Yet, the Los Angeles Dodgers have outspent the Yankees and every other Major League team on their way to a $290 million payroll — the highest in baseball.
“It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they’re doing,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said to YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits in an interview that aired Tuesday night.
The Yankees payroll doesn’t fall too far behind the Dodgers, sitting at $273 million. However once you factor in the competitive balance tax each team is currently projected to pay in 2025, the discrepancy grows.
The Dodgers have been over the MLB’s competitive balance tax threshold for four consecutive seasons, meaning they are required to pay a 50 per cent tax on all overages. Los Angeles is also nearly $50 million over the base threshold, adding an additional 42.5 per cent surcharge. As a result, the team is projected to pay a staggering total of nearly $370 million in payroll plus tax.
While the Yankees are also subject to the 50 per cent tax, their total salary only results in a 12 per cent surcharge, bringing their projected post-tax total to $291 million.
The same Forbes list ranked the Dodgers as the second most valuable MLB franchise — the two teams ranked fourth and 24th among all sports franchises, respectively. Forbes also valued the Yankees at $7.55 billion, and the Dodgers at $5.45 billion, last March.
“I wouldn’t say surprised, but I mean I really didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Steinbrenner of the Soto talks. “I mean, Juan’s got a big family, they were all very involved, so there were a lot of different voices in his ear talking to him and giving him advice. I really just didn’t know. So I wouldn’t say I wasn’t surprised, I was certainly disappointed.”
The Yankees may have lost an American League MVP finalist who finished sixth in the majors in wins above replacement at 7.9, but they still have the 2024 AL MVP in Aaron Judge, and made significant additions around him.
“We’re excited about them,” said Steinbrenner. “A lot of hard work in December into January. Some people may disagree with me, but some people will agree with me — I think we have a better team than we did a year ago today.”
Replacing Soto’s prolific offensive production, including the best on-base percentage in baseball over the past five years, will be no easy feat. But the Yankees have added two former National League MVPs in Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, who offer strong, albeit less consistent offensive profiles than Soto.
“Bellinger and Goldschmidt, I think they’ll make up for a good deal of Juan’s offence” Steinbrenner said.
The Yankees’ largest off-season expenditure is the eight-year, $218-million deal given to left-handed starter Max Fried. He will join a rotation that includes former Cy-Young winner Gerrit Cole and 2024 AL Rookie of the Year winner Luis Gil.
“The work ethic is impeccable from what I’ve heard. And (Fried’s) a great teammate,” said Steinbrenner. “I mean he’s everything we want in our clubhouse, over and above what he brings when he’s on that mound.”
New York also added elite closer Devin Williams via a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. But as the dust settles, their $236 million total committed to players this off-season still pales in comparison to the $380 million in total money committed to free agents by the Dodgers.
“Now, we’ll see if it pays off,” Steinbrenner said of the high spending done by the Dodgers. “They still have to have a season relatively injury-free for it to work out for them, and it’s a long season, as you know, and once you get to the post-season, anything can happen. We’ve seen that time and time again. We’ll see who’s there at the end.”
