ORLANDO, Fla. — Hal Steinbrenner has said that if it’s possible, he would like to bring down his payroll, one that last season soared to $319 million.
But Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said his conversations with the owner haven’t been drastically different from previous offseasons.
“Hal’s exact words to me continue to be, ‘Take everything that’s out there to me,’ ” Cashman said Sunday night on the eve of this year’s winter meetings, which will take place Monday through Wednesday at the Signia by Hilton Orlando resort. “Which I will continue to do. I haven’t been told by Hal anything like that [orders to cut payroll].”
The Yankees’ payroll surpassed $300 million in 2024 and 2025, a figure Steinbrenner several times in that stretch has said is “not sustainable.”
Speaking during a Zoom news conference with reporters on Nov. 24, Steinbrenner again mentioned lowering his payroll but did not characterize it as an imperative.
“Would it be ideal if it went down?” he said. “Of course. But does that mean that’s going to happen? Of course not. We want to field a team we believe could win a championship.”
The Yankees, who last won a championship in 2009, were eliminated by the Blue Jays in four games in their American League Division Series in October. Toronto, in all-in mode after falling to the Dodgers in a taut seven-game World Series, entered the offseason with the expectation of being aggressive in the marketplace and already has signed righthander Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal to fortify its rotation. The industry expectation is that the Blue Jays will continue to add.
For his part, Cashman, who brought Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams — among others — to the Yankees last offseason, said, “I don’t think there’s as deep a need of a lot of things as there was last year.”
Which doesn’t mean he believes he has anything close to a set roster.
“There’s things I’m obviously trying to do,” he said.
Among them is re-signing Bellinger, who opted out of the final year of his deal to enter free agency, for the outfield. That won’t be cheap. Bellinger is coveted by other teams with large payrolls, including the Mets, Dodgers and Phillies. So is free-agent outfielder Kyle Tucker, whom the Yankees tried to trade for last winter.
Cashman repeatedly has said he would like to retain Bellinger, whom he called “a great fit for us” on Sunday, and also wants to add to his bullpen and rotation.
The latter need is a result of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt slated to start the season on the injured list. Rodon is expected back in “April or May,” Cashman said. Cole could return as soon as May, though Cashman said June might be more realistic. (Schmidt, who underwent Tommy John surgery last July, won’t be back until deep into the season’s second half, if at all.)
“We are vulnerable in the front of the rotation in the beginning of the season, although we have, on paper, a good rotation when they’re all healthy,” Cashman said. “We have some vacancies out of the bullpen.”
Cashman also acknowledged that his roster currently is “too lefthanded,” an issue he would like to address either via free agency or trade (the Yankees, for example, made a cursory check-in with the White Sox on righthanded-hitting outfielder Luis Robert).
Cashman said his roster needs aren’t what they were last winter, but with payroll commitments already well north of $200 million for 2026, can those needs be addressed if the Yankees spend less?
“A lot of different ways to skin a cat,” he said.
Of the roster overall, Cashman multiple times mentioned the number of talented players already under contract.
“We have good players on this roster, we have really good players on this roster, and we are covered in most areas you need to be covered,” he said. “We know we have a really strong roster of quality, talented players, but the job is to try and add to it.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday’s sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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