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Hal Steinbrenner

MLBTR Podcast: Ángel Hernández Retires, Ronald Acuña Jr. Out For The Season And Roki Sasaki’s Potential Posting

By Darragh McDonald | May 29, 2024 at 9:33am CDT

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The retirement of umpire Ángel Hernández (1:00)
  • Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves out for the year (4:40)
  • Hal Steinbrenner says the spending level of the Yankees is not sustainable (16:40)
  • Roki Sasaki’s potential posting this coming offseason (29:55)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Could the next collective bargaining agreement have a feature to get relievers paid earlier? (43:15)
  • Would Taylor Ward of the Angels be a good fit for the Braves? (50:35)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Likelihood Of A Juan Soto Extension, What’s In Store For Pete Alonso, And Corbin Carroll’s Struggles – listen here
  • Paul Skenes, The Prospect Hype Machine, Willson Contreras And Rising Catcher’s Interference Rates – listen here
  • Luis Arráez To San Diego, Other Marlins Trade Candidates And Discussing A Potential Automated Strike Zone – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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Atlanta Braves Los Angeles Angels MLB Trade Rumors Podcast New York Yankees Hal Steinbrenner Roki Sasaki Ronald Acuna

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Steinbrenner: Current Payroll “Not Sustainable”

By Nick Deeds | May 23, 2024 at 9:06pm CDT

With a 35-17 record that leads AL clubs and trails only the Phillies in the NL, the Yankees have been among the very best teams in baseball to start the 2024 campaign. That being said, all that winning has come at a price: RosterResource pegs the club’s payroll at a whopping $302MM this season, trailing only the Mets and Dodgers for the third-highest in the league while surpassing the fourth-place Phillies by nearly $60MM. It appears that club chairman Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t plan to keep payroll at those top-of-the-line levels, however, as he told reporters (including Dan Martin of the New York Post) yesterday that payroll will be coming down in the future.

“I’m gonna be honest, payrolls at the levels we’re at right now are simply not sustainable for us financially,” Steinbrenner said, as relayed by Martin.

He went on to point to the luxury tax as a limiting factor on the club’s spending. New York’s payroll is just over $312MM for luxury tax purposes this season. As a club that has gone over the lowest threshold more than two seasons in a row, the Yankees are subject to a tax that escalates from 50% to 110% of the overage above the league’s base threshold of $237MM. That figures to put them on the hook for more than $58MM in luxury tax obligations this offseason, a figure that could increase further depending on midseason additions and contract incentives. That’s a hefty bill, particularly considering the fact that (as noted by Cot’s Baseball Contracts) the club’s 2024 payroll breaks the franchise record payroll of roughly $278MM that was set just last season. Prior to the last two seasons, the club’s payroll generally set in the $200MM and $250MM range.

Scaling back payroll could be feasible for the for the Yankees somewhat naturally, as the club has just under $182MM in guaranteed money on the books for next year per RosterResource. That figure does not factor in arbitration-level contracts for players such as Nestor Cortes, Jose Trevino, and Clarke Schmidt, nor does it include the possibility of the club picking up options on the services of veterans like Anthony Rizzo and Luke Weaver. Even considering that, however, it’s reasonable to expect the Yankees to have some room to cut down payroll and still add in free agency this winter.

Of course, the elephant in the room regarding the coming free agent class is superstar youngster Juan Soto, who is slated to hit free agency this fall ahead of his age-26 season. Acquired from the Padres in a blockbuster swap back in December, Soto has been everything the Yankees could have hoped for in his first 51 games with the club, slashing an incredible .313/.409/.569 with a 15.1% strikeout rate, a 14.2% walk rate, and 13 homers in 232 trips to the plate. Given how vital a one-two punch of Soto and Aaron Judge has been to the club’s success this winter, it’s hard to imagine the Yankees not aggressively pursuing a long-term deal with their newly-acquired star.

Steinbrenner himself indicated recently that he hopes to see Soto remain with the club “for the rest of his career,” suggesting that the Yankees at least plan to make an effort to retain him beyond this season. With Soto widely expected to land a contract that rivals the $460MM net present value of the Shohei Ohtani deal from this past offseason, it would seemingly be difficult to significantly lower the club’s payroll while retaining Soto via what could be a massive raise over his current $31MM salary.

That’s not to say it can’t be done, of course. Steinbrenner’s comments also made note of the club’s ability to retain Soto, as he noted that the club has a “considerable amount” of money coming off the books this winter in comparison to last year. Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo are both pending free agents who have combined to make more than $20MM this season, and it’s feasible to imagine the Yankees allowing the pair to walk in free agency before offering their roles to younger players such as Oswald Peraza and Jasson Dominguez.

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New York Yankees Hal Steinbrenner Juan Soto

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Hal Steinbrenner Comments On Possible Juan Soto Extension

By Darragh McDonald | May 16, 2024 at 11:59pm CDT

Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner appeared on the Yankees News & Views podcast today and host Jack Curry of the YES Network asked him about the possibility of extending superstar outfielder Juan Soto. The YES Network shared a video clip on X.

“I think we’d like to see him here for the rest of his career,” Steinbrenner said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt of that.” He goes on to say that Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, doesn’t normally do extensions midseason. Steinbrenner says he generally prefers to avoid talks during the season as well so that they don’t become a distraction, but that Soto is a special case.

That’s due to Soto’s obvious talents but also since he’s only been a Yankee for a few months, having been acquired from the Padres in December with just one season left to go before he’s slated to reach free agency. Steinbrenner said he wanted to give Soto some time to get to know the organization before getting into talks about long-term plans. “I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a conversation or two had, possibly during the course of the season.”

In the latter half of the clip shared above, Curry relays that he contacted Boras about what Steinbrenner said. Boras said he is always willing to talk to Steinbrenner but that Soto is focused on winning.

Soto himself was asked about the comments after this afternoon’s game and echoed what Boras said, with the YES Network sharing a clip on X of those as well. “My door is always open,” Soto said. “Whenever he wants to start talking with Scott and all his people, they’re always open. They’re always open to hear whatever he has. And for me, I just focus on the game right now.”

The topic of Soto’s future free agency, or an extension to prevent that free agency from happening, has been a topic of conversation for quite a long time. That’s on account of how he debuted at such an unusually young age and also due to him finding immediate success that he has maintained or improved. Soto debuted with the Nationals in 2018 when he was only 19 years old. He hit 22 home runs in 116 games while drawing walks in 16% his plate appearances. His .292/.406/.517 batting line translated to a 146 wRC+.

He’s never provided much in terms of speed or defense, but his combination of power and plate discipline is exceptional and has remained quite consistent. He currently has 169 home runs in his career and an 18.7% walk rate, while striking out just 16.9% of the time. He has slashed .286/.420/.525 overall and has a 155 wRC+, which includes a .310/.408/.530 line and 170 wRC+ as a Yankee this year.

Those skills and his age put him on course for a massive contract. Most free agents reach free agency for the first time in the vicinity of their 30th birthday but Soto is still just 25. He’ll turn 26 on October 25, just before he’s slated to hit the open market.

The fact that Steinbrenner is interested in an extension is somewhat notable since the club doesn’t do them very often. MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that they have done just three in the past decade, which were for Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks and Aroldis Chapman. Those deals didn’t go especially well for the most part and the club may not be thrilled at doing more extensions in general, but Soto is clearly in a different stratosphere than those players. That Steinbrenner is willing to make an exception here is unsurprising, but actually getting it done won’t be cheap.

Back in 2022, the Nationals reportedly offered Soto $440MM over 15 years. When he rejected that overture, they decided to trade him instead, which is how he came to be a Padre. While that may be a massive sum to leave on the table, he’s already earned himself a decent chunk of that. Since turning down that deal, he made $23MM last year and is making $31MM this year, his final two arbitration seasons. That means any contract higher than $386MM will prove that he made a wise financial decision in turning it down.

Last month, Boras revealed that the late Peter Seidler tried to get a deal done to keep Soto in San Diego. However, Seidler’s deteriorating health got in the way of the talks and he passed away in November. The next month, Soto was traded to the Yankees as the Padres’ financial situation forced them to make budget cuts.

Keeping Soto away from the open market is obviously going to be a challenge. Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman admitted as much in February. “The odds are this is a one-year situation,” he said. “I don’t see too many things stopping him from reaching free agency.”

There has been all kinds of speculation about what kind of number it would take to get Soto’s signature on a contract. The round number of $500MM is often thrown around as a speculative ballpark figure, but that’s really just a guess.

Since Soto is now just a few months away from the open market, there’s little incentive for him to accept anything except free agency prices. The largest contract in MLB history is Shohei Ohtani’s recent ten-year, $700MM pact with the Dodgers. The heavy deferrals on the deal make the net present value closer to the $435-465MM range, though that adjusted figure still makes it the largest ever, both in terms of total guarantee and average annual value.

Soto obviously doesn’t have the two-way abilities of Ohtani nor the same international marketing power, but Ohtani is now 29 and about to turn 30, meaning Soto will be marketing three to four extra prime years compared to Shohei. That youth is clearly valuable to teams, as was recently seen with the Yoshinobu Yamamoto free agency. Going into his age-25 season, he drew widespread interest despite having no major league experience. He eventually shattered expectations when he signed for $325MM over 12 years, plus a posting fee of over $50MM.

The Yankees have long been one of the biggest spenders in baseball, but they have a decent amount of money on the books already. Between Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodón, they have four players making $25MM or more through 2027 or longer. The Marlins are paying down a bit of Stanton’s deal but the Yankees already have almost $150MM committed to books three years down the line, per Roster Resource.

For a generational talent like Soto, they likely wouldn’t care much about adding another huge contract to the pile. Still, Boras might want to wait a few more months to see what teams like the Mets, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Phillies or others have to offer. Getting them to the table would increase the chances of a bidding war driving up prices and the Yanks might have to put down a huge number to stop that from happening.

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New York Yankees Hal Steinbrenner Juan Soto

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Steinbrenner: Yankees Open To Further Additions

By Darragh McDonald | February 23, 2024 at 1:35pm CDT

Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner spoke to members of the media yesterday, including Chris Kirschner and Brendan Duty of The Athletic, noting that the club is open to making further additions to the roster but also adding that nothing is close and there could be budgetary concerns with any possible transactions.

“Given where we are payroll-wise, any addition to the club is going to be a costly one,” Steinbrenner said. “I’m still willing to consider anything that [general manager Brian Cashman] and his team bring my way. I’ll leave it at that. We are not done trying to improve this team.”

The openness to making another move doesn’t necessarily mean that one will come to pass, as Steinbrenner himself made clear. “I’m not saying anything is going to happen, I’m not saying something’s not going to happen. But I’m still willing to improve this team however we can.” But the mere fact that he’s keeping the window open is notable, especially given the way others have spoken recently.

Decision makers for the Giants, Rangers, Nationals, Mariners, Twins, Blue Jays and Angels have all downplayed the likelihood of further moves for their clubs in the past week or so. Though the so-called “Boras Four” of Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chapman and Cody Bellinger are all unsigned and many fans are pressing their favorite team to jump in, executives and owners seem to be doing their best to lower expectations.

Whether that’s a genuine expression of the current state of affairs or a posture for bargaining purposes isn’t known, but Steinbrenner’s comments nonetheless stand out as being a bit less outwardly pessimistic. Though as he mentioned, there will be significant financial considerations to any possible deal.

Roster Resource currently pegs the Yankees’ competitive balance tax number at $307MM, already about $10MM beyond the fourth and final tax tier of $297MM. As a third-time payor at that level, the Yankees are looking at a 110% tax rate for any further spending.

The club has been connected to Snell throughout the offseason, reportedly offering him a deal of $150MM over six years at one point. That deal would have come with an average annual value of $25MM and the Yankees would have had to pay $27.5MM in taxes. That means they would be looking at giving up $52.5MM to add Snell to the rotation for this year.

That $150MM guarantee wasn’t enough to get Snell to put pen to paper, which perhaps suggests the Yanks might have to be willing to go even further to get a deal done. The lefty hasn’t signed anywhere so perhaps the club can hold firm to their position, but it still highlights the significant numbers the club is calculating when considering these kinds of moves.

The end of February is now in sight and spring games are taking place. As the regular season creeps closer and big name free agents are still available, it seems a staring contest is taking place. Boras obviously doesn’t want to take offers for his clients that he considers below what they are worth while clubs are doing their best to present themselves as content with their current rosters and payrolls. Something will have to eventually give and it seems as though the Yankees could perhaps be at the table.

Their rotation is currently fronted by Gerrit Cole but has question marks beyond that. Each of Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman missed significant time due to injuries last year. Clarke Schmidt is fine as a #5 but has an option year remaining and could potentially be pushed to the minors if someone else is signed. The Yanks dealt away four starting pitching options in the Juan Soto trade so there would be logic to pushing Schmidt down the depth chart for when a need inevitably arises as the season goes along. Steinbrenner trotted out the “I don’t think you can have enough pitching” cliché yesterday, per video relayed by Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

It remains to be seen if they are willing to pay for someone like Snell or Montgomery in order to bolster the staff. The free agent market also features Michael Lorenzen, Mike Clevinger, Zack Greinke and others.

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New York Yankees Hal Steinbrenner

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Yankees Notes: Boone, Steinbrenner, Lee

By Anthony Franco | October 11, 2023 at 2:02pm CDT

Yankees brass has yet to conduct their annual end-of-season press conference since the schedule concluded on October 1. General manager Brian Cashman is still expected to meet with reporters at some point before the offseason gets underway, although that still hasn’t been scheduled.

Some hints about the direction are beginning to emerge, however. Most notable is the future of Aaron Boone, who appears likely to return for a seventh season as manager. Andy Martino of SNY first reported last week the Yankees planned to retain Boone. Martino indicated that Boone would take part in meetings between organizational higher-ups scheduled for last week in Tampa. As part of a reader mailbag this morning, Brendan Kuty of the Athletic also shot down the possibility of the Yankees firing Boone.

Owner Hal Steinbrenner confirmed to Newsday’s Neil Best that Boone and Cashman were among a little over a dozen team officials participating in last week’s meetings, which spanned three days. As part of a panel, Steinbrenner told reporters those discussions got “heated at times” but called them “constructive” and “healthy.” The owner alluded to some pending changes in the organization’s operating philosophy but didn’t elaborate further beyond saying that “some (would be) more subtle than others.”

Martino reiterated this afternoon those changes aren’t expected to include a dismissal of Cashman or Boone. In a separate article at SNY, he noted the Yankees have yet to determine whether to make a public announcement about Boone’s return. The manager is already under contract for next season on a deal that also includes a ’25 club option. As a result, the Yankees could simply retain him without firmly addressing his future in a media session.

In any event, all signs point towards the organizational leadership remaining in place. That includes Steinbrenner, as the 53-year-old reaffirmed during the panel discussion that his family has no plans to sell the franchise (link via Ronald Blum of the Associated Press). The Steinbrenner family has owned the Yankees since 1973. Hal Steinbrenner pointed to a desire to continue involving his son, niece and nephews in ownership to a large extent moving forward but made clear there’s no especially notable ownership change coming in the near future.

While the Yankees seem primarily focused on internal operating procedures at the moment, the attention will turn back toward the roster in the coming weeks. The offseason begins in a little under a month, with the outfield, third base and starting rotation among the questions facing the front office.

South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is among the more intriguing free agents in a weak class for hitters. Kuty noted within today’s mailbag that the Yankees have scouted Lee during his time in the KBO, though the extent of their interest is unclear. The left-handed hitter turned 25 in August and is a career .340/.407/.491 hitter over parts of seven seasons with the Nexen/Kiwoom Heroes. He’s coming off a relative down year, posting a .318/.406/.455 line in 86 games before undergoing ankle surgery in July.

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Latest On Brian Cashman’s Future

By Simon Hampton | November 4, 2022 at 8:25pm CDT

Brian Cashman’s contract with the Yankees officially ended on October 31, but while he’s no longer an employee of the team, he continues to act as GM and the expectation is his contract will be extended, per Andy Martino of SNY. Jon Heyman of the NY Post is even more certain, citing a source saying there’s a “100 percent” chance Cashman returns.

Cashman has been with the Yankees since 1986, and served as their GM since 1998. During that time the team has gone to the World Series seven times, winning four championships, the last of which came in 2009. They’ve made the playoffs each of the past six seasons, but there’s been some frustration among Yankees fans over the team’s inability to get back to the World Series lately. That frustration does not appear to extend to owner Hal Steinbrenner though, and Martino cites the strong bond between Cashman and the Steinbrenners as reason to believe that even if a split were to happen, it would be amicable.

The expectation is that a renewal will happen, although Martino reports that while Cashman and Steinbrenner have discussed the future of the franchise recently, they haven’t talked on contract terms. Cashman’s previous contract was a five-year, $25MM deal signed in December of 2017. Nonetheless, it seems a near formality that Cashman’s contract will be renewed, and the Yankees can turn their attention to the playing roster moving forward, beginning with the enormous task of trying to re-sign Aaron Judge.

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New York Yankees Brian Cashman Hal Steinbrenner

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The Yankees’ (Brief) History Of Contract Extensions

By Mark Polishuk | March 29, 2020 at 11:38pm CDT

Twenty-eight different contract extensions were signed between teams and players between February-April 2019, and the Yankees were one of the many clubs that joined in on this rush.  Aaron Hicks was a season away from free agency at the time, though the outfielder chose to forego the open market in favor of a contract that paid him $64MM in new money through the 2025 season.  Right-hander Luis Severino inked a four-year, $40MM deal that covered his four arbitration-eligible years as a Super Two player, and the deal also contains a $15MM club option for the 2023 season, which would have been Severino’s first free agent year.

Another extension came after the season, as the Yankees worked out an agreement with Aroldis Chapman that would see the closer decline his opt-out clause in favor of a three-year, $48MM extension that essentially added an extra year (and another $18MM) onto the final two seasons of Chapman’s previous contract.

Three extensions in less than a year is a pretty notable amount of business for any team on the long-term front.  In the Yankees’ case, however, it counts as an absolute flurry given how rarely the Bronx Bombers have engaged in such internal long-term deals.  New York’s three extensions in 2019 came on the heels of only six extensions in the previous 18 years.

The reason for this lack of extension action is simple — it was against team policy.  “I just don’t believe in contract extensions, and that’s throughout the organization, no matter who it is,” managing partner Hal Steinbrenner told the Associated Press and other reporters in 2010.  “Hopefully nobody takes that personally. It’s just business.”

Between the time Steinbrenner officially became the Yankees’ control person in November 2008 and the start of 2019, his anti-extension stance stayed almost completely intact, with two exceptions that somewhat mirrored the Chapman and Hicks situations.  C.C. Sabathia also had a contractual opt-out decision following the 2011 season, though he and the Yankees worked out a new deal that gave the southpaw five years and a guaranteed $122MM to overwrite the previous four years and $92MM remaining on his previous contract.  Prior to the 2014 season, Brett Gardner (like Hicks) was also just a year away from free agency before New York locked him up for a four-year, $52MM extension.

Beyond the Sabathia and Gardner contracts, however, that was it on the extension front.  As Steinbrenner noted, the “no matter who it is” edict even stretched to the likes of Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter, who both reached the open market before eventually (and, in Jeter’s case, not without some contentious words) re-signing with New York.  Even general manager Brian Cashman’s last three contracts have only been signed after the GM’s previous deals had expired.

Why would the team take such a hard line?  In short, the Yankees always wanted as much flexibility as possible in deciding their future moves, since they had the financial resources to immediately pivot to a better option in free agency or the trade market if such an upgrade was available.  Whereas other teams pursued extensions as a way of locking up young talent into their free agent years or at least getting some cost certainty through arbitration years, such concerns simply weren’t on the Yankees’ radar given their free-spending ways.

Of course, the franchise has become somewhat more cost-conscious in recent years, which likely explains the Bombers’ openness towards extensions in 2019.  After 15 years of overages, the Yankees finally ducked under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold during the 2018 season, allowing them to reset their penalty clock for 2019 (when they surpassed the threshold again).  Though New York didn’t go to the extremes of other big-market clubs like the Cubs or Red Sox in limiting or eliminating their luxury tax payments, the Yankees saw value in getting under the tax line once, plus they had the additional bonus of being able to cut their tax bill while still remaining competitive since so many of the club’s young stars seemingly broke out at the same time.

With the CBT penalty reset, the Yankees had the freedom to explore a tactic like signing Severino through his arbitration years.  The deal was seen at the time as very canny, given that Severino seemed to be a burgeoning ace, and thus in line for an escalating arb price tag.  In Hicks’ case, he may have had extra motivation to sign an extension given how the restrained 2017-18 and 2018-19 free agent markets left a lot of players settling for below-market deals or having long waits on the open market.  Hicks could have preferred the security of just remaining in New York, and his price was apparently satisfactory enough for the Yankees to make the long-term commitment to a player they obviously wanted to retain.

The early returns on both deals, however, haven’t been good.  Injuries limited Hicks to only 59 games in 2019 and he underwent Tommy John surgery last October, putting him out of action until at least June (though he might not miss any game time at all, given the delayed start to the season).  The news was even worse for Severino, who tossed just 12 innings last season due to injuries and then underwent a Tommy John procedure of his own in late February.  The righty now won’t be back on the mound until early in the 2021 campaign.

It isn’t yet clear if the disastrous starts to both of these extensions may have once again made the team wary of such longer-term deals, or if Steinbrenner and the Yankees front office still consider the process to be sound — after all, there’s still plenty of time for Hicks and Severino to make good on their deals.  Since big-picture concerns likely inspired the club’s decision-making towards those extensions in the first place, it’s safe to assume that inevitable changes to the sport’s financial structure will also impact the Yankees’ future approach more so than a pair of Tommy John surgeries.

Both baseball and the world at large are gripped with the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, plus there’s also the fact that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLB and the players’ union is up in December 2021.  With these factors in mind, it isn’t a stretch to say that the way baseball does business could be vastly different two years from now, which could leave the Yankees and several other teams hesitant about committing any more long-term money until things can be figured out.

Working out an extension for, say, Aaron Judge seems to pale in comparison to such matters.  But, when trying to guess whether or not New York will (once the roster freeze is lifted) seek out multi-year deals for the likes of Judge, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, DJ LeMahieu, Miguel Andujar, or any number of other players, it’s worth noting that the Yankees generally don’t extend players very often, and it wouldn’t be a shock if they return to their old wait-and-see approach.

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AL East Notes: Steinbrenner, Jays, Romo, Rays, Orioles

By Mark Polishuk | February 10, 2019 at 7:33pm CDT

After the Yankees worked to get under the luxury tax limit last offseason, many New York fans expected a classic Bronx Bombers spending spree this winter, particularly with Bryce Harper and Manny Machado in the free agent market.  While that type of splurge hasn’t happened, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner rejected criticism that his team hasn’t been willing to spend.  “I mean, we’re well above $200 million [in payroll] — we’re at $220 [million] right now — and we’re well above where we were last year,” Steinbrenner told ESPN News Services and other outlets.  (Roster Resource projects the Yankees’ at a little under $203MM in dollars, though at just over $217MM in terms of luxury tax value.)

“I think we’ve definitely got a better club Opening Day than we did opening day last year, particularly in pitching, which is my biggest area of concern,” Steinbrenner said.  In regards to the argument that the Yankees’ enormous revenues should necessitate a league-high payroll, Steinbrenner also pointed to the team’s high costs, as well as future money that is being earmarked to retain members of its young core.  That said, Steinbrenner also didn’t rule out the possibility of more notable additions: “I’m never done until I’m done, and that’s usually not until Opening Day.  Proposals come to me every day with these guys, between the analytics guys and the pro scouting guys, and I’m going to consider every single one of them.”

Here’s more from around the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays have shown interest in veteran reliever Sergio Romo, Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman tweeted earlier this week.  Romo is close to signing a new contract, as per Heyman’s earlier reports, though the mystery team may not necessarily be Toronto, as multiple clubs have been engaged in pursuit of the right-hander.  Romo, who turns 36 next month, posted a 4.14 ERA, 3.75 K/BB rate, and 10.0 K/9 over 67 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay last season, which included 25 saves and five “starts” as the Rays’ opener.  It isn’t out of the question that the Jays could also look to deploy Romo as an opener, given the number of young arms in Toronto’s starting mix as well as the veterans (Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, Clayton Richard, Matt Shoemaker) who carry some injury-related question marks.  It’s probably more likely, however, that the Jays see Romo as an experienced bullpen addition, in the same vein as their signings of Seunghwan Oh, J.P. Howell, and Joe Smith in the last two offseasons.  By that same ilk, Romo could also become a trade chip for Toronto by midseason.
  • The Rays are on the verge of a new TV contract that should be finalized sometime during the 2019 season, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.  The team’s last deal with Fox Sports Sun expired at the end of last season, and the two sides have agreed to “basically…a placeholder deal” for the coming year while the new contract is completed.  Some notable obstacles remain, however, such as the exact length of the deal, as well as bigger-picture issues as the sale of Fox Sports Sun and other regional Fox cable networks, plus how the threat of the Rays leaving the Tampa/St. Petersburg area could impact the contract.  “There still things in flux,” Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said, though “It’s going to happen. There’s a structure of a deal.”  Exact figures of the new contract aren’t likely to be revealed, though Sternberg estimates the Rays will rank around 20th of the 30 teams in terms of TV revenue — the previous contract paid the Rays around $30MM per season, ranking them near the bottom of the league.  Previous reports indicated that the Rays would earn $82MM per year on the next contract, though Sternberg says the actual total is “well, well, well under” that figure, and some of the expected increase has already gone into player payroll.  “Much of the reason we’ve spent all that we have is because we knew we had some more revenue (coming) off of TV. Unfortunately [the contract is] going to fall reasonably short of what we anticipated four years ago,” Sternberg said.
  • Under GM Mike Elias, the revamped Orioles’ front office has taken a big step towards modern statistical analysis, though some seeds towards this direction were planted last summer before Elias was hired.  As Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun notes, several young pitchers acquired by the O’s last summer were obtained from teams (such as the Dodgers, Braves, and Yankees) that have already embraced analytics, leaving the prospects already well-versed in modern data and eager to learn more.  “I’m big into the new analytics and stuff like that, so I like to see the data that I produce, I guess, with how my pitches play off each other,” said right-hander Dean Kremer, one of the youngsters Baltimore acquired from Los Angeles in the Manny Machado trade in July.
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Reactions To A-Rod’s Forthcoming Release

By Connor Byrne | August 7, 2016 at 4:43pm CDT

With Alex Rodriguez’s playing time all but nonexistent lately and unlikely to increase, Yankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner met with the designated hitter on Wednesday night to gently break him the news that it was time to move on, details FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman, who adds that the two probably talked on a few occasions before Rodriguez made a decision. A-Rod could have remained a member of the team, although he would’ve continued to garner few at-bats. The 41-year-old instead chose to make a more graceful exit, announcing Sunday that he’ll play his last game with the Yankees on Friday before taking on an advisory role with the club next season. He’ll also receive the nearly $27MM remaining on the contract he signed with the Yankees in 2007.

More reactions to the end of A-Rod’s career as a Yankee:

  • In a report similar to Heyman’s, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that Steinbrenner and Rodriguez had two face-to-face meetings, and the owner didn’t give the player an ultimatum to retire or else. Rodriguez, in a face-saving move that will give him a chance to find post-playing opportunities in baseball, took the best deal for himself by agreeing to an amicable release, opines Sherman, who questions the importance of the 22-year veteran’s coaching role. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson has held a similar position with the Yankees for several years, but Sherman points out that his job is mostly ceremonial. That doesn’t mean A-Rod’s will be, however.
  • The Yankees’ decision to part ways with Rodriguez came as a surprise to him, he told FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. “I’m obviously disappointed but I’m also at peace with their decision,” said Rodriguez, who admitted that his relegation to the bench made him “very uncomfortable.” Rodriguez understood it, however, pointing to the organization’s youth movement. In addition to A-Rod, the Yankees have said goodbye to fellow veterans Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova since last weekend, and first baseman Mark Teixeira will retire at season’s end. On his new position with the franchise, Rodriguez stated, “The great news is, I’m going to be in a role I think I’m going to enjoy. I’m also going to learn a lot. The fact that Hal asked me to do this is something that I’ll treasure.”
  • Regarding Rodriguez’s torrid 2009 postseason, one in which he hit .365/.500/.808 and guided the Yankees to a World Series championship, general manager Brian Cashman said Sunday, “That doesn’t happen without Alex’s significant contribution.” Not only that, Steve Politi of NJ.com argues that Cashman wouldn’t be the Yankees’ GM right now if for not that Rodriguez-fueled title. Since then, the Cashman-run franchise has lost three of five playoff series and a Wild Card game, and it’s likely to miss the postseason for the third time since 2013. But that 2009 triumph has helped keep Cashman in the fold and made it easier for ownership to swallow the club’s current retooling status, Politi contends.
  • Rodriguez will technically collect more money going forward from his previous team, the Rangers, than the Yankees, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Texas agreed to pay $67MM of Rodriguez’s contract upon trading him to the Yankees in 2004 (a figure that changed after he opted out of the deal in 2007) and still owed him $26MM in deferred money when it went through bankruptcy in 2010. That sum has since grown to $40MM and will continue to increase via an investment account, a source told Grant. Importantly, the money A-Rod has coming to him from the Rangers – who have since changed owners – doesn’t come from their operating budget or impact their payroll. Rodriguez will receive the rest of the payout between this year and 2025.
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