Hal Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, said Wednesday that the team is not going to be afraid to get into the free-agent market, and that the Astros' sign-stealing scandal wouldn't stop the Yankees from pursuing Carlos Correa.
Steinbrenner said that he was a great talent. I think most people have moved on from that. I think it's a good idea to move on from things like that, instead of stewing on them. People have an opinion about that particular player. We're going to look at every option. It's the same thing every year.
Steinbrenner said that Brian Cashman is one of the best general managers in the game and that the recently re-signed manager is one of the best in baseball. Steinbrenner said that the Yankees will use free agency and trades to make changes and try to win a title after a disappointing year.
As the market develops, it's not clear whether that includes the expected largest contract in a deep free-agent class. With the Yankees focused on replacing Gleyber Torres at the position, there are many possibilities for the best free-agent class of shortstops.
Steinbrenner wouldn't discuss the Yankees' budget for 2022, but they're almost certain to exceed the luxury-tax threshold, with payroll commitments already around $222 million before making a substantive move this offseason.
The Yankees re-signed manager, and four-year veteran, Luis Castillo to a three-year extension before changing their roster. Steinbrenner said that the deal was not a hard decision.
Cashman has run the Yankees' baseball operations since 1998 and Steinbrenner said he was not even thinking about a contract extension. He pointed to a new performance lab at the team's complex in Florida as a sign that the team under Cashman is evolving.
Steinbrenner said that he is involved on a daily basis. If there was a situation where we were just stagnant in our thinking and not making decisions, that would be a grave concern to me. Brian has been great about going with the flow of what's going on in the industry, what other teams are doing, what different things we're doing internally. It's not so much stagnation that would bother me, it's more the fact that people have been here for a long time.
He gets a bad rap for being too analytical. It's not the case. Some teams are bigger. But it's called analytic information. I don't think there's a CEO in the country who wouldn't want to have as much information as possible to make decisions. It seems like it's a bad word sometimes. It's information. The better-positioned you are to make a decision, the more information you have. I've always seen it that way, and he agrees with me.
Steinbrenner talked about a lot of other subjects.
"He's a great Yankee," said Judge, who is due to hit free agency after the 2022 season. He's a great leader and one of the faces of the franchise. I'm willing to talk to Cash about it, but nothing formal has happened yet.
The Yankees acquired Joey Gallo from Texas at the trade deadline and he hit.160/.303/.408 for them. Yes, of course. I'm not worried. Next year, watch him.
"Am I worried?" asked ace Gerrit Cole, who struggled down the stretch and lost the wild-card game. No. He's too good an athlete with too many tools.
The Yankees could sign a third baseman who is more likely to move to third base if Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza are around. They are very talented. We're excited about it.
The labor policy committee that Steinbrenner sits on is trying to negotiate a new collective-bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association. The meetings are continuous. A lot is being discussed.
The proposal from MLB that would have included a $100 million salary floor and a lower luxury tax threshold was included in earlier discussions.
Steinbrenner said there were seven of them on labor policy. Boston, several mid-markets and a couple small markets. We are a very diverse group. The proposal we brought to the union was unanimous on our committee. There are things in the proposal that we didn't like. Every owner. We wanted to put together a proposal that addressed their concerns and brought them together as a group. We did. Specific things? Nothing will ever be perfect. In anything.
