The New York Yankees are in near dire straits. With much to do to improve the team for the 2021 season, the Yankees find themselves with little money to accomplish that task. Some believe the Yankees may have lost as much as $700 million considering expenses. First, they failed to gain any revenue from fan dependent revenues due to no fans attending games. Then they had the biggest payroll in baseball to pay. Add to that front office payroll, security, and Yankee stadium upkeep, and you have a huge loss for the 2020 season.
The New York Yankees will also have to travel a thin line with what they spend as they have no idea at this point as to whether they will have another season not making a dime. The coronavirus is exploding all over the country daily, with no end in sight. This could cause no fans in the stands, at least at the beginning of the 2021 season. There is hope that the vaccines being developed could slow the spread of the virus by next summer, but that is yet to be seen.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees have to find a way to retain Yankee star and batting title winner DJ LeMahieu, obtain a pitching starter, and to a lesser degree, address the problems at the backstop and short. The Yankees have a guaranteed payroll of
- Gerrit Cole, RHP: $288MM through 2028
- Giancarlo Stanton, DH/OF: $218MM through 2027 (including $10MM buyout for 2028)
- Aaron Hicks, OF $50.5MM through 2025
- Aroldis Chapman, LHP: $32MM through 2022
- Zack Britton, LHP: $27MM through 2022
- Luis Severino, RHP: $24.25MM through 2022 (including $2.75MM buyout for 2023)
- Adam Ottavino, RHP: $9MM through 2021
That comes to roughly $120 million, add to that the arbitration-eligible players like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Clint Frazier, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, and others who will get about $28 million, it totals $148 million worth of payroll the Yankees already have to put out for the 2021 season. If you deduct that from the $210 million luxury tax threshold, it leaves the Yankees with less than $63 million to solve their problems. The Yankees will likely have to meet DJ LeMahieu’s demand that will likely be at $20 million, and the money is further reduced to $43 million to fix the ills. To put that into perspective, spending for Franciso Lindor and J. T. Realmuto would eat that up entirely with no way to fix the pitching rotation.
Therein lies the problem; the Yankees aren’t going to able to fix everything as they might like to. The two big problems that must be addressed is getting another premium-like pitcher and retaining DJ LeMahieu. With all the talk of needing to replace Gary Sanchez as a catcher and Gleyber Torres at short, those needs will take a back seat unless the Yankees can sell off some assets and make trades to accomplish those needs.
There are many creative moves general manager Brain Cashman can do. Still, he will be challenged unless owner Hal Steinbrenner is really serious about winning and opens up his pocketbook like he did last year, with the acquisition of Gerrit Cole. With so many questions looming regarding future revenues, that is not likely. The Yankees may just try to patch up the team and hope for the best with their prospects they already have upcoming.