How Much Money Does Cashman Have to Spend?

by EJ Fagan

November 2024

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NOTE: The following comes from EJ Fagan's substack page and is shared with permission. This was published a few days ago so the stats don't include the last few games.

Please check out EJ's substack page for more great articles.

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The Yankees spent $309 million on player salaries in 2024. Hal Steinbrenner indicates that the budget won’t increase. This may be controversial among Yankee fans, but I think $309 is more than enough. The Steinbrenners had a stingy phase awhile back, but they are back to spending right up there with the top teams in the league. A good GM should be able to succeed with that budget.

When arbitration raises are accounted for, Fangraphs estimates that the Yankees currently under team control would cost about $243.5 million. However, that isn’t the whole story. The following players are near-locks to be non-tendered or traded:

• Tim Mayza, $4.0 million

• Trent Grisham, $5.7 million

• JT Brubaker, $2.3 million

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I also think there is a pretty good chance that the Yankees trade Nestor Cortes ($7 million) or Jon Berti ($3.8 million). They might resign Mayza or Brubaker as depth pieces but at a lower salary. That could bring payroll down to as far as about $230-$240 million, or $60-70 million to spend on free agents.

The only real salary dump candidate on the roster is Marcus Stroman, but I’m skeptical that anyone would take his $18 million until he shows some more velocity.

That’s not bad! But it gets eaten up very quickly by a huge Juan Soto deal.

Let’s say that Juan Soto’s AAV comes in around $45 million (something like $600 million over 13 years). The Yankees would have something like $15-25 million to spend. If they add a first baseman for around $18 million, they are down to just a few lower priced relief pitchers or bench players.

Honestly, I thought they had more to spend in my head. Soto really does eat up a ton of the budget. I still think it is a good idea to bring Soto back, but I think he basically locks in Dominguez as a starter and a cheap platoon in the infield and rules them out of any real pitching addition. There isn’t really a world where the Yankees sign Soto and someone like Blake Snell, but Christian Walker is still in reach.