Yankees' reported reason for passing on Alex Bregman shows gulf between Dodgers, Mets

Superstar free agent Alex Bregman remains unsigned and his market has now been narrowed to the Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. Some believe the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays remain involved as well, but we know for sure the New York Yankees are not.

That ship has sailed, if it ever even left the dock. In the meantime, many analysts have questioned why the Yankees never expressed serious, consistent interest, and fans feel the same way. You just saw the Dodgers spend their way to a World Series, and then spend more to upgrade for 2025. You're watching the crosstown Mets blow by the highest luxury tax threshold for the fourth year in a row.

Meanwhile, the most famous baseball franchise in the entire world employs self-restraints on the financial front, which has clearly held them back ever since the Aaron Judge era began. New York reduced payroll in 2018 and 2019 after Judge's runner up MVP season in 2017. And it's been evident they've limited themselves in some capacity ever since.

Hal Steinbrenner isn't wrong when he says you don't need a $300 million payroll to win a World Series, but he is wrong thinking the Yankees don't need to push the envelope after they've made some missteps (Aaron Hicks, DJ LeMahieu, Carlos Rodón, etc.)

New York is in that position right now. But instead of signing Bregman and making all their deals for Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams, the Yankees chose the latter three to more responsibly "allocate" the money.

Yankees Rumors: New York passed on Alex Bregman in favor of other moves

And that's the attitude that will get you to bottom out in the ALCS or get romped in the World Series. It's just the reality of what we have watched since 2017 after the Yankees dug themselves out of the hellhole that was 2010-2016.

Also, the acquisition of Williams essentially canceled itself out, money-wise, since Nestor Cortes was due a similar salary for 2025. New York also traded literally nothing for Bellinger and got the Cubs to kick in $5 million. As for the Fried contract, they stretched it over eight years to limit the annual CBT hit (he's making around $27 million).

So it's not like any of those acquisitions put them in a precarious spot. They were cautious with all of them. And again, they're still decreasing payroll despite those moves. Don't let anybody fool you!

It should rarely ever be a "this/or" approach for the Yankees, unless we're talking about a ridiculous asking price in free agency or via trade, or if there's a direct roster conflict in terms of fit/role. It should always be "this/and" for the Bombers, but they don't see it that way.

They'll head into yet another spring training with a number of starting roles completely up in the air. We don't know any other serious big spending contenders who can say the same, because it's objectively crazy to follow up a World Series appearance with more question marks the next year.