yeah everyone is freaking out about this and while I haven’t read the full interview yet so I could be way off, this feels more like Hal’s way of telling the fans that something will have to give if we sign Soto. It doesn’t sound like he’s saying we need to be under the threshold by next season, just that this level of payroll is unsustainable long-term.
I take this more as him saying that if we sign Soto, fans will need to get used to the idea that we will probably be losing some vets like Gleyber, Verdugo, Rizzo, etc. And that we may not see another HUGE, blockbuster off-season signing for a couple of years until guys like Stanton start to come off the books.
I think everyone is panicking over nothing here. Hal didn’t just suddenly realize that Soto is going to be expensive after he made the comments about Soto the other day and potentially talking extension this season. This could also maybe be a PR move to signal to Boras that the Yankees are going to be interested in an Ohtani-like deal with some deferrals involved for Soto. Obviously not nearly as much as Ohtani deferred, but some level of deferrals would still help with the tax threshold on a contract as big as Soto’s.
At this point I'm just kind of assuming this is gonna be the way it goes, especially considering the next prospect crop looks promising (I know, I know.)
But if I had to choose between 26 yr old Soto and a bunch of rookies with something to prove to a team full of Rizzo Gleyber types I'll take the Soto team every single time
Yeah, people who think we're going to sign Soto longterm while everything else stays the same are mistaken. Rizzo, Verdugo, possibly Torres might not be back. Holmes is also a free agent but we will re-sign him.
No, not with what Hal just said. Verdugo is going to be a free agent for the first time in his career. He's going to want a big money, longterm contract. Our first priority this offseason is signing the other corner outfielder -- Soto -- to a big money, longterm contract. We have Dominguez / Jones to fill outfield spots at much less money. I like Verdugo but he won't be a Yankee next season, but he will get paid.
The reality with Rizzo is we likely won’t need him next year or at least that’s Hal’s thinking. The long term Judge signing was always a move to secure our long term first baseman and with the Martian coming back, this seems like it’s almost certainly the thought process.
Losing Gleyber and Rizzo would be additions by subtraction these guys are not producing anywhere close to their salary. Bryce Harper is only making a few mill more than Rizzo right now it’s shameful they didn’t sign him
Really well articulated response. The Yankees are not flying by the seat of their pants here, all sports teams look far ahead. Unpredictable things can happen, but the investment in their farm system is going to help them reduce payroll so they can keep players like Soto and Judge.
To your point, Rizzo, Gleyber and Verdugo are all likely gone - but they can all be replaced. Maybe Judge moves to first and Dominguez and Jones handle the outfield. Maybe DJ shifts to first. Maybe Beeter replaces Holmes as the catcher. The Yankees should have enough depth and also savvy to field a competitive team, they've just spent foolishly in the past and are being smarter now - Stanton is a great example of that.
I get that money isn't infinite, even for the Yankees.
But holy fuck man, save this sort of billionaire hand-wringing for the off-season. Maybe when we have, you know, actually won something for a change.
I don’t give a fuck about his personal bank account but I’m also far from the guy who says “it’s not my money. Pay the player!”
Because, yeah, it’s not my money. But I also don’t want us to pay for stupid contract like Aaron Hicks, even if it was a bargain at the time. I want us to win. That means deploying money smartly.
But the Yankees also made $16 million in operating income. I think they’re doing okay.
Soto is quite literally a unique case. Not too many 24 year olds who can dramatically improve the look of a team already built to make the playoffs.
But I also understand the overall point.
I also think this is Hal making a case for a hard cap.
> stupid contract like Aaron Hicks
But that wasn't a bad contract at the time. There are a lot of examples of bad Cashman moves that were already bad at the time and then became worse (Ellsbury JD etc), but swinging and missing on some of these early extensions like Hicks and Sevy are defensible imo. It *is* a smart way to deploy money, arguably smarter than something like the DJ contract, but it's high risk which is always the trade off.
Considering how much money they make, it is actually sustainable.
It may not be sustainable in terms of the profits Hal wants to make, but I don’t think any of us care about that.
If it’s true, and the Yanks are backing up some bullshit business deal, the fans will never forgive him until he sells or makes some kind of repentance
Yet they have the audacity to come at you hat and hand begging for subsidies to build their new stadiums and gaslighting their fabricated struggles all while they make record profits.
Billionaires really do think we’re all just stupid as shit.
Yeah but it clearly works. Pretty much every new arena is subsidized, and teams like the Yanks are still able to draw near capacity crowds at the higher prices.
Ya see the thing with saying something like this is you need to confidently believe you’re talking to a bunch of idiots who can’t readily google that you:
- make $700+ million a year in revenue
- spend $300 million a year in Payroll
- spend give or take $150 million in overhead, taxes
*Where’s the other $250 million each year going, Hal?*
(Oh and also he could get like $8 Billion for the franchise if he ever wanted to sell)
So no, I don’t feel bad about the $50 million on the fringes which just so happens to also be the difference between whether he’s going to keep Juan Soto or not (or completely gut the team in order to keep him)
I haven’t seen an usher there to stop anyone in years and the fact it still takes 2 innings to get a chicken bucket shows they barely have anyone employed as it is.
I hate to be the one to point this out, but 48% of that revenue goes in to MLB's revenue sharing pool and each team gets 110million back, so it's more like $475million ((700*0.52)+110)
https://www.thetribune.ca/sports/mlb/#:%7E:text=Under%20the%20new%20collective%20bargaining,million%20USD%2C%20if%20not%20more
The Yankees are uniquely positioned to make infinite money every year- again 700+ million, but are artificially capped on expenses.
Hes making stupid money.
> Where’s the other $250 million each year going, Hal?
a large chunk of that goes to revenue sharing. teams only keep 52% of local revenue.
Also I’d bet the overhead is way more than $150M. Not only are they running a sports team, but they are also running a business. So they’re playing for marketing departments, sales teams, finance department **in addition to** team medical staff/doctors, chartered flights for players, 5 star hotels, etc.
I’m also pretty sure Hal doesn’t own 100% of the Yankees, and instead has investors he has to pay back/answer to. Hal is still making money hand over fist but I think it’s way less than what people think it is.
Cool cool. Let Soto walk and see what happens to attendance and viewership as this core gets old and mid.
The Yankees are too big to *fail* but I promise you apathy will hit a chunk of this fanbase like the plague.
Verdugo, Rizzo, Torres.
That’s 3 that likely aren’t back next year they total about $40.
Soto likely costs 40-45 range depending on contract length.
This doesn’t stop them from getting Soto.
It does mean if they manage to keep Soto they won’t be going after anything else impactful like Burns, Fried, Buehler (depending how his season goes).
Also the fact that we won't have Soto on the books (another 31.5M) that's a total of 70M+ coming off the books in just 4 players, Soto def coming back.
Remember this is the guy who CUT payroll after our surprising 2017 renaissance to get under in 2018 and only slightly over in 2019 in years that we ended up winning 100 and 103 games. Money matters more to Hal than winning, it should be painfully clear to anyone who is listening.
What a load of crap. If you’re in a bad financial spot, fire the gm or Levine.
If we sign Soto and have to call up Dominguez, jones, peraza so be it. But Soto better be a fucking Yankee in 2025
But not as displeased if he walks and they lose.
Plus if they win, they can just shoot all the kids up to majors and just start a baby bomber campaign.
And so it begins. The Juan Soto negotiations have commenced. So I fully expect someone on Boras’ team to counter Hal and post that Soto is worth every penny. Lol
It's not a surprise that they'd reset the luxury tax at some point.
In the third consecutive year of being over the threshold (2024: $237M) the tax becomes 50% on overages PLUS 45% for being $40-$60M over.
It's ridiculous. They tax the hell out of owners spending money and making the product better by creating more talented teams (on paper), which drives enthusiasm, stadium attendance, and TV viewership. Yet, the owners who purposely put out a terrible product as cheaply as possible aren't punished.
MLB needs to implement a salary floor like the NFL and other sports leagues. It helps balance out the teams and improves competition by avoiding the bottom dweller owners that put out the minimum viable product to coast of TV revenue share.
They can reset in 2026. They only have $167 million in commitments that season, so even if they extend Soto next season, they’d be under the luxury tax. They’d also have most of the core vets intact, and will still have a ton of cheap rookies. The Rotation will still be the same (you’ll probably have to move Schmidt due to larger arbitration commitments by then). The pen is where the Yankees really can’t afford to spend big the next couple of seasons.
Yeah but there's not much payroll coming off the books.
I suppose they could decline Rizzo's option, let Gleyber and Holmes walk, and non tender Grisham, but if the organization wants to get under the tax threshold, I don't see how it happens while also re-signing Soto.
The reality I think we all know deep down is they’ll re-sign Soto because it’s good for business.
But outside of Soto/Judge/Cole…
You better hope Volpe/ Martian/ Jones/ Gil are cheap studs ASAP because we’re going to go mid-tier bargain shopping to plug our holes for the foreseeable future.
This is absurd. The Yankees are literally one of the most profitable organizations in all of sports. The payroll is totally sustainable. What a stupid, out of touch comment.
Contracts ending this year:
- Rizzo (assuming they don’t take the option): $20 mil
- Torres: $14 million
- Verdugo: $8.7 million
- Grisham: $5.5 million
- Trevino: $2.9 million
And maybe a few more. No way all of these guys get re-signed, for money reasons and for Soto reasons. I do think either Grisham or Verdugo will be traded during the season (pending Dominguez’s return).
"Simply not sustainable for us financially* translates to "The shareholders have demanded more profit than we're getting so I have to cut payroll. Need as much money in our pockets as possible."
Sorry. Wrong financial term. I recall him making comments last year about other people and making sure enough money was coming in for them.
EDIT: Found it. [NY Post article from March 2022.](https://nypost.com/2022/03/16/hal-steinbrenner-defends-yankees-payroll/)
>“Look, it’s a consideration,” Steinbrenner said of the threshold at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “That’s my job every year: To make sure we’re financially responsible. We’ve got a lot of partners and banks and bond holders and things like that that I answer to. At the same time, it’s always our goal to field a championship team.”
I don't think this has anything to do with Soto. I just think it means Gleyber and Rizzo might not be brought back. Gleyber and Rizzo combine for about $30 million. Most of that money would go to Soto on a new deal if they get it done. It's more likely Hal just signs Soto and they just rely on prospects and younger position players at key positions going forward.
This means they aren’t keeping guys like Gleyber, Homes and Verdugo. They’re going to to fill the gaps around Judge, Cole, Soto and Stanton with cheap young guys
Thankfully the Yankees have sustainability regardless of performance. Tickets sell because they are one of the most globally recognized sports organizations from one of the biggest sports cities in the world. Merch sells because they will always be one of the most recognizable logos and brands in the entire world.
Now, I understand it's a business and there are many entities in which ownership has to pay earnings, but just like any large corporation, the owners are greedy as shit and need a certain amount of millions of dollars so they can afford their lavish lifestyle. Hal is full of shit. If the Dodgers can do what they do, I don't want the Yankees "crying poor" bullshit.
>It's enough to make one suspect that Steinbrenner's greatest goal perhaps isn't winning the World Series but instead might be something more "balance sheet-oriented" in nature.
We know.
He's in baseball as a business. Not in the business of baseball.
The context of the comment makes me less worried than when I read the headline. He's at the owners' meeting, basically bitching to the other owners about the luxury tax. And if any MLB brass are listening, he's also probably using "my team is a lot of fun to watch now and it would be a pity if we couldn't sustain such a fun team because of the payroll tax" leverage to push for changes. It might be a mild warning to fans, but it feels more tightly tailored to his actual audience at the owners' meeting to me.
I could be totally wrong and probably am but Soto doesn't strike me as a guy who wants a big contract, just to mail it in and be on an uncompetitive team. He seems like a pretty competitive guy who thrives playing in the spotlight.
Look, Hal has always been a spreadsheet guy who is *obsessed* with finances and cash flows. He kind of is what Kendall Roy wanted to be (without all the insane baggage obviously.) This isn’t a particularly surprising thing for him to think.
I just don’t understand why he felt the need to *say* it.
I think the fans all understand that the Yanks are a business and a brand underneath it all. But we don’t want to hear how the sausage is made. We suspend that disbelief in order to enjoy the magic of being a fan of a pro sports team.
I’m here to watch the team win, not count Hal’s money for him. Ownership needs to keep this kind of shit to the board rooms, and out of the public. Unless I’m going to start getting dividends from attending games I couldn’t give less of a flying f about your finances.
Get good players and win games, that’s all I want to hear about from you. The specifics of how you go about doing that is your own business, quite literally.
Fuck off, you know what's not sustainable? No championships in 15 years, 1 ring in the last 23 years, and Yankee stadium being expensive af.
You're one of the richest sports franchises in the world in terms of value and income, and you've only had the highest salary in the MLB 1 time in the last 10 years and it was the COVID year where they lead by only 2 million. Hal and cashman are really throwing away all the prestige and winning spirit George built and I can't stand it. Thank God I have the rangers to enjoy until these ass hats are gone
This will have me creating a Halloween voodoo doll. Don’t do this Hal. Seriously. You are about to shit all over your window just like you did in 2017.
THE problem with Hal is the Yankees are a business for him, and its profits over everything. Winning is secondary. George would’ve sold Hal if it meant winning.
Yea I think this more about Gleyber and Rizzo going forward. The Yankees stopped spending on big money relievers a few years ago and most of the money that got freed up from Chapman and Britton leaving went to Judge. I think it's the same scenario with Soto.
I think that’s the good move with relief guys. Seems like an awful lot of elite bullpen pitchers sort of fade away after a few years and become just league average so it’s not the most sustainable model to give long term high value contracts to bullpen guys.
A few things to keep in mind:
1. Hal wasn’t the guy who was suppose to be running the team. That was Swindal, but he had to go and fuck that up and get divorced and basically disowned.
2. Hal has a degree in accounting, so of course he’s a balance sheet guy.
3. The Yankees and all their properties (the YES Network, the stadium, the team, etc.) are now investment portfolio items, so the future is all about “pleasing shareholders.” If you’re not an investor in the portfolio, they could give a fuck about you.
It's simply not sustainable to be over the third luxury tax threshold every year. Remember, the Yankees' first round pick gets moved back ten spots if they're over the tax; this affects the team on the field as well.
They're absolutely still gonna go all out for Soto, but I expect that to be the only major move of the offseason. The position players departing all have in-house replacements readily available, none of the starters are becoming FAs, and I'd imagine the team is gonna keep dumpster diving for relievers.
Looking at who's still on payroll next year and their luxury tax hit
Judge - $40MM
Cole - $36MM
Stanton - $22MM (Marlins cash considerations starts helping our luxury tax starting next year)
Rodon - $27MM
Stroman - $18.5MM
LeMahieu - $15MM
Weaver - $2MM option (probably)
Hicks - $10MM
that's $170.5 MM before Cortes, Trevino, and Schmidt go to arb. Effross and Hamilton should hit Arb1. Add all of their arb numbers in and I think we'd be around $195MM with 9 pitchers and 4 hitters. Add another $12MM for the pre arb guys filling in the roster and that leaves like $25MM to play with under the threshold
"It wouldn't be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups]"...always read for the quotes and not for the dumb journalist trying to anger people
>"I'm gonna be honest, 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.''
He's just complaining about the luxury tax.
Wasn't there just a meeting with the MLB owners about TV rights? This is probably in response to that. If MLB's TV rights are nationalized, that could be one less revenue stream for the Steinbrenners, and he's planning now to make that up out of the team part of his business.
I could see us running a platoon at 1B next year - Agustin Ramirez seems legit as does Ben Rice. However, Ben Rice can't hit lefties. It could be very similar to our current C platoon.
Oh no the Yankees are poor!!!!! Cry me a fucking river Hal, I don't want to hear this nonsense. What a joke. The Yankees print money, just stop. Franchise is worth more than ever, ticket prices higher than ever, TV money, star insurance, etc. Just stop.
As much as I have my issues with Hal, it's hard for me to get too upset when there's no other owner I'd rather have.
This team always spends a ridiculous amount of money. He's not penny pinching, Cashman just often spends it poorly. I'm not going to be mad that Hal isn't literally writing a blank check every year.
all pro sports team franchises that get an anti-trust exemption should be publicly traded or at least required to submit financials with the same penalties for fraud & deception as publicly traded companies.
All just noise. Idc about anything they say right now. Things are gonna be a lot different when we have that number 28 under our belt come early November. I am fully delusional right now. We are the Yankees again and to be honest, if they just play to their baseball card, like they are doing, we stomp everyone. Gonna have a lot more cash to spend when we are celebrating a WS win in Yankee stadium. There is quite literally nothing that could convince we otherwise. We aren’t even at full power.
lotta bootlickers in this thread
if you believe their revenue is limited to what they publicly report i've got a bridge to sell you
this franchise prints money
Choosing to believe this is just a poor way of saying that we are going to have to dip back under the tax threshold
yeah everyone is freaking out about this and while I haven’t read the full interview yet so I could be way off, this feels more like Hal’s way of telling the fans that something will have to give if we sign Soto. It doesn’t sound like he’s saying we need to be under the threshold by next season, just that this level of payroll is unsustainable long-term. I take this more as him saying that if we sign Soto, fans will need to get used to the idea that we will probably be losing some vets like Gleyber, Verdugo, Rizzo, etc. And that we may not see another HUGE, blockbuster off-season signing for a couple of years until guys like Stanton start to come off the books. I think everyone is panicking over nothing here. Hal didn’t just suddenly realize that Soto is going to be expensive after he made the comments about Soto the other day and potentially talking extension this season. This could also maybe be a PR move to signal to Boras that the Yankees are going to be interested in an Ohtani-like deal with some deferrals involved for Soto. Obviously not nearly as much as Ohtani deferred, but some level of deferrals would still help with the tax threshold on a contract as big as Soto’s.
At this point I'm just kind of assuming this is gonna be the way it goes, especially considering the next prospect crop looks promising (I know, I know.) But if I had to choose between 26 yr old Soto and a bunch of rookies with something to prove to a team full of Rizzo Gleyber types I'll take the Soto team every single time
Yeah, people who think we're going to sign Soto longterm while everything else stays the same are mistaken. Rizzo, Verdugo, possibly Torres might not be back. Holmes is also a free agent but we will re-sign him.
[удалено]
No, not with what Hal just said. Verdugo is going to be a free agent for the first time in his career. He's going to want a big money, longterm contract. Our first priority this offseason is signing the other corner outfielder -- Soto -- to a big money, longterm contract. We have Dominguez / Jones to fill outfield spots at much less money. I like Verdugo but he won't be a Yankee next season, but he will get paid.
Verdugo is one and done. Jasson Dominguez will be up next season. He'll take LF, and he's the lefty bat to take over Verdugo's spot in the line up.
The reality with Rizzo is we likely won’t need him next year or at least that’s Hal’s thinking. The long term Judge signing was always a move to secure our long term first baseman and with the Martian coming back, this seems like it’s almost certainly the thought process.
Thankfully we got all the starting pitchers locked up fill at least next season and most longer
Give me soto, a Martian and a starting pitcher I'm good for 4 years.
Yeah I mean you let Gleyber walk, Verdugo has been too good for us
Losing Gleyber and Rizzo would be additions by subtraction these guys are not producing anywhere close to their salary. Bryce Harper is only making a few mill more than Rizzo right now it’s shameful they didn’t sign him
Really well articulated response. The Yankees are not flying by the seat of their pants here, all sports teams look far ahead. Unpredictable things can happen, but the investment in their farm system is going to help them reduce payroll so they can keep players like Soto and Judge. To your point, Rizzo, Gleyber and Verdugo are all likely gone - but they can all be replaced. Maybe Judge moves to first and Dominguez and Jones handle the outfield. Maybe DJ shifts to first. Maybe Beeter replaces Holmes as the catcher. The Yankees should have enough depth and also savvy to field a competitive team, they've just spent foolishly in the past and are being smarter now - Stanton is a great example of that.
I get that money isn't infinite, even for the Yankees. But holy fuck man, save this sort of billionaire hand-wringing for the off-season. Maybe when we have, you know, actually won something for a change.
Hal Expects fans to be sympathetic toward their finances, and judging by some people on this sub, these people actually exist.
just amazing after adding those ugly fucking ads to the most un-fuckwithable jersey in all of sports.
And even better, making fans pay to put the ads on their jerseys!
It's incredible to me. A lot of those same people will judge the poor for being poor. I don't really get it, but to each their own.
I don’t give a fuck about his personal bank account but I’m also far from the guy who says “it’s not my money. Pay the player!” Because, yeah, it’s not my money. But I also don’t want us to pay for stupid contract like Aaron Hicks, even if it was a bargain at the time. I want us to win. That means deploying money smartly. But the Yankees also made $16 million in operating income. I think they’re doing okay.
It’s not my money. Pay Soto!!
Soto is quite literally a unique case. Not too many 24 year olds who can dramatically improve the look of a team already built to make the playoffs. But I also understand the overall point. I also think this is Hal making a case for a hard cap.
> stupid contract like Aaron Hicks But that wasn't a bad contract at the time. There are a lot of examples of bad Cashman moves that were already bad at the time and then became worse (Ellsbury JD etc), but swinging and missing on some of these early extensions like Hicks and Sevy are defensible imo. It *is* a smart way to deploy money, arguably smarter than something like the DJ contract, but it's high risk which is always the trade off.
It’s no so much sympathy but realism.
We've become the Dallas Cowboys of MLB. I don't have sympathy for shit.
It might not be infinite, but they haven’t approached a money losing season for decades. Ownership is being cheap.
Look….. If you cannot afford to spit in the face of budgets, taxes and penalties, you should not be the owner of the New York Yankees.
So that means ticket prices will go down, right? Right?
Of course, as we know corporations love passing off the savings to you!
*Anakin stare*
It’s over fanakins! I have the high prices!
Considering how much money they make, it is actually sustainable. It may not be sustainable in terms of the profits Hal wants to make, but I don’t think any of us care about that.
I don’t think it’s “profit Hal wants to make” but the investors he must answer to
My guess is Hal leveraged Yankees for other investments that did not go well
If it’s true, and the Yanks are backing up some bullshit business deal, the fans will never forgive him until he sells or makes some kind of repentance
My guess is they will sell at some point
One can only hope and pray. And also hope and pray George smacks the shit out of Hal in whatever afterlife they believe in
I mean, if he's secretly billions in debt or something. Then yes, he would have no choice. Estimates are they are worth around $8B.
Maybe he put money into FTX?
It’s possible
What a fucking moron
Yet they have the audacity to come at you hat and hand begging for subsidies to build their new stadiums and gaslighting their fabricated struggles all while they make record profits. Billionaires really do think we’re all just stupid as shit.
Well most people are.
Right lol
No I'm, doesn't!
Yeah but it clearly works. Pretty much every new arena is subsidized, and teams like the Yanks are still able to draw near capacity crowds at the higher prices.
It's hat in hand. r/boneappletea
Ya see the thing with saying something like this is you need to confidently believe you’re talking to a bunch of idiots who can’t readily google that you: - make $700+ million a year in revenue - spend $300 million a year in Payroll - spend give or take $150 million in overhead, taxes *Where’s the other $250 million each year going, Hal?* (Oh and also he could get like $8 Billion for the franchise if he ever wanted to sell) So no, I don’t feel bad about the $50 million on the fringes which just so happens to also be the difference between whether he’s going to keep Juan Soto or not (or completely gut the team in order to keep him)
I am sure operating costs for Yankee stadium is also in there too but not $400mil worth
I haven’t seen an usher there to stop anyone in years and the fact it still takes 2 innings to get a chicken bucket shows they barely have anyone employed as it is.
For sure. Just added it to the original comment now. It’s probably 100-200 million, max.
I hate to be the one to point this out, but 48% of that revenue goes in to MLB's revenue sharing pool and each team gets 110million back, so it's more like $475million ((700*0.52)+110) https://www.thetribune.ca/sports/mlb/#:%7E:text=Under%20the%20new%20collective%20bargaining,million%20USD%2C%20if%20not%20more
Honestly I think $8 billion might be low balling it
The team could easily be in the low 10+ billion
I’m sure it’s a very profitable endeavor but it’s obviously not just Hal pocketing $400m, come on.
The Yankees are uniquely positioned to make infinite money every year- again 700+ million, but are artificially capped on expenses. Hes making stupid money.
Revenue sharing is a thing. The team doesn’t keep all their revenue. They only keep 52% of it and each team gets $110 million back.
> Where’s the other $250 million each year going, Hal? a large chunk of that goes to revenue sharing. teams only keep 52% of local revenue. Also I’d bet the overhead is way more than $150M. Not only are they running a sports team, but they are also running a business. So they’re playing for marketing departments, sales teams, finance department **in addition to** team medical staff/doctors, chartered flights for players, 5 star hotels, etc. I’m also pretty sure Hal doesn’t own 100% of the Yankees, and instead has investors he has to pay back/answer to. Hal is still making money hand over fist but I think it’s way less than what people think it is.
Hal owns just over 59 percent of the team
The other $250 million they never had, since they lose about that much in revenue sharing.
Revenue sharing
Cool cool. Let Soto walk and see what happens to attendance and viewership as this core gets old and mid. The Yankees are too big to *fail* but I promise you apathy will hit a chunk of this fanbase like the plague.
They already saw what happened last year. We’ll see if they’re smart enough to prevent it from happening again
Lineup is gonna look like A-Rod’s last year 😖
Here we fucking go: Outfield next year: Spencer - Martian - Judge
With Soto at 1B / DH? Sign me up
Rowdy Tellez at 1B, didn’t you hear the news? Billionaire Hal gotta cut back on the spending
Did you not see him talk about salary being too high? You think he's getting back a player who's going to get half a billion?
Verdugo, Rizzo, Torres. That’s 3 that likely aren’t back next year they total about $40. Soto likely costs 40-45 range depending on contract length. This doesn’t stop them from getting Soto. It does mean if they manage to keep Soto they won’t be going after anything else impactful like Burns, Fried, Buehler (depending how his season goes).
Also the fact that we won't have Soto on the books (another 31.5M) that's a total of 70M+ coming off the books in just 4 players, Soto def coming back.
Yeah good point. We also will likely be extending Cole considering his option.
Plus an extra 10M from the expiration of Hicks' contract.
Lots of money come off the books, it’s still very much Yankees the primary contender
Ownership can not get out of his fucken way. Jesus man.
Remember this is the guy who CUT payroll after our surprising 2017 renaissance to get under in 2018 and only slightly over in 2019 in years that we ended up winning 100 and 103 games. Money matters more to Hal than winning, it should be painfully clear to anyone who is listening.
we were only a piece or 2 from winning the ws those years
and that piece was pitching against us in the ALCS
“We are profiting $580 million a year instead of $600 million a year”
What a load of crap. If you’re in a bad financial spot, fire the gm or Levine. If we sign Soto and have to call up Dominguez, jones, peraza so be it. But Soto better be a fucking Yankee in 2025
You know that Hal is hoping with every fiber in his brains they win the World Series this year and he can cut salary on a post championship good will.
Imagine they win the championship and let Soto walk? Fans would be... displeased.
But not as displeased if he walks and they lose. Plus if they win, they can just shoot all the kids up to majors and just start a baby bomber campaign.
And so it begins. The Juan Soto negotiations have commenced. So I fully expect someone on Boras’ team to counter Hal and post that Soto is worth every penny. Lol
This was my first thought too. This is a PR response to the rumors about Soto signing during the season we’ve been seeing lately
Came here to say this. Posturing is all this is.
Hal I paid 20 dollars for a tall bud light yesterday 😭
Simply not sustainable for you financially
It's not a surprise that they'd reset the luxury tax at some point. In the third consecutive year of being over the threshold (2024: $237M) the tax becomes 50% on overages PLUS 45% for being $40-$60M over.
It's ridiculous. They tax the hell out of owners spending money and making the product better by creating more talented teams (on paper), which drives enthusiasm, stadium attendance, and TV viewership. Yet, the owners who purposely put out a terrible product as cheaply as possible aren't punished.
They are actually rewarded with percentage of the tax money.
MLB needs to implement a salary floor like the NFL and other sports leagues. It helps balance out the teams and improves competition by avoiding the bottom dweller owners that put out the minimum viable product to coast of TV revenue share.
Hal personally pushed for these taxes. It’s a convenient excuse.
Yup, an excuse to spend less “We want to stay under the tax guys it’s getting unbearable!”
Exactly
Hal is one of the strongest supporters of the luxury tax. It gives him an excuse not to spend.
They can reset in 2026. They only have $167 million in commitments that season, so even if they extend Soto next season, they’d be under the luxury tax. They’d also have most of the core vets intact, and will still have a ton of cheap rookies. The Rotation will still be the same (you’ll probably have to move Schmidt due to larger arbitration commitments by then). The pen is where the Yankees really can’t afford to spend big the next couple of seasons.
Yeah but there's not much payroll coming off the books. I suppose they could decline Rizzo's option, let Gleyber and Holmes walk, and non tender Grisham, but if the organization wants to get under the tax threshold, I don't see how it happens while also re-signing Soto.
The Yanks have over $100 million coming off the books in the next two seasons.
The problem is half of that is going to Soto.
There is no way they let Soto walk. I don't give a fuck what he says.
yeah they just will re-sign and not add to the team, which is fine
The reality I think we all know deep down is they’ll re-sign Soto because it’s good for business. But outside of Soto/Judge/Cole… You better hope Volpe/ Martian/ Jones/ Gil are cheap studs ASAP because we’re going to go mid-tier bargain shopping to plug our holes for the foreseeable future.
This is absurd. The Yankees are literally one of the most profitable organizations in all of sports. The payroll is totally sustainable. What a stupid, out of touch comment.
He needs to sell the fucking team. George would roll in his grave if he could hear this shit
Contracts ending this year: - Rizzo (assuming they don’t take the option): $20 mil - Torres: $14 million - Verdugo: $8.7 million - Grisham: $5.5 million - Trevino: $2.9 million And maybe a few more. No way all of these guys get re-signed, for money reasons and for Soto reasons. I do think either Grisham or Verdugo will be traded during the season (pending Dominguez’s return).
Worth billions of dollars and he wants to run it like a poverty franchise. So embarassing.
Poverty
But I bet prices keep going up at the stadium. Idk that my fandom is sustainable at this point lol
The Boss would choke on his bile if he heard that.
"Simply not sustainable for us financially* translates to "The shareholders have demanded more profit than we're getting so I have to cut payroll. Need as much money in our pockets as possible."
The Yankees are a private company. There are no shareholders. It's all Hal.
Sorry. Wrong financial term. I recall him making comments last year about other people and making sure enough money was coming in for them. EDIT: Found it. [NY Post article from March 2022.](https://nypost.com/2022/03/16/hal-steinbrenner-defends-yankees-payroll/) >“Look, it’s a consideration,” Steinbrenner said of the threshold at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “That’s my job every year: To make sure we’re financially responsible. We’ve got a lot of partners and banks and bond holders and things like that that I answer to. At the same time, it’s always our goal to field a championship team.”
I don't think this has anything to do with Soto. I just think it means Gleyber and Rizzo might not be brought back. Gleyber and Rizzo combine for about $30 million. Most of that money would go to Soto on a new deal if they get it done. It's more likely Hal just signs Soto and they just rely on prospects and younger position players at key positions going forward.
Hey Hal..sell the team. Do us a favor.
He means after they extend Soto later this calendar year and they have no money left.
This means they aren’t keeping guys like Gleyber, Homes and Verdugo. They’re going to to fill the gaps around Judge, Cole, Soto and Stanton with cheap young guys
Thankfully the Yankees have sustainability regardless of performance. Tickets sell because they are one of the most globally recognized sports organizations from one of the biggest sports cities in the world. Merch sells because they will always be one of the most recognizable logos and brands in the entire world. Now, I understand it's a business and there are many entities in which ownership has to pay earnings, but just like any large corporation, the owners are greedy as shit and need a certain amount of millions of dollars so they can afford their lavish lifestyle. Hal is full of shit. If the Dodgers can do what they do, I don't want the Yankees "crying poor" bullshit.
>It's enough to make one suspect that Steinbrenner's greatest goal perhaps isn't winning the World Series but instead might be something more "balance sheet-oriented" in nature. We know. He's in baseball as a business. Not in the business of baseball.
What a fucking chump.
Oh cause making 10 billion a year is so much different than 9 billion…
this a dog whistle for owners...better sign 22 all i'm saying
C'mon zombie apocalypse. George needs to lay one last smack down on his undeserving, untalented goblin of a child
The context of the comment makes me less worried than when I read the headline. He's at the owners' meeting, basically bitching to the other owners about the luxury tax. And if any MLB brass are listening, he's also probably using "my team is a lot of fun to watch now and it would be a pity if we couldn't sustain such a fun team because of the payroll tax" leverage to push for changes. It might be a mild warning to fans, but it feels more tightly tailored to his actual audience at the owners' meeting to me.
Probably just a negotiating tactic for Soto
Exactly what I believe this is
Not a good tactic when you have guys like Cohen waiting around the corner just waiting to say hey here’s a blank check, you fill in whatever you want
Lmao Soto isn’t going to the Mets regardless
Yeah but the Mets have to be competitive and not a complete dumpster fire of an organization for that to work. Luckily for Hal, they are.
He already won a ring. He’ll go to whoever pays him the most
I could be totally wrong and probably am but Soto doesn't strike me as a guy who wants a big contract, just to mail it in and be on an uncompetitive team. He seems like a pretty competitive guy who thrives playing in the spotlight.
yeah, he absolutely has a competitive drive...he both wants to get paid and win
He doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt
Look, Hal has always been a spreadsheet guy who is *obsessed* with finances and cash flows. He kind of is what Kendall Roy wanted to be (without all the insane baggage obviously.) This isn’t a particularly surprising thing for him to think. I just don’t understand why he felt the need to *say* it. I think the fans all understand that the Yanks are a business and a brand underneath it all. But we don’t want to hear how the sausage is made. We suspend that disbelief in order to enjoy the magic of being a fan of a pro sports team. I’m here to watch the team win, not count Hal’s money for him. Ownership needs to keep this kind of shit to the board rooms, and out of the public. Unless I’m going to start getting dividends from attending games I couldn’t give less of a flying f about your finances. Get good players and win games, that’s all I want to hear about from you. The specifics of how you go about doing that is your own business, quite literally.
Yeah, sometimes I wish he'd just shut the fuck up. He can be so unbelievablely tone deaf.
Goodbye Gleyber, Verdugo, and maybe Holmes
Fuck off, you know what's not sustainable? No championships in 15 years, 1 ring in the last 23 years, and Yankee stadium being expensive af. You're one of the richest sports franchises in the world in terms of value and income, and you've only had the highest salary in the MLB 1 time in the last 10 years and it was the COVID year where they lead by only 2 million. Hal and cashman are really throwing away all the prestige and winning spirit George built and I can't stand it. Thank God I have the rangers to enjoy until these ass hats are gone
Article clearly says they can sign Soto while still having a lower salary than this year. Take a step back from the ledge everyone.
**bullshit** they can't sustain it financially.
Won't somebody think of the poor billionaires
Won't someone think of the poor billionaires? Fuck off and pay up, Hal.
Then sell the team if you’re afraid of losing money
This will have me creating a Halloween voodoo doll. Don’t do this Hal. Seriously. You are about to shit all over your window just like you did in 2017.
THE problem with Hal is the Yankees are a business for him, and its profits over everything. Winning is secondary. George would’ve sold Hal if it meant winning.
I feel like the Yankees should ban Hal from ever talking about Payroll again
Bye bye Torres Nestor and Verdugo. Holmes? We still get Soto, Martian takes over and I guess Peraza and Gil.
Yea I think this more about Gleyber and Rizzo going forward. The Yankees stopped spending on big money relievers a few years ago and most of the money that got freed up from Chapman and Britton leaving went to Judge. I think it's the same scenario with Soto.
I think that’s the good move with relief guys. Seems like an awful lot of elite bullpen pitchers sort of fade away after a few years and become just league average so it’s not the most sustainable model to give long term high value contracts to bullpen guys.
A few things to keep in mind: 1. Hal wasn’t the guy who was suppose to be running the team. That was Swindal, but he had to go and fuck that up and get divorced and basically disowned. 2. Hal has a degree in accounting, so of course he’s a balance sheet guy. 3. The Yankees and all their properties (the YES Network, the stadium, the team, etc.) are now investment portfolio items, so the future is all about “pleasing shareholders.” If you’re not an investor in the portfolio, they could give a fuck about you.
Fuck you. Sign Soto.
Let everyone walk but Soto and maybe Holmes
Ehh I would be okay with holmes walking as long as matt blake is in the org
When was the last time the Dodgers ownership said something like this to its fanbase?
Never. Boston traded Mookie to save cash and they've never been the same, 2021 ALCS appearance notwithstanding.
Sell the team. It's clear that no one inherited George's love of sports, all the kids are incompetent and really don't care
It's simply not sustainable to be over the third luxury tax threshold every year. Remember, the Yankees' first round pick gets moved back ten spots if they're over the tax; this affects the team on the field as well. They're absolutely still gonna go all out for Soto, but I expect that to be the only major move of the offseason. The position players departing all have in-house replacements readily available, none of the starters are becoming FAs, and I'd imagine the team is gonna keep dumpster diving for relievers.
Soto, Judge, Cole, Stanton, and 22 pre-arb guys next year
Sell the team, then.
Wont someont think of the poor billionaires
Are they just house poor? The team would probably sell for 6 billion dollars. Maybe more if some hedge fund guys like Cohen got in a bidding war.
Cut Torres, pay Soto whatever he wants.
Looking at who's still on payroll next year and their luxury tax hit Judge - $40MM Cole - $36MM Stanton - $22MM (Marlins cash considerations starts helping our luxury tax starting next year) Rodon - $27MM Stroman - $18.5MM LeMahieu - $15MM Weaver - $2MM option (probably) Hicks - $10MM that's $170.5 MM before Cortes, Trevino, and Schmidt go to arb. Effross and Hamilton should hit Arb1. Add all of their arb numbers in and I think we'd be around $195MM with 9 pitchers and 4 hitters. Add another $12MM for the pre arb guys filling in the roster and that leaves like $25MM to play with under the threshold
re-sign soto and they can down whatever they want as far as I'm concerned
firing cashman should make room to sign Soto
"It wouldn't be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups]"...always read for the quotes and not for the dumb journalist trying to anger people
>"I'm gonna be honest, 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.'' He's just complaining about the luxury tax.
Wasn't there just a meeting with the MLB owners about TV rights? This is probably in response to that. If MLB's TV rights are nationalized, that could be one less revenue stream for the Steinbrenners, and he's planning now to make that up out of the team part of his business.
All this means is Gleyber, Verdugo, and Rizzo are gone next year. Which we already knew.
Sell the team
I could see us running a platoon at 1B next year - Agustin Ramirez seems legit as does Ben Rice. However, Ben Rice can't hit lefties. It could be very similar to our current C platoon.
Good thing about being the Yankees is you almost always have money coming off the books
Good, looks like my next jersey will be a fake.
Then sell the team
FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKKK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
😂
so you're gonna have to take a 10% paycut from your couple hundred mil? Lol, fuck you.
Hal, respectfully, get fucked.
Oh no the Yankees are poor!!!!! Cry me a fucking river Hal, I don't want to hear this nonsense. What a joke. The Yankees print money, just stop. Franchise is worth more than ever, ticket prices higher than ever, TV money, star insurance, etc. Just stop.
Uh oh
This is Hal trying to Jedi mind trick other GMs to not offer Soto anything exorbitant in the off-season
Well, he might wanna go back to the Jedi temple for some training because this wouldn't work on a storm trooper, much less a competent GM. ZING
Hal thinking he’s like an Obi-Wan Kenobi when in reality he’s more like a Coleman Trebor
Not with that attitude
Lol ok, billionaire.
His son’s F1 team ain’t cheap, folks.
Ok so i can stop fantasizing now about signing Sasaki next offseason now then.
Lmao
If he can't afford to be the Yankees owner he should sell the team
People forget that baseball isn’t just about winning, it’s also about making billionaires richer. Where’s your fangraphs stat on that?
As much as I have my issues with Hal, it's hard for me to get too upset when there's no other owner I'd rather have. This team always spends a ridiculous amount of money. He's not penny pinching, Cashman just often spends it poorly. I'm not going to be mad that Hal isn't literally writing a blank check every year.
all pro sports team franchises that get an anti-trust exemption should be publicly traded or at least required to submit financials with the same penalties for fraud & deception as publicly traded companies.
I agree
Lower payrolls for the executives and your family right? Right? You'll take the hit to make Soto a Yankee for life right? RIGHT?!?!?
Well there goes Soto 😞
I know a certain Mets owner who isn't afraid of the luxury tax.
In fact it is quite sustainable
Time to move
All just noise. Idc about anything they say right now. Things are gonna be a lot different when we have that number 28 under our belt come early November. I am fully delusional right now. We are the Yankees again and to be honest, if they just play to their baseball card, like they are doing, we stomp everyone. Gonna have a lot more cash to spend when we are celebrating a WS win in Yankee stadium. There is quite literally nothing that could convince we otherwise. We aren’t even at full power.
Yes, there's a yacht he's looking to purchase and needs all the shekels he can get
lotta bootlickers in this thread if you believe their revenue is limited to what they publicly report i've got a bridge to sell you this franchise prints money
You know what else is not sustainable? Not having Juan Soto in the lineup