strikeouts. They also lost Carpenter and Benintendi. But the east coast press plays all this up as aggressive off-season. I guess not losing Judge was aggressive.
Yes, it’s not well written in that way. The Yankees treaded water, all things considered.
People always forget this, but we also lost another pretty good pitcher, Montgomery. We gained Rodon, who has his own injury history, and apparently a damaged goods Montas. So it remains to be seen whether we actually improve the team or worsened it. The offense is unchanged, other than Judge who will not have as good a year as he did last year. And this was our area of weakness.
If you’re counting Montgomery as a loss, don’t forget to include Bader in the gains.
Stymee: That is a good point. Monty was a loss, but I’d do that trade every single time for Bader because we needed a CF, and Bader is awesome defensively. That was an excellent acquisition by Cashman – an outlier for sure. Cashman also got very, very lucky with that trade as the rotation was falling to pieces at the same time.
Pitching makes the world go round. He was a good get, but Montgomery a puzzling loss.
Replacing Taillon with Rodon essentially was an upgrade, but they’re basically the same team last year that embarrassed themselves against Houston. I still can’t believe they were so desperate to get rid of Sanchez for something that they talked themselves into taking on a guy that used to be josh donaldson for that much money.
I get that craven,But that’s on paper, it remains to be seen whether he will be an upgrade for the Yankees. Cashman success with these deals has not been very successful specially of late
It’s not enough. This lineup stinks. It’s not enough. They should have paid benni.
Gallo and Benni, how many prospects and zero return. I have a feeling montas will be next on the list
I think owners that are slum lord’s should be forced to sell! They are all billionaires!? WTF? I’m not even a Yankee fan.
bj – Nice rant but you make no sense other than you don’t like people who are wealthy. I’ve never worked for a poor guy and I bet you haven’t either.
292 should be more than enough to win. Everybody in the AL spends far less.
Not sure why anyone would want to play in front of that trash fan base anyways. Most classless fans in all of sports.
Thanks for the pithy insight Mr. Clickbait. #viveleempireevil
@Rocker49- There ain’t no bigger trash then the Trashtro’s and their fans. Stop being delusional and stop trolling, fool!
I am anticipating angry fans complaining that the Yankees don’t spend enough money and that all teams need to blow through luxury tax thresholds. Money is infinite. Spend it all now! Rage!!! I see this with spoiled Rangers’ fans too, and probably every team has these guys. Once you open the wallet, you can’t stop.
What I see is the urge for fans to throw good money after bad… To make up for previous poor decisions. That’s the thing with big long contracts, fans love them when they’re signed, grumble when they’re eating $40M in bad payroll. I’m guessing in 4 years Yankee fans are going to have another $40M contract going south.
While I agree that most owners should spend more, no team needs to spend over 300M. That’s ludicrous. Good for the Mets and all that though, but I don’t fault owners who spend a lot, but draw a line.
I agree on the second part. Maybe 5-8 teams need to spend more. The rest need to spend less.
I definitely feel teams should be forced to spend $200 million or more, since all owners have the $ to do so. This is all entertainment, and the all the fans deserve no less. I hate seeing teams like the Reds and the Athletics falling apart because their not spending any money.
@captainjudge
This is absolutely stupidity. The orioles, pirates, and reds etc. do not have revenues to support 200 million dollars payrolls.
Idiots will agree with you though
What is the limit you’d place on a team’s financial loss in a year… $50M? $100M? $200M?
Reds don’t have the money nor the market. Athletics don’t own their stadium, and are trying to get the city to cooperate for a new one. Maybe if the large market teams, like the Yankees, hadn’t cried poor during the pandemic, and eliminated the competitive balance money to the small markets, those teams would not have needed to borrow, and would have recovered quicker, spending more on payroll now.
Shared TV revenue.
The Yankees are projected to have a $293M payroll and still they have glaring holes in LF and at 3B. The problem isn’t that the Yankees don’t spend enough, but rather Cashman doesn’t spend wisely. Couple that with Cashman’s checkered record when it comes to drafting and developing talent within the system (in particular pitching) and the organization’s inept use of analytics and it’s no wonder that the Astros (and teams like the shoe string budget Rays) give the Yankees fits over the past several seasons.
Mike_Divi;
I’ve been a huge critic of the Yankees under Hal Cashman.
But the truth is that they turned the corner when they fired Rothschild and hired Matt Blake as a pitching coach.
They made a great move by finally dumping Sanchez and brining in Jose Trevino to catch. He truly manages the game, the pitching staff, and throws behind runners after a pitch if they veer too far off base (there may be a limit on how many times a pitcher can throw over to 1B, does that apply to catchers as well?). His offense is fine for a quality catcher.
Now the Yankees are bringing up solid middle infield defenders that can play other positions as well. Oswald Peraza can play a majority of the games at SS until Anthony Volpe comes up…and even then Volpe may wind up at 2B as Peraza looks like a future GG SS which is exceptional. That leaves Oswaldo Cabrera and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to play some LF and 3B, and if LeMahieu is healthy he can also play some 3B as well as 1B and DH.
So the endless complaining about 3B and LF is nonsensical.
The only question I see going into the season is Harrison Bader. If he’s healthy the man will play a superlative CF – always has. But he does go on streaks good and bad with his hitting (as he did in the 2022 playoffs), although as Cardinal fans will tell you, it’s more the bad hitting streaks that cause a problem.
Hicks, Gleyber, and Donaldson will probably be phased off the roster in 2022.
What a pile!
He’s going to phase out Donaldson who was traded for after supposedly turning the corner? Are you a new baseball fan or just confused?
emac22;
Yes. and clean up your language pooper.
That’s exactly what they’ll do in 2023 if Donaldson doesn’t produce. He’s not going to block 4-5 guys from getting more playing time. The Yankees are used to eating bad contracts. Donaldson only plays if there are multiple injuries and/or bad seasons form those guys…..and if he plays like he played last year they may well bring someone else in.
MLB is a playoff league. That guy has next to no chance to make the Yankees playoff roster in 2023 unless he does a 180.
I’ve been watching MLB for over 60 years, kid. I’ve read your posts and understand why you don’t understand mine.
Donaldson only plays if he’s producing. They won’t pull a productive player but his leash is going to be short with young guys that are pretty much ready to come up waiting.
JD’s career is about over. Maybe he has 1 last gasp this year…..Big maybe.
60 years and you still don’t know what you’re watching?
That’s sad.
emac22;
Donaldson sucked last year and everyone watching knows that…..
Except for you.
Troll.
Mute.
Just curious Samuel, but what do you mean when you say “MLB is a playoff league” ?? What other kind of league could it be? Isn’t that the point of any league, to make the playoffs?
Hal loves to create and honor artificial budget restrictions, weakening his team.
It’s embarrassing. The past four seasons they’ve refused to go over the bottom tier, or stay just over it, unnecessarily. Then, after burning through 1/2 of your team’s stars’ primes, you finally spend more, only to re-sign two guys and sign one pitcher.
The article is somewhat misleading as the difference between last season’s payroll number and this season’s payroll number is attributed to one guy: Aaron Judge. That’s the twenty million difference.
So while it seems they’ve been aggressive, they’ve largely treaded water with one exception: Rodon. That’s all they’ve done….Rodon.
The Yankees have numerous young players that can contribute this year.
Peraza, Volpe, Cabrera. Hell maybe even Florial or Sweeney. There’s others that have a shot to contribute also.
Let’s see what they look like. You don’t have to buy buy buy just because you’re NY. Worst thing you can do is add deadweight salary that winds up like Donaldson when you have young guys that can potentially step in for the minimum.
The Astros didn’t miss much going from Correa to Jeremy Peña.
Strowman: You’re correct in everything you wrote. Here’s my problem with the Yankees. They wouldn’t have to buy more if they made better obvious choices to begin with. Also, the only reason they have to buy anywhere near the level they do is because of Brian Cashman’s repeated mistakes. Moreover, Hal continues to employ Cashman in the same position on a never ending contract despite the financial conflicts he’s caused.
But, most importantly, imho, is that the Astros have been the better team for five seasons in a row. If they were going to test the youth theory (like they’re doing in ‘23) they should’ve experimented with it during the second half of last season so they knew what they had in some of these kids. They should not be risking yet another prime season to discover if they’re better or worse than the Astros – 6 seasons later!
They are the team in the best position to *ensure* they are better than the Astros by utilizing their greatest resource wisely (money). So, in effect they created their own budgetary problems by doing the same thing over and over, taking in bad or bloated contracts despite the negative future impact/implications it had on their budget, and are now without a MLB starting LF in the roster, a 3B who cannot hit, and a vacant SS position for the third season in a row. All with nearing $300MM for the roster. The reason? Cashman treats each year as independent and addresses only what he’s forced to that year. There’s no long-term cohesive strategy.
Also, one key note here too. They’re losing a bunch of personnel (thus substantial money off the books) over the next three seasons. So although the spending looks unacceptably high in ‘23, it only serves as a transition year to fill positions that will be vacated in ‘24-26.
Sorry for the diatribe, but the Yankees frustrate me in so many ways. They create their own problems and then blame their new issues on the very problems they created. But, they change nothing, acting as if it were some outside force, an act of God that intervened….
This^^^
Isn’t Peraza, your future gold glove SS, written into the SS position? Are you now changing your mind and saying the SS position is vacant?
The deadline is open if the young guys prove to not be ready. Cabrera was given a shot and looked good. Peraza too in a short sample.
Let’s circle back in July and see where they are. If those guys aren’t the solution just yet—they’ll make a deal. I’m confident of that. You can acquire talent at that point for salary relief. I don’t really buy into the crap that they won’t add payroll if it’s necessary. I believe they don’t want to add payroll that might be unnecessary right now,
Yeah, you’re probably right, honestly. I’ve lost confidence in their willingness to go for the kill, so to speak. It’s like MMA or boxing, some guys (Vitor Belfort & Mike Tyson respectively) have that killer instinct, the skills and desire to finish off an opponent when you’ve got the upper hand. I just haven’t seen that under this new Yankees ownership & Cashman.
But hopefully they’ll do something. Honestly, I’m even fine with the young guys. But to play Aaron Hicks is inexcusable.
Yeah. Cohen is making it seem like the Yankees aren’t putting a team out there too.
They’re spending a ton of money right now. Throwing more down the hatch when you have young guys that are waiting probably isn’t the best strategy. Benintendi was really no better than Cabrera in NY last year. He just would’ve cost them a lot more money. (And probably turned into Aaron Hicks in a few years)
As long as Judge repeats his 2022 they should be able to make the playoffs.
I guess 2022 wasn’t “unacceptable” after all.
As an A’s fan, I’ll be grateful if they ever come close to approaching the first luxury tax tier.
Yeah, you’ll never see that unless they relocate. Even at that, probably would take new ownership to come in to see that happen.
Yankees would have to fold the franchise if they were limited to the first tier.
Luckily there’s a former Cy Young Award winner in his prime – like Bauer, who can be had for the league minimum. The Yankees are too woke to actually make the right baseball move, though. Yet Chapman and his checkered past was kosher for them, and he actually cost money, I truly wonder why that’s okay but Bauer isn’t? Strange.
Another question, why on Earth did they trade Gio/Sanchez for Donaldson? Donaldson’s character was questionable, a MVP a half decade ago sure, decreasing bat speed and D – before the trade. They indirectly helped Correa at the time and the Twins. What a waste of money. They could’ve non-tendered Sanchez and kept Gio and saved tens of millions, especially if money is an issue. The cost of an actual impact piece. Poor management at all levels, all given new contacts – sad!
Redneck, the answer to that is they probably thought they could find a trading partner for Sanchez so they re-signed him, Cashman not wanting to let him go for nothing ,since he would not acknowledge that he made a mistake by keeping him for too long.
Couple that with their unwise interest in IKF, they had to let go of Gio ,and take on Donaldson’s contract in order to transact this whole debacle of a deal. cashman has made some unwise trades or moves over the years, but this past off-season has been one of his worst. He also acquired the apparently damaged good montas, while losing two serviceable pitchers in taillon and Montgomery, and giving up much of our minor league pitching depth for this damaged goods pitcher. Very bad off-season by all measures.
The Yankees are not signing Bauer.
redneck – are you Bauer’s mom?
Get the Rays management running the Yankees if they’re going to pinch pennies. I miss the 90s.
Jays will take division.
@patricktroen- The Jays don’t have the pitching to take the division.
Jays will join the Mets as the teams that spent the most because they couldn’t develop any young players, and will be major disappoint-
ments as teams like that always are.
Sheesh – one would think Yankee fans know that better than anyone.
Once again demonstrating your Blue Jay ignorance Samuel.
One thing to remember is that older owners aren’t as wealthy as you would think. They’re worth is tied to their equity in the club and not cash rich like, say Cohen is. I’m guessing the Steinbrenners are plenty well off but not wealthy enough to lose millions of dollars like Cohen and some of the other newer owners.
Why tho?
I get the yankees are right up against it but I honestly think they should do 1 of 2 things.. stand pat let the 3 minor league signings cabrera & hicks fight out the job for LF (let’s face it hicks tenure with NY overall hasn’t been all that bad. I get it with the injuries but if healthy BIG IF he can play. If not healthy move him and clear the salary space. This should be a no Brainer. Let cabrera and the minor league signings fight it out with Estevan florial. Trade IKF for what ever to get some breathing room.and as far as donaldson goes. I will say this … haters will hate and he is on the 17th or 18th hole but every contract year he has had he has raked! I think donaldson will bat .255 to to .265 with 17 to 21 HR and about 75 RBI this year… let him walk at the end of year if not doing well release him… just thoughts from a 35 year yankee fan
Yankees might have a couple of holes, but they are a good enough team as is to win 95+ and make the playoffs.
Y’all hear that Yankees fans? Your $1500 dollar tickets and regional sports network and worldwide merchandise juggernaut are just leavin’ the Steinbrenner Junior’s bank account plum dry.
Enjoy second place.
The liaison office would have offered…….
They added two front office guys to help Cashman.. They signed Judge to keep the fans off their backs…nothing has changed for better on the field. Thank you Hal Wilpon!
jim-41;
MLB is not rotisserie league based on last years statistics.
Winning in MLB depends primarily on defense and pitching – and above all else is a young man’s game.
The Yankees have been moving in the right direction the past 3-4 years….although much of that wasn’t seen at the ML level.
The Yankees don’t need to spend the most. They need to develop quality talent. Mo.. Bernie. Pettite. Posada. Jeter. Not free agents. Home grown. Champions stop crying about not spending
Jim-41: I agree, they’re going in the sixth season and still wondering, “Hm, I wonder how we will match up against the Astros this year? Will we be markedly better, or markedly worse?” It’s inexcusable that they have no idea what team they have……again.
They’re developing talent, but look at the number of prospects over the past 20 years that were rated incredibly high and failed miserably. That’s a direct failure on Cashman. Hal needs to spend because Cashman’s blunders have been so costly.
Exactly right clipper. But they’re not willing to do that unfortunately. They’re not willing to spend enough to overcome Cashman‘s continual boondoggles. Which is why in the end Cashman has to scour the dumpsters for players. Which is pathetic on a team with a payroll almost 290,000,000.
Sorry folks.. the Yankees have a great roster. It’s just the players not preforming. Dj has regressed. Gleyber is ok. I mean Cole is not the Cole from Houston. Stanton will put up numbers if healthy. Y’all want to blame cashman. You want Soto and Ohtani and Trout? I mean what do y’all want? How many superstars do we need? Play the games and win. That’s all. We have a great team
You’re correct. They do have a great team, potentially. The only problem is it’s still not better than the Astros, imho. Yes, if those guys performed they would have a great shot. The issue is that they’ve not performed for several consecutive seasons. So it is that they’re not performing, or is this their homeostasis?
I agree they don’t need a superstar at every position, but the can’t have failures on the roster if they expect to win. Hicks, Donaldson, Gallo, Torres (at SS), IKF (as SS), Tyler Wade, Marwin Gonzales, Tim Locastro, Sanchez, etc, have all been complete failures in competition. Yet they kept running these guys out there and letting opposition exploit these obvious offensive weaknesses. They crippled the team when it mattered. This year? They’re *still running Aaron Hicks out there!* Donaldson will not have positive regression and will be starting, and they have no clue what they have in Volpe/Peraza until those guys actually do something in the majors. Add in that a large majority of highly touted Yankees prospects have failed miserably, and it’s not encouraging.
The funny thing is they have exactly one superstar in their entire lineup and that is Judge. Not one other player on this team is a superstar.
Maybe Rodon if he keeps pitching like he did the last 2 years but that’s it. Yet somehow the payroll is straddling the Luxury tax line. Where the money goes I have no idea.
They’re nearly $60M over the luxury tax. They are just below the highest penalty tier.
Fg, you nailed it. Signing Judge and Rodon and that $70M long-term payroll is not treading water. And yes, next they will want Machado and Ohtani, another $90M a year long-term commitment. I’ve said it elsewhere, if this Judge deal goes sour, these people will be barking about bad decisions… It isn’t a bad decision 4 years from now, it’s a bad deal today.
Do you not think guys like Stanton, Cole, DJ, Donaldson, Hicks give it 100%? They do, their bodies have either broken down or they have just naturally regressed. It’s been happening for a 100 years in baseball and for some reason people seem to forget about that. The fact that this front office completely ignored age old patterns of baseball is on them.
Am I shocked that Stanton who is built like a pro wrestler constantly is hurt? Nope.
Am I shocked that Donaldson at 36-37 has lost his bat speed? Nope.
Cole was completely reliant on the sticky stuff to be dominant….everybody in baseball knew this including the players and coaches yet the Yankees some how were blind sided by it so am I shocked he’s just a “good” pitcher now? Nope.
Management hasn’t ignored the declining performance issue, they’ve actually done what fans want. They’ve gone out and paid elite players the contracts that the player has demanded at the time. Like Judge, Rodon and Rizzo this year. If the Yankees hadn’t signed Judge and he signed elsewhere, this fan base would have freaked out.
Problem is, those long-term contracts don’t age well and a team is stuck paying players that are declining.
They have a good roster, not great, many of the players are not under performing ,many are just not any good. DJ injured all the time, same with Stanton. Health is a skill set after all. Donelson over the hill, Gleyber not that good really, overhyped, I KF stinks, Hicks should’ve retired a few years ago. Where do you see that the Yankees have a great roster. Aaron Judge is obviously great, Rizzo good, bader defensively good,. The pitching potentially could be very good if everybody stays healthy. But there’s a lot of unknowns and ifs there. In my humble opinion.
My ass. The Jays will be kissing our ass!
They will make additions at deadline as needed, regardless of self imposed limits.
imagine papa steinbrenner and steve cohen going toe to toe for ownership of NYC. both teams would have 400M+ payrolls
That I would have loved to see dasit. The sight to behold
The Yankees have already tried hard enough. No one can expect them to pay for a free agent and also pay a few million in extra taxes when they’ll probably make the playoffs either way. As long as they play well no one cares about the World Series.
We went through a period like this in the 80’s actually worse. We spent and spent. Now do I pay these bills? No. If these youngsters come up this year and preform well, we can eat Hicks and Donaldsons contract. Hell the Yankees released Arod!! I believe that this year is going to be a true test for this team. Ohtani is not coming here. I don’t think Machado is either. Dj can play 3b or Gleyber he’s getting bigger don’t forget Jason Dominguez is coming for outfield help. If our rotation comes through we will win the division. Montas is a huge question… right now that’s the guy that can make a huge difference. A number 5 starter with number 2 stuff if he’s healthy and in shape. But if I had a wish list of 1 player. Don’t get Bryan Reynolds. Go get O’Neill Cruz. That’s the trade
Yanks re-sign Andujar, Gardner and Frazier. Package them with Donaldson, IKF and Hicks to the Pirates for Cruz. Six guys with one year of control for one guy with six years of control… win/win. All kidding aside, every team in MLB would be better with a cost-controlled Cruz at SS for the next six years. The rumors would fuel MLBTR for months.
Something is wrong with baseball when “fans” are whining because their team won’t spend over 293m on payroll (plus a hefty penalty of 30m).
What’s wrong is that the dollar figure is even in the discussion about if the Yankees should build a good team and try to win the world series.
Hal makes excuses.
Cash makes huge mistakes that require excuses.
Fans make any excuse they can think of because winning is… secondary?
Can’t believe none of you noticed the Gold and Brown Padres podium with the NY on it… Siedler really shaking up the MLB’s elite
So let’s get this straight. They haven’t won in how many years and the old owners son isn’t doing what it takes to make moves to improve? Ok I like rondon but this lineup isn’t enough and some wonder if the relief is enough.
George is for winning and George’s son is $$$
The lineup is just fine if healthy.. we have 3 30 hr guys easy. Unfortunately no speed. But please don’t say we don’t have the lineup. I love Judge I mean he’s unreal. But he needs to hit in the playoffs. This lineup is just fine if healthy. Remember no Dj last year No Benitendi either. I realize Beni is gone but we still have a really good team.
Lineup. Rizzo questionable back. Torres inconsistent, ss young or felefa. 3rd is Donaldson
Harrison hicks/kid and judge.
Judge is going to have a hard time doing what he as done. Dj and the foot.
We have a catcher.
This lineup stinks. No balance. Is aging and will not get this team to win the World Series. These pitchers will have an era that’s great with run support of 1 or 2. Very few will pitch to judge. Stanton needs to do his thing but that is also inconsistent.
Hope you are right.
What would make you think that judge and Stanton can’t combine for 80 dingers? Riz another 30. Torres 25 3b combo 20 Dj is healthy. Oswaldo is in year 2 Bader for a whole season. This lineup does not stink. Do i expect 60 from judge? No 40 yes. He’s got even more pressure on him with 40 mil a year in the bank. He’s not folding. Be a hater. Be a fan. That’s why I love this game
Yankees are $60M over the luxury and would have the highest payroll if Cohen wasn’t drinking at 10am every day.
If they were being cheap, they wouldn’t have dropped $90M on Judge, Rodon and Rizzo
I would have signed Rodon or Judge to those contracts because they aren’t going to age well. Zero chance Rodon is pitching like last year in 3 years. And zero chance Judge is putting up same numbers in 4 years.
Spotswood, are you hangin with old bridge and east Brunswick?
Yankees starters were not the issue, the offense was awful. Nothing has been addressed.
Exactly so Mr. ski. Nobody saying they don’t spend money, the problem is that it is not spent wisely. Money is spent where it is largely not needed, and not spent where there were the greatest weaknesses or needs.
Meanwhile, Cohen is reluctant to pass the 1 billion mark.
“He’s going to have a real opportunity and get a lot of chances. I’m really excited about him.”
So said Aaron Boone about Peraza.
I don’t know how you read this, but it sounds to me like the fix is in for IKF already — because, of course, he’s being paid $6 million.
I’m so tired of the penny-wise, pound-foolish mentality of this franchise. Hal lets Cashman squander tens of millions, and then he tries to be frugal with comparatively insignificant amounts. He’s like George Costanza playing the big spender and then trying to yank back a dollar from a waitress after he repents of the size of the tip he gave her.
You are right. The Yankees helped the twins improve.
Indeed they did, it’s quite obvious. And Minnesota is one of the few teams we could beat up on regularly in the postseason. Why would we make them better, it will only hurt us. In the postseason anyway.
You’re quite right about that pink. Obviously. I wish I had a job where I screwed up constantly, and then spent the rest of my time on the job trying unsuccessfully to compensate for it. While getting paid millions and millions to do so. And apparently for life as well.
You guys are correct. But there’s another layer to this, imo, that makes their excuses even more frustrating. That is they act as though once their payroll is increased ($293MM right now, possibly more) that’s their payroll for the foreseeable future. It’s a shell game. They keep talking about this season’s payroll as if it’s going to stick there unless they trade somebody. The reality is that their payroll is going to come down substantially over the next three seasons. Yes, they will need to replace expensive players too, but if they’re that confident in the youth, why is it an issue at all?
I loathe when they try to outsmart their fanbase by talking finances as if the Yankees fanbase won’t understand what is actually going on.
And, to clarify, I think Hal has done a great job this year overall. He’s spent a ton of money, he’s solely responsible for bringing back Judge and signing Rodon. But his blindness to the fact Cashman has built this team that violates his own financial policy statement (Shouldn’t have to spend this much to win) but rewards him for it, then complains about both the problem and the reward of spending more. It’s analogous to a great person who refuses to discipline his child regardless of what he does – the rest of the stuff only goes so far.
I think the yankees are stacked montas as a 5 if he can pitch I’d still like to see german or schmidt take the ball in his absence and pitch well. As for the bullpen they are deep as well. Yes I’d love another LH but in place of who? I see 8 or 9 guys there already.
What’s funny about all of the talk is everyone is talking about the roster and how they need this or that. Truth is last off season it wasn’t the roster as much but Boone and how he mismanaged he basically has cost them at least 10 games for each of the past 2 seasons. Last year they had a huge lead only to have that cut down to 3 games down the stretch. If I was Cashman or anyone with say in the front office I’m watching Boone!
Dmac, you are 100% right about Boone. I have said that myself many times although most fans dispute it, and say the manager does not have that much influence over a game. Although if that was the case, why do they pay someone millions of dollars to do it ,why don’t they then hire ronald mcdonald and pay peanuts.
But the issue is more complex, with some of the subpar players on the team, as long as they are there ( ie, hicks) Boone who doesn’t know how to manage a roster, especially a bullpen, will use them, and miss manage them. If they were not there, then he would not be able to as easily mismanage games. In my humble opinion.
Talk about a completely superfluous article.Yankees are “reportedly “reluctant to pass the 4th luxury tax tier. Lol. obviously they are, most teams would other than Cohen. I can guarantee it, and I’m not their accountant either. Steinbrenner voted to lower the luxury tax threshold this past year. He’s probably reluctant to pass the first ,second and third as well. But after all, he needs to give cashman additional money ,to make up for his roster mistakes.