The Yankees entered the 2019 season with one of the largest payrolls in all of Major League Baseball.
Despite this fact, New York has already shown a willingness to add even more salary to the league's second-highest payroll.
Brian Cashman added slugger Edwin Encarnacion over the weekend, and according to the Yankees' owner, Encarnacion is not the only piece that fans can expect the team to acquire before the trade deadline.
Speaking at the MLB owners' meetings in New York City Wednesday morning, Hal Steinbrenner told reporters that he would be willing to go over the highest luxury tax threshold, set at $246 million, if it would put the Yankees in a strong position to win the World Series.
"If I really felt we needed that deal that takes us over the top, then yes, I would," Steinbrenner told the New York Post. "But we still have a decent amount of cushion. I'm not concerned about that. It's a decent cushion."
New York has already hit the first threshold of $206 million, and it is believed that they have reached the second threshold of $226 million as well.
The third and final threshold would come if the team's payroll surpasses $246 million.
The Yankees are said to be around $20 million away from reaching the highest penalty, which gives Cashman some room to work with. This is good news for New York, as the team's pitching is an area that certainly could use some improvements.
"I'm willing to do what I can to improve the team," Steinbrenner said. "If we feel we need another starting pitcher, or even more help in the bullpen, we're going to look at it. That is on my radar. That threshold is on my radar and was on my radar, I'm not going to say it wasn't. We're always going to try to field the best team we can. That's the promise we make to the fans every year...
"We're going to spend money to be the best we can be. When money comes off the payroll, you'll see us as much as anybody, we put it back into the club."
Cashman should have plenty of options to choose from on the trade market. Toronto's Marcus Stroman, Cleveland's Trevor Bauer, Detroit's Matt Boyd and of course, San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner are just a few of several starting pitchers expected to be made available prior to the July 31 deadline.
