It’s hard to find an important baseball number that is ignored by most fans, but I think I’ve got one for you: The New York Yankees’ current payroll comes to $303,322,047. That’s nine figures with two commas and no decimals. You might yawn at that number but, I assure you, there are some people in the Bronx who aren’t yawning.
That includes Hal Steinbrenner, who owns 70 percent of the team. It is the second highest payroll in major league baseball — about $2 million shy of what the New York Mets pay. It is more than three times as much as the $94,520,400 being paid by the Baltimore Orioles.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that the Yankees trail the Orioles in the race for the American League Eastern Division pennant. The people in the Yankees front office have noticed that, too. Here’s some other things they’ve noticed.
They’ve noticed that when the season ends the Yankees will be assessed a luxury tax that will be in the neighborhood of $60 million. The Orioles will pay no luxury tax. In fact, the Orioles will actually receive a portion of the money the Yankees pay out.
They’ve noticed that when the first round of the draft was conducted July 14, the Orioles had the 22nd pick and the Yankees had to go 26th. The Yankees’ 2023 won-loss record qualified them to select in the 16th position, but the size of their payroll dictated that they take a 10-spot penalty. This stuff is a little overwhelming, even to somebody named Steinbrenner.
At least it is to the Steinbrenner who is now running the franchise. In May, he declared that the current payroll is “not sustainable.” Perhaps his father wouldn’t have said it that way, but the George Steinbrenner era of Yankees history has passed.
Hal Steinbrenner is much different person than his flamboyant father was. Prince Hal is a businessman. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida.
He understands that a business is not being run efficiently if its operating costs are substantially higher than those of its competitors. It would appear that he intends to lower the payroll and make the Yankees more like — well, more like the Orioles. The Orioles are successful at a much lower cost because many of their stars are “cheap players.
” In baseball cheap players are younger players — usually ones nurtured through the club’s own farm system. They haven’t played in the big leagues long enough to have the right to become free agents and let teams bid for their services. Some of them don’t yet have the right even to demand salary arbitration.
They’re salaries will usually be significantly smaller than what established veterans can command. The Yankees might have the opportunity to copy Baltimore’s model — at least partially. MLB Pipeline rates New York’s farm system as the 11th best among the 30 major league clubs.
It lists three of its minor leaguers — outfielder Spencer Jones, shortstop Roderick Arias and pitcher Chase Hampton — among the game’s top 100 prospects. All three have the potential to become “cheap players” and do it very soon. Just what Prince Hal is looking for.
But ...
It isn’t that easy. There’s still the 2024 season to deal with. This year’s team has struggled lately but the Yankees are still in position to finish first — if only they could correct a few flaws.
A major trade or two could make all the difference but if that’s going to happen it’s going to happen soon. Next Tuesday is the trade deadline. The players the Yankees need are out there and it would appear that there are teams that would be willing to trade them to the Yankees.
But, at what cost? If a team offers the very player the Yankees covet, would the Yankees be willing to part with one of their blue-chip prospects if that’s the asking price? That could be a sticky one for Hal Steinbrenner to wrestle with. I got an email on Tuesday from the Phillies, announcing they had signed their top draft choice, Dante Nori. The message didn’t say what his signing bonus was, but for reasons I explained last week, I suspect the amount was well under the slotted figure for a 27th selection.
A reader has correctly pointed out that the Phillies used their remaining 19 selections in the draft to take college players and there might not be a need to go over slot to sign any of them. He asks why it was important to save bonus pool money with the number-one pick if there wasn’t going to be a need use that money later. The answer is, it wasn’t.
But when they announced their first selection the Phillies didn’t know who their next 19 picks would be. On Sunday, Aaron Judge of the Yankees wowed spectators with a mighty home run that was measured at 444 feet. Amazingly, it was only the third longest homer hit in the majors that day.
In a nationally televised game Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers clouted a homer that was measured at 477 feet. However, the longest of the day belonged to Jorge Solar of the Giants, who poked one 478 feet through the mountain air of Colorado. A FEW STATISTICS (Wednesday’s games not included): Reynaldo Lopez of the Braves is the official major league leader in ERA with a 2.
12. The unofficial leader is Paul Skenes of the Pirates, with a 1.93 mark.
His 74 2/3 innings pitched are not nearly enough to qualify ...
Since July 1 the Athletics have batted .282, socked 35 home runs and scored 122 runs. They lead the majors during that stretch in all three categories .
.. Elly De La Cruz of the Reds will become the first player since at least 1900 to have 80 extra base hits, 80 walks and 80 RBIs in his first 200 games.
It should be noted that he also has 32 errors ...
The Yankees are 1-6 in extra-inning games ...
The Mariners’ ERA (3.43) is the best in the majors. Their batting average (.
216) is the worst ...
Bobby Witt of the Royals is batting .492 in July ..
. Luis Gil of the Yankees has a 10-5 record with an ERA of 3.10.
Nevertheless, he leads the majors in walks issued (50). None of the free passes has been intentional ..
. The NL has a 220-214 edge in interleague play ..
. Christopher Morel of the Cubs has only 26 extra base hits in 100 games. but 18 of them have been home runs .
.. The Phillies have outscored the opposition, 73-31, in the first inning.
From the seventh inning on they have been outscored, 147-136. Former Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 56 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.
com.
