As Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner gave what amounted to a State of the Team address on Thursday, discussing Aaron Boone's job status and lots more, he went into detail about his philosophy on exceeding the luxury tax.
Entering Thursday, the Yankees' payroll stood at roughly $207.6 million, less than $3 million under the $210 million luxury tax threshold.
A club that exceeds the threshold for the first time must pay a 20 percent tax on all overages, with that tax rising to 30 percent during the second season over and 50 percent at a third straight season over. Once a team that has been over the tax dips back under, the penalty level is reset.
So would Steinbrenner exceed it this season?
"This is not a question I get much, because we're normally always over it," Steinbrenner told reporters via Zoom. "Although I have a small track record, I do have a track record. The answer to the question is any given year, there's a number of reasons it makes sense to be under that threshold. If I feel we're not good enough, we need another piece to be the championship caliber team that we want to be and we expect to be, then I'm gonna seriously consider doing whatever I need to do.
"And I always use (Masahiro) Tanaka's signing all those years ago as an example. We were under the threshold at the beginning of the season, we were not good enough, I knew we weren't good enough. And we went ahead and signed Tanaka and went right through the threshold.
"I would absolutely consider -- if a piece comes up that I think is a good piece and that baseball ops thinks is a good piece and something we should do -- I would absolutely consider doing it."
Whether the Yankees will be in a position where they want to add players at the deadline remains to be seen.
They are 41-39, in fourth place in the AL East and trail the first place Boston Red Sox by 8.5 games.
