Hal Steinbrenner’s message hasn’t changed as the Yankees dive headfirst into the free agency and trade markets. The front office surveys the entire marketplace, with general manager Brian Cashman responsible for bringing costs to ownership, whether in dollars or prospects.
This year is no different, coming off a 94-win campaign that ended in the American League Division Series. The Yankees’ managing general partner expects he will have some difficult – and potentially exciting – decisions to make in the weeks ahead.
“We’re looking at every area of need, and we will determine which needs are most significant and which aren’t,” Steinbrenner said Monday on a Zoom call with reporters. “We still need another outfielder; we have options. We need to improve the bullpen, for sure. I really love our starting rotation next year.
“We’ve got to get through April and get [Gerrit] Cole back and [Carlos] Rodón back, but it’s going to be an incredible rotation if everybody comes back as planned. And I think we’re pretty good on the infield as well, but we’re going to look at all options, like we always do.”
This offseason, the Yankees have been linked to a reunion with outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger, plus possible pursuits of outfielder Kyle Tucker and Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai, among others. Outfielder Trent Grisham recently accepted a qualifying offer, valued at $22.025 million.
Steinbrenner said he does not have a firm payroll number in mind for 2026, but he noted the club’s payroll this past season was $319 million. He pushed back when a reporter suggested that, with revenues reportedly exceeding $700 million, it is fair to assume the Yankees are turning a profit.
“That’s not a fair statement or an accurate statement,” he said. “Everybody wants to talk about revenues. They need to talk about our expenses, including the $100 million expense to the City of New York that we have to pay every February 1, including the COVID year. So it all starts to add up in a hurry.
“Nobody spends more money, I don’t believe, on player development, scouting, performance science. These all start to add up.”
Asked if he still considers the Yankees’ standard to be “championship or bust,” and if that is a realistic stance, Steinbrenner replied: “I certainly thought it was last year. And now we begin the work of next year. But I absolutely went into the playoffs believing we could win a championship.”
Steinbrenner was encouraged by his team’s chemistry, but said the Yankees did not “play up to their potential” in October, while the eventual AL champion Blue Jays did.
He remains frustrated by the club’s summer struggles, losing their division lead to the Blue Jays at the beginning of July and then never regaining it. He pointed specifically to a series in Miami shortly after the Trade Deadline as a stretch “where we were making mistakes, not playing good baseball, not hitting. That can’t happen.”
Steinbrenner specifically mentioned baserunning as an area in which he wants to see improvement this coming season, alluding that it played a part in the departure of first-base coach Travis Chapman, whose contract was not renewed. Chapman has since been hired by the Tigers.
“We’re going to do better at it,” Steinbrenner said. “The baserunning mistakes were not good. So we’ve made a change there, coaching-wise, and we’re going to expect better results this coming year.”
