Among the notable items circulating, four things stand out: his decision to cut the payroll below $300 million, the insinuation that the Yankees are not a profitable ball club, the assumption that the Los Angeles Dodgers’ astronomical payroll played no role in their dominance, and his alleged support for a salary cap.
Taken together, these four items seem to indicate a serious reluctance to spend money. Steinbrenner made it clear that he wants to get below the luxury tax threshold. Interestingly, he called the correlation between spending and championships weak, pointing to both his Yankees and the New York Mets as examples of teams with high payrolls and limited success.
However, this opens up a debate about how that money was spent. Notably, the Mets threw away a record-breaking amount of money on signing Juan Soto, but did little elsewhere. But what about the Yankees? When asked if it was fair to say the Yankees turned a profit after bringing in more than $700 million in revenue, Steinbrenner said the following, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch:
“That’s not a fair statement or an accurate statement. Everyone wants to talk about revenue. They need to talk about our expenses, including the $100 million cost to the City of New York that we have to pay every February 1, including the COVID year. So it’s all starting to add up quickly.”
“No one, I believe, spends more money on player development, scouting, performance science. This is all starting to add up.”
All told, the Yankees spent just under $305 million on player salaries in 2025. For a break-even season, the Yankees would have had to spend more than $395 million elsewhere. Where has it all gone?
Steinbrenner cited the $100 million cost to New York City. As for the bulk of their spending, the Yankees owner pointed to player development, scouting and performance science. This raises a more serious question about mismanagement.
The Yankees spend too much money on flawed analytics
If most of the money were spent on development, scouting and performance science, you could easily argue that the costs would outweigh the benefits. Despite spending so much, these efforts have yielded little.
Over the years, the Yankees have seen more failures than success stories in developing major league talent. Promising players and top players like Gary Sanchez, Clint Frazier, Deivi Garcia, Miguel Andujar, Domingo German, Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield, Oswald Peraza and Estevan Florial, among many others, never dropped out. The team also gave up Carlos Narvaez and Agustin Ramirez in favor of Austin Wells, who underperformed against the rookie backstops last season. Another compelling prospect, Yankees 2018 first-round pick Anthony Seigler, who struggled last year during his time in the Yankees’ farm system, excelled this year with the Milwaukee Brewers in Triple-A.
Anthony Volpe, Will Warren, Luis Gil and Jasson Dominguez are four current works in progress. It might also be fair to say that the torpedo bat craze the Yankees started has officially ended.
Among their recent triumphs, the Yankees boast Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler. Going back further, we could add Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge to the list; However, Judge’s swing was actually developed by the famous hitting coach Richard Schenck, not the Yankees.
Spending these efforts is by no means a waste; Nevertheless, it’s clear that the Yankees are grossly overspending for something that doesn’t even work. Whether it’s an organizational shake-up or a reallocation of funds to focus on proven Major League talent, Steinbrenner’s approach must change.
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