SET TO $PEND
Hal Steinbrenner you’re seeing.
Sure, the Yankees’ managing general partner expressed pleasure with his team’s stellar start to the 2018 season. Yet he knows — or at least he hopes — his front office has not yet completed its heavy lifting. More arms will be needed to lift the Yankees to where they want to go, Steinbrenner acknowledged Wednesday.
“Clearly, starting pitching was always a concern [since spring training],” Steinbrenner said at the Major League Baseball owners’ meetings in Manhattan. “You can never have enough of it. And now we’ve had a season-ending injury in [Jordan] Montgomery. [Domingo] German has stepped up and filled in nicely.
“I think there’s definitely a need. It’s definitely one of the areas we’re going to be looking at. And we’ve got some flexibility payroll-wise as you know. The question is, what’s going to be available and what are the asks?”
Steinbrenner’s long-desired goal of getting under the luxury tax, which the Yankees have never accomplished since the penalty went into effect in 1997, is extremely attainable. As Steinbrenner said, “We purposely left a decent amount of money for just this.” He continued, “I absolutely think, if we decide to go get a pitcher and if a pitcher’s available, I think we definitely have the flexibility to allow me to [stay under the luxury-tax threshold].”
The Yankees have about $12 million to spend without surpassing the $197 million threshold, and the only likely trade target who would present any sort of fiscal challenge is Texas lefty Cole Hamels, who is making $23.5 million this season. The Yankees could induce the Rangers to pay down some of that commitment by offering superior young talent.
Although, as Steinbrenner noted, he isn’t particularly keen on offering up any of the exciting youngsters who already have made an impact at the major league level. Players like Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar might be necessary to get someone like the Mets’ Jacob deGrom.
“I love the young guys. Our fans love the young guys,” Steinbrenner said. “I think it’s obvious to all of us they’ve made a heck of an impact. To see Gleyber, Andujar and others right on the heels of [Aaron] Judge and [Gary] Sanchez and [Luis] Severino, that’s pretty amazing. Our fans were really enjoying watching them play. So am I.”
Other potentially available starting pitchers include the Blue Jays’ J.A. Happ, the Padres’ Tyson Ross and, if he gets healthy, the Rays’ Chris Archer. The Giants could shop Madison Bumgarner if they fall further out of the race.
“Well, Hal reminds me of the same thing all the time,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I know he and his family and this organization’s always going to do everything they can to improve our team especially when the time is right.
“So I know between him and [general manager] Brian [Cashman] and the front office they’re working overtime right now to try and figure out how to improve our team in any way. It’s that time of year. We’re the Yankees, so we’re going to be out there working hard at it.”