The New York Yankees are riding high right now, with the emerging Juan Soto, the resurgent Aaron Judge and a 33-17 record, tied for the best in the American League. Its owner would like to let you know that success does not come cheap.
Speaking with the New York PostYankees president Hal Steinbrenner stated that the team cannot maintain its record payroll this season:
“I’m going to be honest, payrolls at the levels we’re at now are just not financially sustainable for us,” Steinbrenner said. “It would not be sustainable for the vast majority of owners (groups), given the luxury tax we have to pay.”
Steinbrenner also reportedly said, “I don’t think you have to have a $300 million payroll to win a championship.”
The Yankees opened the season with a payroll of $296.6 million for their 26-man roster, according to Crib contracts, an increase of $19 million from last season and the largest in Yankees history. However, they rank only third in MLB, behind the New York Mets ($328.7 million) and the Los Angeles Dodgers ($308.4 million).
Forbes He currently values the Yankees at $7.55 billion, with estimated revenue of $679 million and operating income of $2.1 million.
What does this mean for the Yankees and Juan Soto?
It’s atypical for the Yankees owner to complain about the affordability of the sport, especially when the Dodgers handed out more than $1 billion in contracts last season. It’s also not what Yankees fans want to hear when Soto is still a pending free agent and playing up what will likely be one of the biggest contracts in MLB history.
It’s hard to imagine Soto breaking Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million record for the largest contract in sports without similarly outrageous postponements, but exceeding the real, inflation-adjusted value of the contract (somewhere in the neighborhood of $450 million ) seems very possible.
The good news is that Steinbrenner said the Yankees will have more financial freedom next season:
“We have a considerable amount of money coming out (next offseason),” Steinbrenner said. “We didn’t have a significant amount of money last offseason, and that’s why we are where we are.”
New York’s list of pending free agents and their 2024 salaries (via Cot’s) includes Soto ($31 million), Gleyber Torres ($14.2 million), Alex Verdugo ($8.7 million), Clay Holmes ($6 million), Tommy Kahnle ($5.75 million), Jonathan Loáisiga ($2.5 million) and Caleb Ferguson ($2.4 million). Those non-Soto players would leave some holes to fill, but they total up to $40 million in potential capacity.
Meanwhile, the Yankees can enjoy a team that looked even better than expectations in 2024, fueled by Soto, Judge and a rotation that has been one of the best in MLB despite reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, he’s offside.
