Hal defends payroll, cites lost revenue for not landing big free agents

TAMPA — When the offseason began, Yankee fans dreamed of adding Corey Seager or, in some cases, Carlos Correa, to play shortstop and more recently, of Freddie Freeman to take over at first base.

Reality hit them this week, when the team instead traded for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and agreed to terms with Anthony Rizzo, both far cheaper options than the top-of-the-market players who were available.

On Wednesday, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner defended his commitment to the team, noting that the payroll is already over the first threshold of the competitive balance tax under the new collective bargaining agreement.

“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.”

The owner pointed to the limited ticket revenue in 2020 and last season as something that still impacts the payroll and others have noted the Yankees — who project to have a payroll around $256 million for luxury-tax purposes, according to Spotrac.com — picked up the $50 million remaining on the final two years of Josh Donaldson’s contract in the trade with Minnesota.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good history of having high payrolls and putting a good amount of resources into the players,’’ Steinbrenner said.

He added “a lot of the larger market clubs got hit the hardest” by COVID’s economic fallout.

“Our expenses, whether we’re playing or not, are a little greater,’’ Steinbrenner said. “In New York, everything costs more.”

There’s also the “$80-plus million” annual payment they make to the city on the bond they have on Yankee Stadium.

“We can talk about our revenues, but we’ve got to talk about expenses, too,’’ Steinbrenner said. “We’ve got some significant ones. It was a tough two years.”

He’s also aware of what’s happening across town, where Steve Cohen is spending enough that the new fourth CBT threshold has been called “The Cohen Tax.”

Steinbrenner said he doesn’t feel pressured to spend more because of Cohen’s prowess.

“I think everybody expects that I do [feel pressure], but the answer is no because I can’t control what resources other owners or other teams have and what they’re gonna do with those resources,’’ Steinbrenner said. “I make the same commitment every year, my family does, which is to do everything we’re able to do to field a championship-caliber team and win a World Series. I will continue to do everything I’m able to do to accomplish that.”

The owner is also looking ahead with the rest of the organization at top prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, which is why the likes of Seager and Marcus Semien ended up in Texas.

“I know which guys, obviously, you’re talking about,’’ Steinbrenner said when asked about Correa and Freeman, as well as Matt Olson, who was traded from Oakland to Atlanta. “We do have two incredible prospects I am excited to give a chance to. Things like that play into it.”

But he insisted he didn’t rule anything out at the beginning of the offseason.

“A lot of things play into it, but I consider everything,’’ Steinbrenner said. “I think you know me well enough to know — and [GM Brian Cashman] will tell you — I am willing to consider and discuss anything my baseball people bring to me and that process was done this year, as it is every year. We left no stone unturned.”

This year’s payroll, Steinbrenner said, is not being affected by a potential Aaron Judge extension.

Steinbrenner said Judge, “is a very special player and a great Yankee. We will be having conversations [regarding an extension] in the weeks to come.”

As Cashman and Judge said previously, the focus right now is putting together this year’s roster, since there’s not much time before Opening Day.

“My directive to [Cashman] when this lockout ended [was], ‘We’ve got Aaron this year. Let’s focus on what we need to bring in to make this team better [this season].”