This offseason, New York Yankees fans sit patiently in hopes that the team will build the next best super team. Chances are, however, that will not happen.
At this point 10 years ago, “The Boss” had already surrendered control of the New York Yankees. Since then, the team has managed to remain competitive on the field despite not being as aggressive in the free-agent market.
In fact, the most successful season the Yankees have had in the last decade – in terms of wins in the regular season – was 2018. That season, the team was relatively absent in the free-agent and trade markets and thus dropped below the luxury tax threshold for the first time since it was implemented.
As a result, the Yanks had a payroll of a little over $180M and managed to win 100 games. This comes out to a grand total of $1.8M per win during the regular season, by far the lowest price the Yanks have paid for a win in over a decade.
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The next best team, the 2019 Yankees won 103 games, but with a payroll over $220M, they had to spend about 20% more or each win.
This offseason, Yankees fans expect the team to empty the tank, ala 2009, and obtain as much top talent as necessarily possible. In doing so, the team could break records in payroll creating a lineup that looks like this…
- 2B – DJ LeMahieu ($12M)
- RF – Aaron Judge ($6.4M)
- 3B – Anthony Rendon ($32.4M)
- DH – Giancarlo Stanton ($26M)
- SS – Gleyber Torres (~$750K)
- C – Gary Sanchez ($5.6M)
- LF – Clint Frazier
- 1B – Luke Voit (~$650K)
- CF – Brett Gardner (~$7.5M)
…a rotation that looks like this…
- Gerrit Cole ($32.9M)
- Stephen Strasburg ($30.2M)
- James Paxton ($12.9M)
- Luis Severino ($10M)
- Masahiro Tanaka ($20.3M)
…and a bullpen that looks like this…
- Dellin Betances (~$10M)
- Chad Green ($1.4)
- Tommy Kahnle ($3M)
- Zack Britton ($13M)
- Adam Ottavino ($9M)
- Aroldis Chapman ($17.2M).
In total, these 20 guys alone would cost the team close to $250M.
I think it’s safe to say that this won’t happen, and, to be honest, it shouldn’t happen. In fact, all the New York Yankees really needs is one surefire ace. Someone that can take the ball every fifth day and toss 7-8 innings each turn.
Other than that, when it comes to payroll, for the most part, less is more.