Yankees' ridiculous 2024 sales record further emphasizes recent payroll embarrassment

As chairman and managing general partner of Yankees Global Enterprises Hal Steinbrenner always loves to say, "You don't need a $300 million payroll to win a championship." And that's true. If someone were starting from scratch today, they could build a championship roster earmarking under $300 million for player salaries. But, given the anchors already weighing down the Yankees' substantial payroll, this particular team is not one of those teams that can win a championship under $300 million.

Plus, no matter who you are or how high your payroll allocation already is, the additional reinvestment of funds to insure a roster against injury and potentially get it over the hump ... always helps!

No team's payroll matches their profit less than these Yankees, who run up a top-of-the-league bill, but don't reinvest nearly as much as they theoretically could into their on-field product. Entering a season where they knew Giancarlo Stanton was dealing with a traumatic injury, the Yankees capped their own spending in a league without a salary cap, spooked by a luxury tax threshold that the Dodgers have had no issue handling and kicking over. New York publicly entered spring training one bat short, though privately they knew they were down two. Still, they swung an outfield trade, signed a stopgap first baseman, and reinforced their pitching staff with a draft pick-plundering Max Fried contract. The loss of Gerrit Cole means that move seems savvier, but the advantage was neutered. Now, they're scrambling on offense and on the mound.

But at least they went to the World Series, hosted the maximum number of big-ticket games in the Fall Classic (three, two losses), and took home a franchise record $411.7 million in ticket and luxury suite sales last season, according to Newsday. That represented a 39.8% increase and an additional $101.9 million in revenue.

Yankees set franchise ticket sales record, still two bats short in Opening Day lineup

All those suite sales and you still couldn't give one away to Juan Soto, huh?

"The Yankees are still among the league's top spenders. What, you expect them to just go crazy?!" No. We expect them to meet the moment, especially when they tell us they intend to be the mecca of baseball once again. The Dodgers have reset the standard. The Mets have followed, though the man for whom the tax is named is beginning to be made uncomfortable by it. How is the franchise with MLB's richest history going to counter the behavioral changes that have begun to render them comparatively irrelevant?

They'd better figure it out quickly. Because, without a bonafide slugging DH and a lineup fans can trust, those record revenues are about to plummet (though they'll still be large enough to reinvest in the roster, if ownership really wanted to).