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Dec 21, 2022; Bronx, New York, USA; Hal Steinbrenner during a press conference at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jessica Alcheh-Imagn Images Jessica Alcheh-Imagn Images

Insider: Hal Steinbrenner Will Lower Yankees Payroll

Originally posted on New York Yankees on SI
By Joseph Randazzo | Last updated Nov 11, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Across town in Flushing, there was an actual news story about Steve Cohen and a golden toilet that was legit and not satire. It’s an excess of wealth that seems foreign in the Bronx, because every season it is a mystery what the New York Yankees will spend, and how owner Hal Steinbrenner’s budgetary constraints will hold the team back in free agency.

Shedding Payroll

The issues for 2026 are already clear, and even Steinbrenner, who has not shown his face much since taking away his father’s grooming policy, should understand that. Unfortunately, anybody waiting for that 2009 spending spree where the Yankees added free agency’s top stars en route to a World Series could be standing by a little longer. According to Joel Sherman, Steinbrenner plans on cutting payroll.

“Hal Steinbrenner wants to bring the payroll down below $300 million, and the Yankees have prioritized reuniting with Cody Bellinger, still might have Trent Grisham on the books at $20.25 million if he accepts the qualifying offer and he is not subsequently traded, must address the bullpen and want to add a righty-hitting catcher and perhaps a versatile position player,” Sherman writes in the New York Post. “The Steinbrenner math might not work for all of that, plus a significant starter.”

Kim Klement-Imagn Images

If Sherman’s report is true, anybody who thought being dismantled by the Toronto Blue Jays in the fashion that they were would inspire the owner to wake up were naïve. A division rival embarrassed the Yankees in 2018 too, and the result was passing on two perfect fits in Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

Cutting Corners

Small market fans might find these complaints trivial. It would be absurd to call the Yankees cheap, but, the problem always seems to be one new glaring hole every season.

The Yankees, with their extensive resources, shouldn’t neglect positions like third base and left field as they have in recent years. It’s true that the Yankees are in the playoffs every year, but it just feels like they are constantly eliminated by teams that have gone above and beyond in their pursuit of winning a championship.

It’s not just about missing out on stars but also the secondary players that bolster a lineup. Imagine Michael Brantley on the Yankees in 2019 leading off every game. Instead, he went to the Astros.

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

How about Teoscar Hernandez hitting with Judge and Juan Soto? The defense would not have been so great, but it would have been better than watching Alex Verdugo flounder for the better part of the summer and fall. Hernandez eventually took Carlos Rodon deep in the World Series, winning a championship with the Dodgers instead.

Making the Moves that Make the Most Sense

These are the Yankees, and if the best players and fits are there, they should have the highest bid on the table for them. They shouldn’t be coming in third in negotiations for the likes of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They also shouldn’t have allowed the perfect heir to their captain, Juan Soto, the chance to use a golden toilet.

Right now the debates are between Tucker and Bellinger, but it’s conceivable that they miss out on both. The excuse will be that the price was too high for them, and, at some point, they’ll see them in a big game, watching them celebrate in their locker room. Once that happens, it will be rinse and repeat, and the Yankees will have another disappointing winter.

All of that can change if Steinbrenner decides it. Nobody needs him to be his dad. He just needs to field the best team possible and avoid cutting corners by opting for Plan B instead of going for the move that makes the most sense for the Yankees.

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