LAP OF LUXURY
THE better Giancarlo Stanton and CC Sabathia perform for the Yankees in 2018, the less financial room the team will have to improve itself.
Of course, if the Yankees receive maximum production from two of their many colossi, then they shouldn’t require as much help.
But as we spend this offseason calculating the Yankees’ stated intention to remain under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold, a goal that would reset their tax rate in anticipation of next winter’s galactic free-agent class, we need to tally every last penny. Sabathia, who re-signed with the Yankees last month on a one-year, $10 million agreement, can earn $2 million in performance bonuses. Stanton, whom the Yankees acquired from the Marlins in a rather highly publicized trade last month, can make $1 million in awards bonuses.
As first reported by Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, Sabathia can earn $500,000 apiece for reaching four regular-season innings-pitched mileposts: 155, 165, 175 and 185.
Last season, Sabathia totaled 148 2/3 innings, so if he duplicates that effort, he wouldn’t cost the Yankees extra (and now you see how they came up with 155 as the bonus floor). The big lefty racked up 179 2/3 innings in 2016 and 167 ¹/3 in 2015, so it’s well within reality that he collects some extra dough. Whether the Yankees acquire a sixth veteran starting pitcher, as they are contemplating, could help determine Sabathia’s precise payday.
When the Yankees dealt for Stanton, they assumed $265 million of the $295 million the slugger is owed through 2027, and they also inherited a number of performance bonuses. They break down as follows:
$500,000 for World Series Most Valuable Player.
$250,000 for League Championship Series MVP.
$100,000 for MVP. $50,000 for a Silver Slugger. $50,000 for being an All-Star. $50,000 for a Gold Glove. In 2017 with the Marlins, Stanton earned an extra $200,000 for winning the National League MVP award, getting a Silver Slugger and making the NL All-Star team.
(Interestingly, as per baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, the other perks and commitments from Stanton’s contract with the Marlins disappear as a result of his trade to the Yankees. He had agreed to donate 1 percent of his salary annually to the team charity; that doesn’t translate into a similar arrangement with the Yankees. His deal gave him the right to purchase up to eight season tickets in the Marlins’ Dia- mond Club as well as a suite for five games per season. While the Yankees will gladly work with Stanton if he wants to make such purchases at Yankee Stadium, it’s a non-issue.)
We’re talking relatively small potatoes on a team willing to spend $197 million to win it all. Yet those potatoes will make all the difference for the Yankees, who figure to take it to the limit without going over.
As The Post’s Joel Sherman recently calculated, the Yankees’ payroll currently stands at about $179 million when you estimate salaries for arbitration-eligible players and those not yet eligible for arbitration and add about $14 million for pension and insurance; we’ll have a clearer count on Friday, the deadline for teams and players to submit arbitration figures, which should produce many settlements and eliminate a good deal of the guesswork.
Barring a trade of a veteran, that leaves them with about $18 million, and some of that probably will be spent before spring training on a starting pitcher, an infielder or both.
Just to be safe, though, the Yankees have to drop that to $15 million. Or maybe they could make it interesting and give us all some fun: Sabathia starts a play-in game and reaches a 185th inning to put the Yankees in the playoffs … and over the threshold? Stanton hits a walk-off homer in World Series Game 7 to give the Yankees their first title since 2009 … and, by capturing MVP honors, their 16th straight season over the threshold?
It’s a wonky discussion topic, The Post concedes. However, the Yankees’ search for luxury-tax religion has led us down this road. Might as well make sure we follow it along with them.