Contents
The New York Yankees have a lot of money to spend this offseason, but how much can they actually spend? We take a look at the Yankees’ salary cap situation.
Checkout this video:
The Yankees’ Current Situation
The Yankees are currently in a bit of a bind when it comes to their salary cap. They have a lot of expensive contracts on the books, and not a lot of room to add new players. Let’s take a look at how they got here and what their options are going forward.
The Yankees’ current payroll
The Yankees currently have a payroll of $228 million, which is the highest in baseball. They are well over the luxury tax threshold of $197 million, which means they will pay a penalty of 50% on any payroll over that amount. The Yankees’ payroll is so high that they actually exceed the luxury tax threshold by $31 million! This means they will pay a penalty of $15.5 million on their total payroll.
How the Yankees can get under the luxury tax threshold
The New York Yankees currently have a payroll of $197 million, which is over the $189 million luxury tax threshold. The Yankees are required to pay a 20% penalty on every dollar they are over the threshold, which means they would owe an additional $21 million in taxes.
The Yankees can get under the luxury tax threshold by either trading away players or by letting some players become free agents. If the Yankees trade away players, they will need to receive players back that have salaries that are lower than the salaries of the players they trade away. If the Yankees let some players become free agents, they will need to sign players that have salaries that are lower than the salaries of the players they lose.
The Yankees have already made moves to try to get under the luxury tax threshold. They traded away Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller at the trade deadline, and let Alex Rodriguez become a free agent. These moves saved the Yankees about $38 million in salary. The Yankees will need to make more moves if they want to get under the luxury tax threshold, but it is possible for them to do it.
The Yankees’ Options
The Yankees can sign free agents
The New York Yankees have many options to fill their needs this offseason, but they will be limited by their salary cap.
The Yankees’ payroll for the 2019 season is $197 million, which is the second-highest in MLB behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers. This leaves the Yankees with very little room to add any significant salaries for the 2020 season.
The Yankees will need to fill several holes on their roster this offseason, including a starting pitcher, a left fielder, and a backup catcher. They also have several free agents that they may want to re-sign, including Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius, and Austin Romine.
The Yankees’ best option to add salary this offseason may be to sign free agents. The Yankees have been linked to several high-priced free agents this offseason, including Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon. However, it is unlikely that the Yankees will sign both Cole and Rendon, as they would likely exceed their salary cap for the 2020 season.
The Yankees can trade for players
The Yankees can increase their payroll by trading for players. If a team is willing to take on a significant portion of the salary of a player the Yankees are interested in, the Yankees could potentially acquire that player without having to pay much in terms of prospects or major league talent. This was how the Yankees acquired Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins. The Marlins were willing to take on much of the $295 million remaining on Stanton’s contract, and in return, the Yankees only had to give up two low-level prospects.
The Yankees can release players
The New York Yankees currently have a bit of a payroll problem. With many expensive contracts on the books and a luxury tax bill that will exceed $30 million this season, the Yankees are hard-pressed to add any significant salary without making some tough decisions about which players to release.
Releasing players is never an easy decision, but it may be necessary for the Yankees to make some tough choices in order to get their payroll under control. Here are some of the options that the Yankees have for releasing players:
1) release players with high salaries and little remaining value
2) release players with low salaries and little remaining value
3) release players with high salaries and significant remaining value
4) release players with low salaries and significant remaining value
Which option the Yankees ultimately choose will likely depend on a number of factors, including how much salary they need to shed, how much salary they can afford to lose without harming the team’s competitive balance, and what kind of return they can expect to receive from another team if they trade the player instead of releasing him.
The Yankees’ Luxury Tax Situation
The New York Yankees have been big spenders in recent years, and it has paid off in the form of a World Series championship in 2009 and playoff appearances in each of the last three seasons. However, the team’s payroll has also put them in the luxury tax each of those years, and they are looking to get under the $189 million threshold for the 2014 season. How much can they spend on player salaries?
The Yankees’ current luxury tax situation
The Yankees are currently over the luxury tax threshold for the 2019 season. They will have to pay a penalty of 20% on every dollar they spend over the threshold. The luxury tax threshold for 2019 is $206 million. The Yankees’ current payroll is approximately $228 million. This means that the Yankees will have to pay a penalty of approximately $6 million on their 2019 payroll.
How the Yankees can get under the luxury tax threshold
Beginning in 2018, the Yankees will be subject to something called the “luxury tax threshold.” This is a salary cap that Major League Baseball instituted in an effort to level the playing field between small and large market teams. The threshold for 2018 is $197 million. If a team’s payroll exceeds that amount, they have to pay a luxury tax.
The Yankees have been over the luxury tax threshold every year since it was instituted in 2003. In fact, they’ve been over it by a lot. In 2017, their payroll was nearly $225 million, which resulted in a luxury tax bill of $26 million. But with some shrewd moves this offseason, the Yankees could get under the threshold for 2018 and save themselves millions of dollars.
Here’s how they could do it:
1) Trade Sonny Gray and his $7.5 million salary to the Oakland Athletics for prospects.
2) Trade Chase Headley and his $13 million salary to the San Diego Padres for prospects or a lower-priced player.
3) Release Jacoby Ellsbury and his $21.1 million salary. The Yankees would still have to pay him, but it would free up money to sign other players.
4) Sign free agent pitcher Francisco Liriano for less than $10 million per year. The Yankees have already been linked to Liriano and he would be a good fit as a left-handed specialist out of the bullpen.
Doing all of these things would get the Yankees under the luxury tax threshold for 2018 and put them in a good position to stay under it in 2019 as well. That would be big savings for a team that has been one of the biggest spenders in baseball for many years now.
The Yankees’ Salary Cap Situation
The Yankees are in a bit of a bind when it comes to their salary cap. They have a lot of big names that they would like to keep, but they also have a lot of big salaries that they need to pay. This leaves them with very little money to spend on other players.
The Yankees’ current salary cap situation
The Yankees currently have a bit of a salary cap problem. Their current payroll for 2019 is approximately $240 million, which is well over the MLB-mandated $206 million salary cap. While the Yankees can exceed the salary cap by up to $40 million without being subject to any penalties, they would prefer to stay under the luxury tax threshold of $226 million.
The majority of the Yankees’ salary cap problems are due to large contracts given to older players who are no longer performing at an elite level. For example, Giancarlo Stanton is owed $265 million over the next ten years, but he has already missed significant time due to injuries and is no longer the same player that he was when he signed his contract. Similarly, Jacoby Ellsbury is owed $68 million over the next three years, but he has been injured for most of the past two seasons and is unlikely to ever play again.
The Yankees have already made some moves to alleviate their salary cap problems. They traded Sonny Gray to the Cincinnati Reds and freed up $9.1 million in payroll space. They also Designated for Assignment (DFA’d) Ellsbury, which will save them $21 million in payroll space once he is officially removed from the 40-man roster. The Yankees are also reportedly considering DFA’ing Stanton or trading him to another team.
Even with these moves, the Yankees will still need to free up more payroll space if they want to avoid paying luxury taxes in 2019. One option would be to trade away J.A. Happ, who is owed $17 million in 2019 and will be a free agent after the season. The Yankees could also trade away Clint Frazier, who is not arbitration eligible and would not be a costly acquisition for another team. Whatever moves the Yankees make, they will need to be careful not to weaken their roster too much as they still have aspirations of winning a World Series in 2019.
How the Yankees can get under the salary cap
The New York Yankees are in a tight spot. They are over the Luxury Tax Threshold for the 2019 season, and they need to get under it to reset their penalty rate. The first step is to get rid of some big salaries, and they have already started that process by trading for Starlin Castro and releasing Jacoby Ellsbury.
The next step is to trade away some of their other high-paid players, such as Sonny Gray, J.A. Happ, and CC Sabathia. The Yankees could also try to package some of these players together in a trade to make it more appealing for another team.
The last resort would be to release some of these players outright, but that would come with a hefty financial penalty. It’s unlikely that the Yankees will take this route unless they are absolutely desperate to get under the salary cap.
The Yankees’ Budget
The New York Yankees have always been one of the most powerful teams in baseball, but how do they afford to keep their roster so stacked? It all comes down to their budget. The Yankees have one of the highest payrolls in baseball, but they also have one of the largest revenue streams. In this article, we’ll take a look at how the Yankees are able to afford to spend so much on their team.
The Yankees’ current budget
The Yankees’ current budget is $210 million. They are able to spend up to $40 million on international free agents.
How the Yankees can stay under their budget
To stay under the 2018 luxury tax threshold of $197 million, the Yankees will need to carefully manage their payroll. The Yankees have several players who are eligible for free agency after the 2018 season, including CC Sabathia, David Robertson, and Brett Gardner. The Yankees may look to trade some of these players in order to shed salary and stay under the luxury tax threshold. Additionally, the Yankees may look to sign cheaper free agents or promote players from their farm system to fill holes on their roster. By operating carefully and smartly, the Yankees should be able to stay under their budget and field a competitive team in 2018.
