Yankees making history with Forbes' valuation will only further anger fans

During the Aaron Judge era, the New York Yankees have worked fastidiously to keep their payroll in check, which, many can agree, has held them back from winning a championship. Look no further than last season when they refused to go "all in" at the trade deadline with one guaranteed year of Juan Soto. A couple more additions could've led them to victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Fast-forward to this offseason, and the Yankees have made sure to stay under the Steve Cohen Luxury Tax threshold to avoid being repeat offenders and spending excess money. That's left the roster relatively incomplete with plenty of questions to go around.

Interestingly enough, their payroll restriction comes just months after the organization had a record-setting year of luxury suite sales at Yankee Stadium. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has made it a point to say teams don't need $300 million payrolls to win championships, but guess what? More spending almost always correlates to greater success. And when you're the Yankees, you have the power to right any roster wrongs with money. That's your one clear advantage over a majority of the league.

There's always a "greed" element when it comes to billionaires and profits, which leads us to Wednesday's update just before Opening Day. According to Forbes, the Yankees franchise is valued at $8.2 billion heading into 2025, which is $1.4 billion more than the Dodgers.

That $8.2 billion number is obviously a record, as is almost everything with each passing year. And while valuations usually don't tell the entire story, they typically do when you're the richest of the rich.

Yankees franchise valued at historic $8.2 billion, per Forbes

An important note here is that the Yankees operated at a $57 million loss last year. That's not abnormal, as a good portion of teams are typically hit by such costs annually. Usually, it's a result of organizations re-investing in the business to prepare for further expansion.

At the end of the day, though, when you're seeing millions upon millions (the Yankees had a 9% year over year growth) stack up in the valuation department annually, operating at a relatively minor loss hardly matters.

Then again, this could call the Yankees' business decisions into question. The Dodgers ($21 million), Red Sox ($120 million), Cubs ($81 million), Phillies ($9 million), Angels ($40 million) and Cardinals ($7 million) are among those operating in the black this year. There are plenty of other teams operating at a higher loss than the Yankees, but if you look at a team like the Dodgers, who spent a ton of money in order to corner the Japanese market and create an entirely new revenue stream, it's hard to feel bad for the Yankees for not using their billions to their advantage. We're not saying it's easy, but the Steinbrenner family has owned this team since the 70s.

Only the Dodgers have an enviable blueprint. The Red Sox, Cubs, Angels and Cardinals have been embarrassments. The Mets had the greatest operating loss at $268 million for 2024. The Yankees should have no desire emulating what any of those teams do, but if they want to be a "fully operational death star," then they must be able to laugh at burning a few more million dollars.

You can't lose Juan Soto, get ousted from the World Series in embarrassing fashion, cap your free agent spending, limit your payroll, and see your valuation increase $738 million and then think there's room to make excuses.