Michael Kay just insinuated the Yankees' offseason will be a whole lot of nothing

Budgets, financial responsibility, and taxes. Those seem to be the biggest things on the New York Yankees' minds these days. Meanwhile, the fans are concerned about left field, the starting rotation, and the bullpen.

Hal Steinbrenner has gone out and said that he doesn't believe that a $300 million payroll is necessary in order to win a championship. Labor uncertainty beyond this upcoming season has started to make it feel like this is the version of the Yankees that we're going to be stuck with.

Now, Michael Kay is joining the fray and proclaiming that we might be in for a whole lot of nothing with the Winter Meetings approaching. When the chorus starts getting this loud, you'd be wise to listen up.

Michael Kay says the quiet part out loud in predicting a quiet offseason for the Yankees

The $300 million payroll. That was the sticking point for Kay, who said that there's a "very real chance" that the club wants to stay below that magic number. Then he ran the calculations and showed how hard it would be for the Yankees to get anything of substance done this winter.

Trying to figure out where the Yankees' payroll currently stands is something like trying to hit a moving target. Depending on where you look, you'll see some different numbers floating around. Kay cites Cot's Contracts and a $279 million number. Checking Cot's Contracts at the time of this writing, the number appears to be $283 million.

Spotrac is more optimistic, but even there, the projected number is a hair under $256 million. FanGraphs' roster resource page has the payroll at $260 million. Some of these discrepancies are due to arbitration projections. If the Yankees don't come to terms with an arbitration-eligible player, they'll plead their case to the panel of arbitrators in February.

That means the final tally won't be settled until shortly before pitchers and catchers report for spring training. That also means the Yankees will have to hold some money aside until those are settled, forcing them to miss out on the meat of the offseason. In theory, though, that money shouldn't stop them from doing anything they want.

Kay goes on to cite how many unmovable contracts are holding them back. Giancarlo Stanton is a big one. There's light at the end of the tunnel, with his pact running out at the end of the 2027 season, but until then, he counts as $22 million towards the luxury tax each season. That's a tough price to pay for a player who hasn't eclipsed 114 games since 2021 and offers no defensive value, even if he can still mash.

Aaron Judge's contract, Kay also mentions, but of course, trading him is a silly proposition. Gerrit Cole and Max Fried's contracts are both unmovable as well. Kay speculates that Carlos Rodón's deal could potentially be traded, but with three years and $81 million left, the value wouldn't be great. Any trade of this sort would be counterproductive anyway. If the Yankees were to move one of these guys to free $20-ish million, they'd just need to give that money to someone else to fill the hole that they just created.

So, as Kay says, this all likely means no Cody Bellinger reunion is on the horizon. Forget about Kyle Tucker, that's an even bigger pipe dream. We can all hope that he's wrong, but the guy is plugged in, so when he says that he's hearing $300 million is the line in the sand, we should believe him.

Grab your jacket, gloves, and hat because it's going to get really cold spending all winter waiting it out on the sidelines.