Yankees News: Hal Steinbrenner Not Willing To Break The Bank For Max Scherzer, Others

New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner believes that the team is in a good enough position heading into the 2015 MLB season that signing a top free-agent starting pitcher like Max Scherzer isn't necessary at this time.

“Our payroll, at the very beginning [of the offseason], even once we lost [David] Robertson, was high,” said Steinbrenner, declining to discuss Scherzer or other options by name, via Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. “There’s just a certain amount I’m going to go. You all know my opinions about payroll, where you should be and where you really don’t need to be to win championships.

“But we did go out and we signed two of the better free agents, [Andrew] Miller and [Chase] Headley. And we made some good trades. Gave up some young guys, which is never fun. But I think we got some good guys in return. We’ll see.”

That doesn't mean Steinbrenner doesn't have concerns about the current makeup (and more importantly, health) of the starting rotation.

“I think if there’s one concern, it’s our starting rotation – not because of their ability, but because of their health,” Steinbrenner said. “Now, everybody’s going to come healthy. It’s just a question of not having what we had last year, which is not having four guys out by the All-Star break. That’s going to pose a problem to any team.

“Getting Miller, getting [David] Carpenter, getting [Justin] Wilson, having [Dellin] Betances, I think the seventh, eighth and ninth inning, we’re looking pretty good. So it does shorten the game somewhat for these guys, take a little bit of pressure off of them. But we’ll see. You can’t predict injuries. We know that.”

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