HAL NO FANNY OF MANNY
Machado beyond merely answering for his answers. Namely:
1) Does Machado alleviate the Yankees’ primary roster concerns? Steinbrenner said, “We need to figure out where we need help, right? And start spending the money in that area before we spend it anywhere else.”
They need the most help, Steinbrenner asserted, with their starting rotation. Even after re-signing CC Sabathia last week, Cashman expressed a desire to get “multiple” additions to that unit. The Yankees are engaged with the agents for free agent starters Patrick Corbin and J.A. Happ, and have spoken with the Mariners about a James Paxton trade and really, they’ve very likely touched base on anyone you’ve envisioned putting on pinstripes.
Steinbrenner’s comments match what The Post’s Joel Sherman reported last week: If the Yankees sign Machado, it’ll likely be later rather than sooner, after they strengthen their rotation.
2) Is Steinbrenner willing to take his payroll back to its old heights? He acknowledged that after finally getting under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold in 2018, thereby resetting the club’s tax rates, less pressure exists to manage the payroll so precisely. Nevertheless, Steinbrenner added, getting under the threshold, which will increase to $206 million in 2019, is “a goal every year.”
“When we get near the threshold, if we’re where we need to be and I believe we truly have a championship-caliber team, then in all likelihood we’ll stay under,” Steinbrenner said. “But if I don’t … I’m going to keep adding pieces to get to where we need to be.”
As for Steinbrenner’s long-stated assertion that you don’t need a $200 million payroll to win a title, “Now I guess there’s one team that has,” he said, smiling, referring to the Red Sox and their $240-ish million payroll that won them the 2018 crown. “It’s only one team. … It comes down to the player development system. … I think anything’s possible with payrolls that aren’t 250 to 300 million dollars.”
3) Does Steinbrenner have the stomach to dive back into the deep end of the pool after committing 10 years and $265 million to Giancarlo Stanton just last offseason?
“I don’t know that I’ve thought about it quite in those terms — ‘OK, it’ll be two instead of one’ — but I will be thinking about anything like that in the terms of this is going to be a long-term deal with a lot of money,” Steinbrenner said. “Who is the person? How old are they? What are their abilities? What’s their injury history? Do we really need that particular position? “We leave no stone unturned.” That includes consulting Machado’s mentor Alex Rodriguez, a Yankees adviser, Steinbrenner confirmed, as the failed trade for Sonny Gray shows how hard it still can be to project who can handle New York and who can’t.
“I wish that we could nail it every time. But I think it’s tough,” Steinbrenner said. “He’s got a skill set, Sonny. He’s going to succeed someday. I just don’t know where it’s going to be.”
Steinbrenner cautioned: “We’ve just begun this process. They’re still going through many players and many options and many possibilities.”
Some possibilities, however, feature larger pitfalls than others. The Yankees, their owner vowed, will look very carefully before they leap.