Hal Steinbrenner was asked about the luxury tax at Wednesday’s MLB owners’ meetings and said, “If I really felt we needed that deal that takes us over the top, then yes, I would. But we still have a decent amount of cushion. I’m not concerned about that. It’s a decent cushion.”
Hal also acknowledged the team’s starting pitching concerns when making these statements.
The Yankees are currently about $20M under the top threshold, which is $246M. Going over that number comes with an increased tax percentage (42.5% for first time offenders, which the Yankees are since they finished under the base threshold in 2018) and the team’s highest selection in the next draft will move back 10 places.