What Is Plan B for The Yankees?

Recently The New York Yankees brain trust of team owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner along with general manager Brian Cashman have been attempting to cut the team’s payroll. The Yankees payroll is finally under $200 million as they are attempting shell out less money to Major League Baseball for the luxury tax. The Yankees currently are on the hook this season for $76 million just to infielders Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and outfielder Curtis Granderson. All four players will open the season on the disabled list while Rodriguez faces the possibility of missing the entire 2013 campaign as a result of hip surgery. The plan for the Steinbrenner’s and Cashman was to decrease The Yankees salary in the hopes of pegging pending free agents from other MLB teams, but that plan appears to be going up in smoke.

It had been thought by many that Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez would find himself pitching for The Yankees at some point, but Seattle recently signed “King Felix” to a seven-year, $175 million extension. Last week Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander became the highest paid pitcher in MLB history when he received $180 million to remain in Motown while the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants gave the reigning National League MVP catcher Buster Posey a nine-year extension for $167 million. Previously it was thought that the financially strapped Los Angeles Dodgers were going to unload All-Star outfielder Matt Kemp, but Magic Johnson and his Guggenheim Management Group swooped in to purchase the team while Kemp received an eight-year, $160 extension from the team last year. With The Dodgers new found wealth it will only be a matter of time before 2011 NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw will receive an extension from The Dodgers to remain in Tinseltown as well which will take him off the market.

Since free agency became a part of Major League Baseball, The Yankees have been at the forefront of spending money. Former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson an offer that he couldn’t refuse in 1977 as Jackson signed a five-year, $2.96 million deal. In 1981, Steinbrenner made Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield the highest-paid player in baseball with a 10-year, $23 million contract. Steinbrenner’s strategy of spending money in free agency led to six World Series Championships under his watch as Yankee owner.

The current Yankees are hurting because the Steinbrenners (Hank and Hal) threw all of their eggs into a future free agent basket instead of developing talent. The Yankees prized minor league prospect  catcher Jesus Montero was traded to The Mariners last season for the oft-injured starting pitcher Michael Pineda. The Yankees were hopeful to spend less money, but with teams such as The Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, and Philadelphia Phillies not sweating MLB’s luxury tax, the have all spent freely in free agency which has driven the price up which is what The Yankees were looking to avoid.

Age is and will continue to track down players such as Rodriguez and Teixeira as The Yankees find themselves stuck with Rodriguez’s monumental contract for another five years which is an eternity in baseball years. The new Yankee regime wants to cut payroll, but if fans revolt by staying away from the new Yankee Stadium, it will begin to resemble the old Yankee Stadium in the late 1980’s when the highlight of the season was Old Timers’ Day. The time is now for The Yankees to go back to the drawing board.