Asked during his interview with Meredith Marakovits about the team’s estimated payroll goal this season, Hal Steinbrenner didn’t have a number in mind, but reiterated that the team has shown its financial commitment to winning every year, and would continue to do so.
“I don’t think you can buy championships. I think the Mets and the Dodgers proved that this year,” Steinbrenner said. “Not saying that’s what they were trying to do, but their payrolls were higher than ours. I don’t have a number in mind, but we were the third highest payroll in baseball. It was $270 million, whatever the number was. That’s a lot of money and a lot of commitment. My family does that every year. We have money come off the payroll, we are normally putting most of it back in, if not all of it. If not, more.
“We do that to field the most competitive team we can to try to win a championship.”
Some have criticized the team’s contrast in increased revenue against increased payroll, while others have been frustrated in the team passing on star free agents, like the top-tier shortstops last offseason that signed elsewhere, while the Yanks elected to acquire Isiah Kiner-Falefa. But the Yanks do consistently rank among the top teams in the league in payroll every year, and Steinbrenner says that won’t change in 2023.
“It’s not easy. We’re gonna keep trying every year,” Steinbrenner said.
“That’s what we do. The resources we put into our baseball operations people, our scouting, our player development, and of course the payroll every year, I think that proves we’re trying to win a championship. Period.”
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