Yankees: Hal Steinbrenner says he’d consider exceeding luxury tax threshold this offseason

Monday night the YES Network aired their first episode of Yankees Hot Stove this offseason which featured an interview with managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner. He covered an array of topics including whether or not he’d be willing to go over the luxury tax threshold to sign a front-line ace like Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg.

It’s no secret the Yankees top priority this offseason is to upgrade their starting rotation and signing Cole or Strasburg would certainly help them do just that. In his interview with YES Steinbrenner refused to comment specifically on New York’s pursuit of the two right-handers but he did say “all options are open as far as I’m concerned.”

On Tuesday Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the Yankees met with Cole in his native Southern California and are “all in” on the 29-year-old All-Star. Cole is the top free agent on the market and many believe he would prefer to sign with a west coast team, but those are just rumors so far.

Strasburg will meet with the Yanks on Wednesday. He’ll likely cost less to sign than Cole but not by much and only because he’s two years older. The 10-year veteran had a terrific 2019 campaign that was capped off with him winning the World Series MVP.

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The Yankees and Steinbrenner would obviously love to add either ace, but it still remains to been seen how much money they’ll be willing to spend. Cole is likely going to sign a record-breaking contract worth at least $250M and Strasburg could reach that mark as well. The Yanks have made a strong effort not to exceed the second or third luxury tax threshold in recent years, but they’re definitely going to have to in order to sign one of these right-handers.

This year the 2020 tax threshold sits at $208M and the third and highest level of the threshold is $248M. If a team exceeds that number they’ll face some heavy penalties including, among other things, a 42.5% tax for going over. Steinbrenner is well aware of the penalties, but if that’s the cost off adding an ace he says he’d consider going over.

“It’s a big deal,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s something we would certainly prefer not to do because there are June-draft ramifications, there are numerous ramifications. But that is something I would consider.”

It’s hard to get a good read on what Hal will end up doing based on these comments but I think he realizes that a pitcher like Cole or Strasburg could be exactly what the Yankees need to put them over the top.

It’s been years since the team has had an ace as good as them and now is not the time to worry about luxury tax penalties after they just finished off the decade without appearing in the World Series for the first time in franchise history.