New York Yankees proprietor Hal Steinbrenner mentioned his group is best than it was right now final yr, regardless of dropping star outfielder Juan Soto in free company. File Picture by John Angelillo/UPI | License Picture
Jan. 29 (UPI) — New York Yankees proprietor Hal Steinbrenner admitted that “it is tough” for MLB group house owners to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spending, but additionally believes his group is best than it was right now final yr.
Steinbrenner made the feedback throughout an interview with the YES Community. The Dodgers enter spring coaching with a projected payroll of about $379 million, in line with FanGraphs. They’ve dedicated practically $500 million in assured cash to gamers this low season. The Yankees’ payroll is about $284 million, trailing solely the Dodgers, New York Mets ($297M) and Philadelphia Phillies ($288M).
“It is tough for many of us house owners to have the ability to do the sorts of issues that they are doing,” Steinbrenner mentioned of the Dodgers. “We’ll see if it pays off.
“They nonetheless must have a season comparatively injury-free for it to work out for them. It is a lengthy season as you understand, and when you get to the postseason something can occur. We have seen that point and time once more.”
One yr after signing Shohei Ohtani for $700 million, Yoshinobu Yamamoto for $325 million, Tyler Glasnow for $136.6 million and Will Smith for $140 million, the Dodgers’ 2025 low season has included one other surge of high-priced signings. They signed pitchers Blake Snell and Tanner Scott to respective $182 million and $72 million pacts. In addition they gave a $6.5 million deal to prized Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki and just lately agreed to a different pact with free agent nearer Kirby Yates.
In addition they signed Teoscar Hernandez for $66 million and introduced in fellow outfielder Michael Conforto and infielder Hyeseong Kim.
In the meantime, the Yankees, historically identified for their very own spending sprees, watched star outfielder Juan Soto and pitcher Clay Holmes go away to signal respective $765 million and $38 million pacts with the Mets.
They went on to enhance their group through the use of a number of the funds initially supposed for Soto and different former stars, bringing in veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and pitcher Max Fried in free company and buying and selling for outfielder Cody Bellinger and aid pitcher Devin Williams.
Steinbrenner’s Yankees led the American League with 94 wins final season, however went on to lose to the Dodgers in 5 video games within the World Sequence. An absence of manufacturing for his or her stars, paired with errors and different points, led to their postseason collapse.
“The Dodgers weren’t higher than us, they performed higher than us,” Steinbrenner mentioned.
The Yankees led MLB with 237 residence runs in 2024. Their pitching employees posted a 3.74 ERA, which tied for the sixth-best in baseball. Yankees pitchers and catchers will report back to spring coaching Feb. 11 in Tampa, Fla.