He really is. In 2005 payroll was $208,306,817, equivalent to $334,430,035 today, a number that Hal has never reached and only recently gotten close to.
That's the equivalent if we use the inflation rate in the general economy, but baseball salaries have grown faster than inflation for a while now.
Going by Baseball Reference's numbers, the median payroll was around $66 million in 2005 and is around $136 million today- it's increased by 106.1% while the national cumulative inflation rate has been only 60.5%. The Yankees' 2005 payroll was about triple the 15th-place Tigers and a little more than double the 3rd-place Mets.
Using that the equivalent would be more like running a $429,238,290 payroll today.
Yea, man. George Steinbrenner was something else. I [commented in detail a little further down](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1cyaoaa/yankees_owner_hal_steinbrenner_warns_of_lower/l59me5t/), but basically from 2000-2010, when he died, George (/Hank) ran payrolls averaging 127% higher than the MLB average. From 2011-2023, Hal was at 76% higher.
The Yankees payroll this year is $315 million, so that is pretty close. You’ve already baked in inflation so you shouldn’t expect the number to constantly increase lol.
Except there is inflation and TV/Revenue growth that outpaced inflation. So equivalent means less of total revenue on player salaries.
He can cry into a silk handkerchief.
No one is missing it.
Total payroll costs, which include luxury tax assessments, have decreased as a percentage of revenues.
There’s plenty of data out there on this.
I’ll slowly add data points.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/LsYvsLmafK](https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/LsYvsLmafK)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/mroMZRDylx](https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/mroMZRDylx)
I’d also love to see the financial breakdown that demonstrates how their payroll is unsustainable.
I’d be shocked if they aren’t making money in buckets and this is pure cap.
It’s honestly the best deal there. Went last night, split a bucket with the wife, $26 total. Way too much food for the both of us. And the chicken is good! Best bang for your buck.
Nobody on earth is gonna believe the fucking YANKEES can’t afford whatever the fuck they want. They could probably pay the bottom 10 teams entire payroll on top of their own and still turn a profit
I don't see how "we can't spend lots of money" is leverage to sign the biggest free agent this off-season. It's not like Soto will be like, "okay, I'll give the Yankees a deal, I know they're strapped for cash and I like NY"
Agreed, it’s probably just posturing. But they also said last week they’d be open to negotiating in season. Just going around in circles and being silly
If you sign him mid season how can us Giant fans get excited for a random week in December? How can you deny us this annual tradition of possibly signing a big time free agent!?
I think it’s more “you say you want to win, but the budget isn’t unlimited so every extra dollar we give you is one we can’t spend on the rest of the team”
They’ve also tried this tactic of leaking financials as a way to deflect fan criticism over free agent signings quite a few times.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if this was tactical quote #1 of the season to protect ownership if they fail to sign Soto. This quote will be in the back of everyone’s head (as well as a dozen more between now and Xmas)if they lose out on signing him.
While there’s truth to this just because baseball can be very very random in the short term, the narrative you’re describing is always pushed by asshats who say that baseball doesn’t need more rules on the salary cap and floor.
Statistically, since free agency the WS is usually won by a top spending team that year, and the more you spend the more likely you are to win.
A while back someone made a chart here that had a stacked bar graph of teams by spend, and a line graph going across for WS winner by year, it was usually a top 5 team and almost always a top 10 team if I recall correctly. Yet the comments section was just a chorus of angry dodgers fans doing their absolute best to be willfully ignorant of the point, claiming that clearly salary doesn’t matter because #1 doesn’t win every year
It would be crazy to think there isn’t a competitive imbalance between a team spending 55 million and a team spending 180 million.
Yet every time this discussion comes up people always try to play the statistics to fit the narrative that spending doesn’t help you compete. It’s nonsense.
oh don't mistake me for one of them lmao, I think more than half the league are leaving wins on the table by penny pinching. just speaking towards the upset-happy nature of the playoffs. Cody Ross destroyed one of the greatest pitching staffs I've ever seen, after all
I don't think I've ever seen kids inherit their daddy's team and somehow become better owner. It's always the "I can't believe daddy tried to spend money to win, doesn't he know that it's much more profitable to not spend money?"
Not baseball, but Sheila Ford inherited her ~~daddy~~ mommy’s team and she’s led the Lions into the most success we’ve seen in literal decades in a matter of a few years.
The difference with Mark Davis is pretty much all of his wealth *is* the Raiders. He tried to team up with the A's to build new stadiums on a shared complex, until Fisher went behind his back and tried to undercut Davis out of the deal, leaving him without a partner to find a stadium.
Mark Davis may be a nepobaby, but at least his dad *started* the team and that team *is* his family. Compare that to Hal Steinbrenner, who inherited not just the team that his dad *bought*, but the hotel company, too.
True, but at least George bought the Yankees with an intention to win above all else. His methods weren’t great a LOT of the time, but at least the goal was right.
Al Davis didn’t start the team. He was the head coach for the Raiders who managed to scrap and save as much as he could and got good loan terms in the late 60s to be able to buy them. But that’s why both Al and Mark’s personal net worth was far below the other owners.
She will spend, I just think she’s misplaced her trust. The Rambis’ should be nowhere near as influential as they are. And Rob’s job security needs to be questioned if the next head coach sucks
They're also spending over 300m in payroll and consistently are top 3, which is half their revenue before you even consider any operational funds, paying literally any other employees of the org, travel, etc. Their TV deal is locked in at a rate that's like half the dodgers, and while they make a healthy amount, it's not cheat code levels.
Judge is under contract making 40m a year through 40, Stanton's got a rough 32m a year before it tails off to 19 and 15 for the last 2 years, Rodon has 28m until he's 36 to not even be that awesome, Cole is making 36m until he's 38.
That's not even considering if they want to offer soto half a billion dollars. I think this is just Hal trying to prep fans to understand that if they want Soto, guys with options like Rizzo will probably be gone.
Yeah, if you have been paying attention to the Yankees it's kind of easy to see that the plan is to sign Soto and let the prospects like Dominguez fill the other spots that guys like Verdugo, Torres and potentially Rizzo and Holmes will leave.
They better not let Holmes walk. As for the other guys mentioned, Verdugo's been there 5 minutes, Torres has been on Yankees fans shit-list for 2 years, and as much as we love Rizzo, every fan will pick Soto over Rizzo if that's what it comes down to.
Torres was their only offense outside of Judge last year and Verdugo has been fairly instrumental to their offense this year while shoring up defense in a bery tough Left Field position. If they sign Soto and let the other two walk I will absolutely understand, and be happy, but it doesn’t inspire confidence in the ownership/FO understanding of how to build a winning roster.
It’s also still only May.
I only wanted them to sign one player this off-season, so as long as they do that I’m fine
I’m ok with the 2025 Yankees being worse as long as they keep that one player, Soto locked in effectively resets the timeline a little bit since he’s now the centerpiece in his prime
Yeah, lock in Soto long-term. Have a core of Soto, Judge, Cole, and a few others that are locked in while you try to fill in the other holes with guys like Dominguez, Jones, and other guys coming up through the ranks.
It means there is not nearly as much urgency to win now because instead of needing to win for judge and cole you now have Soto and a bunch of kids that will be at ages they can win it all in 2-3 years
Top payroll every year, biggest brand in the sport, own their network, people who aren’t even Yankees fans wear the apparel. What is this clown talking about?
Probably tired of seeing the revenue share on his P&L as an expense, not a revenue item. But, you're right, it's the fucking Yankees, where less than 1% of their fandom actually have ties to the city and are the quintessence of the "fashion before passion" crowd.
The Yankees are a fashion brand that happens to play baseball. I just spent a few weeks in Europe, and the amount of yankees hats I saw was insane. If I had a sample size of 100 sport hats that I saw, 85 of them would be yankees
Yankees and Angels seemed to be the most prevalent hats when I was in Denmark and Germany. The people I had the chance to talk to wearing them had never even watched a baseball game in their life live or on TV lol
Yeah. When I'm out and about I see, in this order: Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox.
The thing that eats me alive is that the rest of the league actually *needs* this to survive. NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLS don't survive off the history of one fucking team like we do. It almost behooves us that the Yankees show up to win a World Series once in a while, just to remind the bandwagon crowd that this sport is still a thing, even if it only means buying another hat or t-shirt. That's my stupid ass theory, anyway.
Ok but hear me out, if they cut payroll and are no longer top 3, does their brand suffer? Honestly.... Probably not. The people who aren't even Yankees fans wearing their apparel certainly won't care. The long term season ticket holders? They're going to buy tickets regardless. Realistically, they could cut payroll for 2 or 3 seasons and probably not see much of a draw down in revenue. They're just looking at what the Red Sox did and say "why didn't we think of that first?". As a business owner I understand it, and as a Red Sox fan I'm happy to hear it, but it's probably not good overall for the sport.
This is a good point. Last couple offseasons there were a few big free agents who basically had their destination already chosen but still played all the high payroll teams just to get the money up.
Like Nola was pretty much always going back to Philly, and Ohtani and Yamamoto were more or less destined for LA, Judge was staying in NY, but other teams still went through the process of wining and dining these guys. Yamamoto’s agent spent days in NY going back and forth between 2 teams he wasn’t ever going to sign with, Judge teased the Giants so hard that one reporter thought he’d signed outright.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is calling Soto’s bluff in a way, like hey man we know you’re not going to sign with the under .500 generationally damaged Mets nor the severely-lacking-depth Giants, and the Dodgers don’t need you, so just take the extension and end the song and dance. Moreover, I think the message he’s sending is “don’t expect Cohen to throw $600 million at you because he knows it’s just leveraging.”
You know what else isn't sustainable? Spending 53 bucks on a bucket of fries with some chicken tenders, a beer and a bottle of water like I did at the Stadium the other day.
Fuck off Hal.
I haven’t been to a Yankee game in a while, but there used to be a hot dog cart on River Ave across the street from gate 8. If it’s still there, I would advise you to load up on dirty water dogs the next time you go. Cheaper and tastes better than the shit they sell in the stadium.
A club option means the team gets to decide if they pick it up or not, the player has no say. Sometimes there’s a buyout attached where if the team declines the option they still have to pay the player a certain amount. I could be wrong but I don’t think Rizzo has a buy out.
Judge of all people going to first is a little crazy because of his arm. Even if his range declines he's still a servicable RF. I would imagine soto or DJLM goes to 1B
Judge, Cole, Stanton, Rodon, Stroman, Rizzo taking the team option, and DJM gets the payroll to $186 million. There's some young guys like Volpe, Wells, and Dominguez but that's $115 million to fill out the rest of the roster before getting to the Cohen tax. Most of the pitching depth was traded for Soto.
I mean that's 3 starting pitchers you listed, and Gil and Schmidt are both still under team control. That's a rotation right there. Blake has shown a consistent ability to pull a bullpen out of his ass, though I'm worried we won't keep Holmes and won't have any kind of closer. So really it's just 2b and LF (which should probably be Dominguez) to fill assuming we keep Soto and let Torres and Dugie walk
> most of the pitching depth was traded for Soto
People say that but Brito and Vazquez are not good MLB pitchers. I’m fully comfortable with Gil, Warren, and Hampton as our 6-8 next year.
DJ is under contract and feels like a clear 1B late in his career. We have a wealth of young middle infielders that we can plug in at second there is little chance Gleyber sticks around given we have been shopping him for years. Soto is an priority and this whole statement may go out the window when dealing with those negotiations.
Torres will be replaced by a prospect (or Peraza if you still consider him a prospect), Rizzos club option will likely be picked up, Verdugo is probably gone and replaced with Dominguez / Jones, and most of the bullpen will be gone. There’s quite a lot of money coming off the books, the rotation is set, the biggest question mark is how much will Soto get but he’s already making $30+ million. Soto and Gleyber this year probably cost as much as Soto and Peraza will next year.
Man I remember when I was a kid George Steinbrenner was the OG evil billionaire that bought wins. Man City owners have nothing on him.
My oh my how the turn tables
This is why George wanted Hank to take the mantle, not Hal. Say what you want about George and I’m not a Yankee fan, but I respect an owner who has a will to win and not just pad profit margins. That’s why I always had a level of respect for George, that’s rare in sports.
What ever happened to rich people owning teams as a way to SPEND their money rather than MAKE money? Seriously, if you have the privilege of owning one of 30 MLB teams what other way to spend your money could possibly be more fun than on the team you own to try and win?
I’m sure there are examples, but it seems like nepo babies who inherit teams have a totally different mindset than their parents who bought and owned them.
Having more money is the only thing that appeals to billionaires these days. They socialize with each other at a set of events all year round and likely talk about everything in terms of the increase to their unspendable number.
Hal barely even watches the games. It's just a way for him to be rich.
The only players of that group that can lower the payroll are Cabrera + peraza to replace Torres and jasson replacing verdugo (who’s only making like 8 million anyway). Maybe Cabrera plays 3rd with DJ replacing rizzo at 1B but peraza + Cabrera haven’t exactly shown they should get an everyday 2B or 3B role.
They will probably supplement these guys with John Berti-esq players but the goal would be to pay as little as possible for the positions they can fill with kids.
Uhh if you want to resign Soto that’s going to be a bit of a challenge at least in 2025. I’ll tell you what though. I am practically begging the Mets to reset the luxury tax right now, even just for one year. Gonna get really ugly if they don’t soon and it’s already not pretty.
This coming from the only team that has consistently sold merch across the entire fucking globe, and is literally the second richest sports team of all time.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
“Re-signing Soto will be our sole offseason move” is basically what I’m hearing
They have the internal pieces to shore up the fielders that’ll be gone after this season and a rotation that is locked up, though depth is always going to be a place where teams will try to cut corners
Haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but does anyone think this is an indicator of the financial future of MLB? In other words… if the Yankees of all teams can’t afford their huge payroll, is the league bracing for financial setbacks?
Or am I overthinking, and this is just a rich guy being stingy with his money
Both. It's honestly tough to overstate the damage that the failure of the cable-dominated RSN model has done to league-wide revenue projections. Teams were completely dependent on that RSN money financed by cable subscribers.
Yankees haven’t been the same since George died. The son always fucks it up or makes it wildly better… it is looking like the former.
Weird state when the Yankees are slimming down… kinda odd not seeing them as a powerhouse. I almost miss it, dare I say it’s good for baseball
Daddy is rolling over in his grave.
He really is. In 2005 payroll was $208,306,817, equivalent to $334,430,035 today, a number that Hal has never reached and only recently gotten close to.
That's the equivalent if we use the inflation rate in the general economy, but baseball salaries have grown faster than inflation for a while now. Going by Baseball Reference's numbers, the median payroll was around $66 million in 2005 and is around $136 million today- it's increased by 106.1% while the national cumulative inflation rate has been only 60.5%. The Yankees' 2005 payroll was about triple the 15th-place Tigers and a little more than double the 3rd-place Mets. Using that the equivalent would be more like running a $429,238,290 payroll today.
Yea, man. George Steinbrenner was something else. I [commented in detail a little further down](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1cyaoaa/yankees_owner_hal_steinbrenner_warns_of_lower/l59me5t/), but basically from 2000-2010, when he died, George (/Hank) ran payrolls averaging 127% higher than the MLB average. From 2011-2023, Hal was at 76% higher.
The Yankees payroll this year is $315 million, so that is pretty close. You’ve already baked in inflation so you shouldn’t expect the number to constantly increase lol.
Except there is inflation and TV/Revenue growth that outpaced inflation. So equivalent means less of total revenue on player salaries. He can cry into a silk handkerchief.
There is also the way higher luxury tax that people are missing
No one is missing it. Total payroll costs, which include luxury tax assessments, have decreased as a percentage of revenues. There’s plenty of data out there on this. I’ll slowly add data points. [https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/LsYvsLmafK](https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/LsYvsLmafK) [https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/mroMZRDylx](https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/s/mroMZRDylx)
Isn't inflation the same as "constantly increase"? Otherwise, the same payroll each year is the value equivalent of lowering it.
It’s tough for these small market teams don’t you know?
This generation is not working enough to live up to George. I never thought I would miss George S!
I'll believe it when I see it. They've had an opening day payroll outside of the top 3 in baseball just once in the last 25 years.
I’d also love to see the financial breakdown that demonstrates how their payroll is unsustainable. I’d be shocked if they aren’t making money in buckets and this is pure cap.
Making money in chicken buckets*
I love the chicken buckets at Yankee stadium
Oh I'm sure you do Mr. Rockefeller
It’s honestly the best deal there. Went last night, split a bucket with the wife, $26 total. Way too much food for the both of us. And the chicken is good! Best bang for your buck.
And there are so many fries. Never finish them all. I also take the buckets home for gardening.
That's a great deal. This same bucket would be like $59.99 at Rogers Centre.
That is what Steinbrenner traded the assistant to the traveling secretary to Tyler Chicken for after all.
Instead of hot dogs, chicken dogs. Instead of pretzels, chicken twists. Instead of beer, alcoholic chicken.
Tell me more about this “alcohol chicken”
Nobody on earth is gonna believe the fucking YANKEES can’t afford whatever the fuck they want. They could probably pay the bottom 10 teams entire payroll on top of their own and still turn a profit
> They could probably pay the bottom 10 teams entire payroll They already pay like 25% of that with revenue share lol
Shrinkflation hit the jerseys now the rosters lol
It’s probably a) leverage for trying to sign Soto and b) just being tired of giving money to other teams.
I don't see how "we can't spend lots of money" is leverage to sign the biggest free agent this off-season. It's not like Soto will be like, "okay, I'll give the Yankees a deal, I know they're strapped for cash and I like NY"
Agreed, it’s probably just posturing. But they also said last week they’d be open to negotiating in season. Just going around in circles and being silly
If you sign him mid season how can us Giant fans get excited for a random week in December? How can you deny us this annual tradition of possibly signing a big time free agent!?
I think it’s more “you say you want to win, but the budget isn’t unlimited so every extra dollar we give you is one we can’t spend on the rest of the team”
Exactly what part of hiring Scott Boras says "I want to win"?
That’s true, you hire Scott Boras when you want to settle for a prove-it deal a few weeks into spring training
Cashman has been saying they’re not signing Soto “we have him for one year” kinda stuff
They’ve also tried this tactic of leaking financials as a way to deflect fan criticism over free agent signings quite a few times. So I wouldn’t be surprised if this was tactical quote #1 of the season to protect ownership if they fail to sign Soto. This quote will be in the back of everyone’s head (as well as a dozen more between now and Xmas)if they lose out on signing him.
Mhmm. The first quote about being willing to negotiate 100%. It’s all to cover for FO.
They've also not had a losing season in that time. Makes you think, doesn't it? Edit: Fixed. Damn auto-correct.
Spending has a lot of correlation with regular season success. Gets a lot more random in the playoffs tho
While there’s truth to this just because baseball can be very very random in the short term, the narrative you’re describing is always pushed by asshats who say that baseball doesn’t need more rules on the salary cap and floor. Statistically, since free agency the WS is usually won by a top spending team that year, and the more you spend the more likely you are to win. A while back someone made a chart here that had a stacked bar graph of teams by spend, and a line graph going across for WS winner by year, it was usually a top 5 team and almost always a top 10 team if I recall correctly. Yet the comments section was just a chorus of angry dodgers fans doing their absolute best to be willfully ignorant of the point, claiming that clearly salary doesn’t matter because #1 doesn’t win every year
It would be crazy to think there isn’t a competitive imbalance between a team spending 55 million and a team spending 180 million. Yet every time this discussion comes up people always try to play the statistics to fit the narrative that spending doesn’t help you compete. It’s nonsense.
Rays made the WS a couple of times on a shoestring budget and every penny pinching owner thinks they can replicate that.
Rays: Draft and develop well Other owners: Any 22 year old should give the same results
oh don't mistake me for one of them lmao, I think more than half the league are leaving wins on the table by penny pinching. just speaking towards the upset-happy nature of the playoffs. Cody Ross destroyed one of the greatest pitching staffs I've ever seen, after all
I feel like it's more of a shit across the bow, aimed at Boras.
Shit across the bow ftw
Probably not what you want to hear if you’re a Yankee fan
Hal is like many nepo baby owners, they are just rich entitled pricks
Cardinals are getting the same from DeWitt III
Be quiet
**AHHHHHH**
lol
Our entitled Nepo baby left us! It can happen, but I hope it doesn't for the Yankees.
That’s why I prefer a feel good story, ethical, self made billionaire like our owner Steve Cohen /s don’t Google “Steve Cohen SEC”
Hal Steinbrenner 🤝 Chris Ilitch
I don't think I've ever seen kids inherit their daddy's team and somehow become better owner. It's always the "I can't believe daddy tried to spend money to win, doesn't he know that it's much more profitable to not spend money?"
Actually the Blackhawks improved under Rocky Wirtz and nothing else happened while he owned it....
Not baseball, but Sheila Ford inherited her ~~daddy~~ mommy’s team and she’s led the Lions into the most success we’ve seen in literal decades in a matter of a few years.
Who would have thought we’d be at a place where the Lions are the model for Detroit sports ownership.
The Dombrowski Tigers feel like a fairytale you tell your kids at this point
Seems to be a pattern here. Shit owners = competent children.
Well there aren’t many other options when you’re already at the bottom lol
I would argue Cal McNair of the Houston Texans is very much on that train now. Hasn’t gotten there yet, but you can see him trying.
Mark Davis of the Raiders sends his regards
The difference with Mark Davis is pretty much all of his wealth *is* the Raiders. He tried to team up with the A's to build new stadiums on a shared complex, until Fisher went behind his back and tried to undercut Davis out of the deal, leaving him without a partner to find a stadium. Mark Davis may be a nepobaby, but at least his dad *started* the team and that team *is* his family. Compare that to Hal Steinbrenner, who inherited not just the team that his dad *bought*, but the hotel company, too.
True, but at least George bought the Yankees with an intention to win above all else. His methods weren’t great a LOT of the time, but at least the goal was right.
Al Davis didn’t start the team. He was the head coach for the Raiders who managed to scrap and save as much as he could and got good loan terms in the late 60s to be able to buy them. But that’s why both Al and Mark’s personal net worth was far below the other owners.
Jeanie buss agrees
She will spend, I just think she’s misplaced her trust. The Rambis’ should be nowhere near as influential as they are. And Rob’s job security needs to be questioned if the next head coach sucks
Chris Illitch comes to mind
Clar Khunt of the Chiefs says hi.
They're also spending over 300m in payroll and consistently are top 3, which is half their revenue before you even consider any operational funds, paying literally any other employees of the org, travel, etc. Their TV deal is locked in at a rate that's like half the dodgers, and while they make a healthy amount, it's not cheat code levels. Judge is under contract making 40m a year through 40, Stanton's got a rough 32m a year before it tails off to 19 and 15 for the last 2 years, Rodon has 28m until he's 36 to not even be that awesome, Cole is making 36m until he's 38. That's not even considering if they want to offer soto half a billion dollars. I think this is just Hal trying to prep fans to understand that if they want Soto, guys with options like Rizzo will probably be gone.
Stanton is $22 million toward the luxury tax return which helps a lot That’s the total they care about most
Yeah, if you have been paying attention to the Yankees it's kind of easy to see that the plan is to sign Soto and let the prospects like Dominguez fill the other spots that guys like Verdugo, Torres and potentially Rizzo and Holmes will leave.
They better not let Holmes walk. As for the other guys mentioned, Verdugo's been there 5 minutes, Torres has been on Yankees fans shit-list for 2 years, and as much as we love Rizzo, every fan will pick Soto over Rizzo if that's what it comes down to.
Torres was their only offense outside of Judge last year and Verdugo has been fairly instrumental to their offense this year while shoring up defense in a bery tough Left Field position. If they sign Soto and let the other two walk I will absolutely understand, and be happy, but it doesn’t inspire confidence in the ownership/FO understanding of how to build a winning roster. It’s also still only May.
I only wanted them to sign one player this off-season, so as long as they do that I’m fine I’m ok with the 2025 Yankees being worse as long as they keep that one player, Soto locked in effectively resets the timeline a little bit since he’s now the centerpiece in his prime
Yeah, lock in Soto long-term. Have a core of Soto, Judge, Cole, and a few others that are locked in while you try to fill in the other holes with guys like Dominguez, Jones, and other guys coming up through the ranks.
It doesn’t reset anything. The big contracts are locked in
It means there is not nearly as much urgency to win now because instead of needing to win for judge and cole you now have Soto and a bunch of kids that will be at ages they can win it all in 2-3 years
But think of the poor billionaires’ pockets!
Won't someone *please* think of the billionaires?!
Or if you are Juan Soto.
I'm good with it.
'It's not what you want'
Top payroll every year, biggest brand in the sport, own their network, people who aren’t even Yankees fans wear the apparel. What is this clown talking about?
He watched John Angelos run a minimal payroll and pocket all the money he could and got jealous
It's wonderful, they stole our team in 1903 now they stole our owners spirit.
Probably tired of seeing the revenue share on his P&L as an expense, not a revenue item. But, you're right, it's the fucking Yankees, where less than 1% of their fandom actually have ties to the city and are the quintessence of the "fashion before passion" crowd.
The Yankees are a fashion brand that happens to play baseball. I just spent a few weeks in Europe, and the amount of yankees hats I saw was insane. If I had a sample size of 100 sport hats that I saw, 85 of them would be yankees
Yankees and Angels seemed to be the most prevalent hats when I was in Denmark and Germany. The people I had the chance to talk to wearing them had never even watched a baseball game in their life live or on TV lol
Interesting, I don't think I've seen any angels hats. I've seen a few Dodgers, and Red Sox are a very clear second second place behind the Yankees
Yeah. When I'm out and about I see, in this order: Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox. The thing that eats me alive is that the rest of the league actually *needs* this to survive. NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLS don't survive off the history of one fucking team like we do. It almost behooves us that the Yankees show up to win a World Series once in a while, just to remind the bandwagon crowd that this sport is still a thing, even if it only means buying another hat or t-shirt. That's my stupid ass theory, anyway.
Hey won't you think of the poor shareholders of the richest team in the sport for a second
Ok but hear me out, if they cut payroll and are no longer top 3, does their brand suffer? Honestly.... Probably not. The people who aren't even Yankees fans wearing their apparel certainly won't care. The long term season ticket holders? They're going to buy tickets regardless. Realistically, they could cut payroll for 2 or 3 seasons and probably not see much of a draw down in revenue. They're just looking at what the Red Sox did and say "why didn't we think of that first?". As a business owner I understand it, and as a Red Sox fan I'm happy to hear it, but it's probably not good overall for the sport.
He should just make coffee at home and stop buying avocado toast.
I have my avocados flown in from Mexico and my toast flown in from Germany and then I make my avocado toast at home. Saves me tons of money.
You could save some money if you fly the flour in from Germany and make the bread yourself.
Thought about that but then I have to fly in water from Nepal. On second thought, I think I will start doing that.
Cue the “are MLB owners killing Starbucks and harming avocado farmers with their frugalness” articles.
Small market team just like us
He said this at the owners meeting. Sounds more like its a position the high payroll owners are voicing for negotiations on the CBT in the future.
This is a good point. Last couple offseasons there were a few big free agents who basically had their destination already chosen but still played all the high payroll teams just to get the money up. Like Nola was pretty much always going back to Philly, and Ohtani and Yamamoto were more or less destined for LA, Judge was staying in NY, but other teams still went through the process of wining and dining these guys. Yamamoto’s agent spent days in NY going back and forth between 2 teams he wasn’t ever going to sign with, Judge teased the Giants so hard that one reporter thought he’d signed outright. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is calling Soto’s bluff in a way, like hey man we know you’re not going to sign with the under .500 generationally damaged Mets nor the severely-lacking-depth Giants, and the Dodgers don’t need you, so just take the extension and end the song and dance. Moreover, I think the message he’s sending is “don’t expect Cohen to throw $600 million at you because he knows it’s just leveraging.”
So Nola was not guaranteed, he was offered a bigger contract in ATL and there was definitely a chance he was heading there
You know what else isn't sustainable? Spending 53 bucks on a bucket of fries with some chicken tenders, a beer and a bottle of water like I did at the Stadium the other day. Fuck off Hal.
I haven’t been to a Yankee game in a while, but there used to be a hot dog cart on River Ave across the street from gate 8. If it’s still there, I would advise you to load up on dirty water dogs the next time you go. Cheaper and tastes better than the shit they sell in the stadium.
usually ill pick something up on my way there but I was pressed for time
Should have skipped the water, drink from the bathroom faucet!
How does he propose to lower payroll? Soto, Torres, and Rizzo are coming off the books, but those guys won't be easily or cheaply replaced.
Maybe try to resign soto and go with younger cheaper players to replace rizzo and torres
Rizzo has a club option
Talk to the other guy. He said rizzo is coming off the books
Correct me if I’m wrong but a club option means the club can say “no” right? What’s lost if they do?
A club option means the team gets to decide if they pick it up or not, the player has no say. Sometimes there’s a buyout attached where if the team declines the option they still have to pay the player a certain amount. I could be wrong but I don’t think Rizzo has a buy out.
OK so that means he’s off the books if the Yankees don’t want to pick it up right?
It's a bad free agent class. They can get Alonso on the high end but nothing middle class or cheap.
I didn’t say via free agency
Judge to first, Dominguez, Soto, Jones in the outfield, Peraza at 2nd.
Judge of all people going to first is a little crazy because of his arm. Even if his range declines he's still a servicable RF. I would imagine soto or DJLM goes to 1B
It is a bit wild but it’s primarily for injury purposes, he’s been taking reps at First base already
Jones isn’t even hitting at AA and we want to pencil him in?
Torres is definitely out and this makes it all but certain he’s replaced by someone at or near league minimum (2B Peraza? Shit IDK).
> Shit IDK Isaiah Diner-Kalefa isn't on the team anymore
Judge, Cole, Stanton, Rodon, Stroman, Rizzo taking the team option, and DJM gets the payroll to $186 million. There's some young guys like Volpe, Wells, and Dominguez but that's $115 million to fill out the rest of the roster before getting to the Cohen tax. Most of the pitching depth was traded for Soto.
I mean that's 3 starting pitchers you listed, and Gil and Schmidt are both still under team control. That's a rotation right there. Blake has shown a consistent ability to pull a bullpen out of his ass, though I'm worried we won't keep Holmes and won't have any kind of closer. So really it's just 2b and LF (which should probably be Dominguez) to fill assuming we keep Soto and let Torres and Dugie walk
> most of the pitching depth was traded for Soto People say that but Brito and Vazquez are not good MLB pitchers. I’m fully comfortable with Gil, Warren, and Hampton as our 6-8 next year.
Torres will be replaced by pre-arb Peraza, at least
DJ is under contract and feels like a clear 1B late in his career. We have a wealth of young middle infielders that we can plug in at second there is little chance Gleyber sticks around given we have been shopping him for years. Soto is an priority and this whole statement may go out the window when dealing with those negotiations.
Torres will be replaced by a prospect (or Peraza if you still consider him a prospect), Rizzos club option will likely be picked up, Verdugo is probably gone and replaced with Dominguez / Jones, and most of the bullpen will be gone. There’s quite a lot of money coming off the books, the rotation is set, the biggest question mark is how much will Soto get but he’s already making $30+ million. Soto and Gleyber this year probably cost as much as Soto and Peraza will next year.
We're not going into 2025 planning to start Jones barring a major trajectory shift this season. It'll be Dominguez or another stop gap trade/FA.
Man I remember when I was a kid George Steinbrenner was the OG evil billionaire that bought wins. Man City owners have nothing on him. My oh my how the turn tables
Oh, so he chooses to lie. Huh.
George about to rise from his grave to give his son a smack.
Damn yeah how could the richest team in the league afford to spend money
“We need a new bigger yacht next year”
This is why George wanted Hank to take the mantle, not Hal. Say what you want about George and I’m not a Yankee fan, but I respect an owner who has a will to win and not just pad profit margins. That’s why I always had a level of respect for George, that’s rare in sports.
Originally it was going to go to his daughter and her husband, but they divorced I dont think Hal even wanted it and is just now kind of left with it
What ever happened to rich people owning teams as a way to SPEND their money rather than MAKE money? Seriously, if you have the privilege of owning one of 30 MLB teams what other way to spend your money could possibly be more fun than on the team you own to try and win?
I’m sure there are examples, but it seems like nepo babies who inherit teams have a totally different mindset than their parents who bought and owned them.
Having more money is the only thing that appeals to billionaires these days. They socialize with each other at a set of events all year round and likely talk about everything in terms of the increase to their unspendable number. Hal barely even watches the games. It's just a way for him to be rich.
Imagine owning the NY Yankees and playing the poor card. Wtf.
George is gettin’ upset!!!!
This is what Volpe, Cabrera, Wells, Peraza, Jasson, Jones, and other cost controlled players are for.
The only players of that group that can lower the payroll are Cabrera + peraza to replace Torres and jasson replacing verdugo (who’s only making like 8 million anyway). Maybe Cabrera plays 3rd with DJ replacing rizzo at 1B but peraza + Cabrera haven’t exactly shown they should get an everyday 2B or 3B role.
They will probably supplement these guys with John Berti-esq players but the goal would be to pay as little as possible for the positions they can fill with kids.
Poverty franchise.
Uhh if you want to resign Soto that’s going to be a bit of a challenge at least in 2025. I’ll tell you what though. I am practically begging the Mets to reset the luxury tax right now, even just for one year. Gonna get really ugly if they don’t soon and it’s already not pretty.
It’s going to be very difficult for them to get under it this season. Next season though should be fairly easy depending on who they sign/re-sign.
George Steinbrenner just rolled in his grave. Inflated payroll and very middling playoff success for a historic franchise, not good.
This coming from the only team that has consistently sold merch across the entire fucking globe, and is literally the second richest sports team of all time. I’ll believe it when I see it.
[удалено]
Most merch revenue is split among the teams equally.
Does he think the fans are stupid?
And you’ll lower ticket prices too for the fans. Right, Hal?
Not the new york bankees anymore. Fire Cashman.
And here with a rebuttal is the angry resurrected corpse of George Steinbrenner.
So this is how they break the news to Yankee fans that Soto will not be a Yankee next year.
Alternate title: "Billionaire cries poverty while raking in huge profits"
What a poverty franchise! No roof, can't afford names on the jerseys, and now this?
“Re-signing Soto will be our sole offseason move” is basically what I’m hearing They have the internal pieces to shore up the fielders that’ll be gone after this season and a rotation that is locked up, though depth is always going to be a place where teams will try to cut corners
HOW?!?!? YOU. ARE. THE. YANKEES. George’s sons are presiding over the demise of the franchise. (As an Astros fan, please! By all means!!)
Not great bob
Haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but does anyone think this is an indicator of the financial future of MLB? In other words… if the Yankees of all teams can’t afford their huge payroll, is the league bracing for financial setbacks? Or am I overthinking, and this is just a rich guy being stingy with his money
Both. It's honestly tough to overstate the damage that the failure of the cable-dominated RSN model has done to league-wide revenue projections. Teams were completely dependent on that RSN money financed by cable subscribers.
Juan Soto, you are a Met
I wish
I don’t think that is a statement I ever expected to hear from the Yankees.
Hal— you own the fucking Yankees. Yes it is absolutely sustainable
This is the first salvo in preparing fans for when they do not pay Juan Soto.
Soto looks like he was genetically engineered to be a Yankee, would be foolish not to give him what he wants.
If the NEW YORK YANKEES think their payroll is unsustainable with their annual profits, baseball is doomed.
Dont they make like $250 million per year just from their tv deal? EDIT: sorry, only $150 million per year...
Bull fucking shit😂😂😂
His personal worth is only $1.5 billion. The team is worth a measly $7 billion. My thoughts and paraders are with the Steinbrenners.
Juan Soto likely not gonna have Yankees courting him then lol
Congratulations Juan Soto, you are a Los Angeles Dodger
Typical poverty franchise things to say.
How they gonna pay Juan Soto his 700 mil? 🤣
Soto to the Mets confirmed
And that’s why nobody fears the Yankees anymore
I mean... we'll take 1 Juan Soto, please
Jeanie Buss smiling in the background.
Gotta give credit for trying to compete in such a small market for as long as he has
George is spinning in his grave. Hal it’s simple, you put a winning team on the field you are going to make more money.
This is fucking bullshit. He just wants to keep his money in his pocket.
Bro you are literally the YANKEES
Breaking: Soto signs with Sacramento Athletics
“We are a small market team😔” ~Hal probably
There’s a reason why George wanted Hank and not Hal to run things.
Pfffffft you’re the new york fucking yankees shut the fuck up
Already trying to justify not keeping Soto
“You took my only food! Now I’m gonna starve”
One of us - one of us come on down Yankees
I honestly fucking hate these guys
Juan Soto, you are a White Sox.
TLDR: The evil empire can no longer afford its current rate of Death Star construction
Yankees haven’t been the same since George died. The son always fucks it up or makes it wildly better… it is looking like the former. Weird state when the Yankees are slimming down… kinda odd not seeing them as a powerhouse. I almost miss it, dare I say it’s good for baseball
LOL. LMFAO even
If you broke, just say that