The Yankees have long been dethroned from their perch as the preeminent, unrivaled spenders of Major League Baseball. That honor solely belongs to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have beaten the Bronx Bombers at their own game, especially over the past two years.
The defending World Series champions, who disposed of the Yankees rather easily in five games, added to their embarrassment of riches this offseason, upping their already bloated payroll to a projected $375 million ahead of the 2025 season after signing the ace starting pitchers Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, second baseman Hyeseong Kim and outfielder Michael Conforto, and relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates.
An active winter comes one year after the Dodgers inked Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million deal that features unprecedented deferrals to ensure his contract fits within the team’s books — and it only strengthens the NL West side’s standing as overwhelming World Series favorites.
It also does not sit particularly well with some owners, like Yankees boss Hal Steinbrenner.
“It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they’re doing,” Steinbrenner said (h/t YES Network). “We’ll see if it pays off. They still have to have a season relatively injury-free for it to work out for them, and it’s a long season, as you know, and once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. We’ve seen that time and time again. So we’ll see who’s there at the end and if they’re the ones.”
The comical part in all of this is that Steinbrenner is suggesting that the Yankees cannot keep up with the Dodgers’ spending even though they can.
The Yankees are the largest brand in North American professional sports and one of the most recognizable franchises on the planet. No one in Major League Baseball had a higher revenue in 2023 than the Yankees’ $720 million, according to Sportico. They should be near the very top of that list again for 2024 when those findings are revealed in the coming weeks.
Instead of flashing their enormity of cash, the Yankees were narrowly outspent by the crosstown rival Mets for Juan Soto, who signed a historic 15-year, $765 million pact to move from the Bronx to Queens. They made more affordable moves in acquiring the inconsistent Cody Bellinger to play center field and the 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt, coming off the worst season of his career, to play first base.
With less than two weeks until pitchers and catchers report for spring training, the team still does not have a resolution on who will be their starting second and third basemen.
Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman did pivot to bolster their pitching, though. They gave Max Fried the most expensive contract ever to a left-handed pitcher, which should create a three-headed monster at the top of New York’s rotation alongside Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon. They also acquired star closer Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers
“We’re excited about the offseason moves,” Steinbrenner said. “A lot of hard work in December into January. Some people may disagree with me, but some people will agree with me, but I think we have a better team than we did a year ago today… Our starting rotation’s better, our defense is better, and Bellinger and Goldschmidt, I think they’ll make up for a good deal of Juan’s offense.”
Make of that what you will, but Bellinger hit 18 home runs with a .751 OPS last season, while Goldschmidt’s 22 round-trippers were supported by an OPS that sank to .716. Soto batted .288 with a .989 OPS, 41 home runs, and 109 RBI in 2024.
That’s quite a bold statement to make.
