When a wealthy big-market MLB owner such as managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner publicly addresses the subject of payroll, there’s almost always a correlating unrest among the fanbase, along with a string of disappointing results.
In this case, it’s more centered around the potential impact of extending superstar Juan Soto. Steinbrenner is well aware of the $440 million Scott Boras‘ top client left on the table in Washington.
These days the Yankee boss sounds a lot like a guy who understands it isn’t how much you spend, but how all that money is allocated. With the 2025 New York payroll already bogged down with just over $202 million in commitments, he may be ready to tweak the fiscal blueprint.
In an interview with Dan Martin of the New York Post, Steinbrenner said, “I don’t believe I should have a $300 million payroll to win a championship.”
Here’s why that statement rings true.
It’s Not How Much You Spend, It’s What You Spend It On
We’ve seen countless recent examples of the usual suspect markets throwing tons of cash at free agents in essence trying to buy the Commissioner’s Trophy.
Steve Cohen and the Mets also proved the amount spent in no way guarantees an exceptional return on investment when it comes to the on-field product.
The Mets’ luxury tax bill of $67 million is more than the Oakland A’s entire 2024 payroll, and around 2/3s of what the bottom third of the league has spent on their rosters. New York is 96-115 since the start of the 2023 season.
San Diego treaded in big boy waters in 2022 and 2023 with $225 million and $256 million team payrolls respectively but scaled it back to a middling $161 million in 2024—a 37.1% decrease.
The Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t won a full-season championship since 1988 when George H. W. Bush became president.
It was the 2017 Boston Red Sox who were the last team to win a 162-game season World Series with the highest payroll.
Statistics do favor a team with a top-10 or better payroll, but trying to outspend the Joneses hasn’t worked for the Yankees in this Millennia.
The Development of Cost-Controlled Players is Imperative
The Tampa Bay Rays have performed borderline miracles seemingly year after year with a bottom-third payroll, and their modus operandi has been the source of much intrigue.
Going back to Chaim Bloom’s early days, the “Rays Way” was among the pioneering models that are popular today. A combination of scouting with deep analytics has changed the baseball landscape forever.
Hal Steinbrenner spoke about payrolls approaching 1/3 of a billion and his continued focus on creating a system that feeds itself—but has the needed mix of talent, youth, and chemistry.
“Payrolls at the levels we’re at right now are simply not sustainable for us financially. It wouldn’t be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups], given the luxury tax we have to pay.”
“I believe I need a good mix of veterans, who are gonna make a lot more money, but also we’ve put a lot of money into our player development system in the last 5-10 years. And in my opinion, we have one of the better ones in baseball now.”
The New York Yankee farm system began 2024 ranked 11th in MLB Pipeline’s rating system and had 5 players listed in Bleacher Report’s latest Top-100 Prospect List.
Take from it what you will, but Steinbrenner may be conditioning the fanbase for a future reality that, unfortunately for Yankee fans, doesn’t include Juan Soto.
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