Scott Boras on the Yankees: “The fact that their payroll is going to be under what it was 10 or 15 years ago is something that everyone in the game has to look at... What are their goals? What’s their principle?.. When you have a choice, what do you do with your success? What do you do with the greatness of your business operation? And how do you reward the fans that allowed that to happen?”

First, let's take a shower. Let's rinse off the cooties of craven self-interest. Let's recognize that Scott Boras is not exactly Abe Lincoln under a facial hair ban. He's a few gold chains removed from Tony Soprano, in that he long ago helped turn the sports agents' profession into a protection racket, greased with the kind of hype that Hulk Hogan and Randy Roddy would admire. The mere notion of a star player signing with Scott Boras sent shivers through an MLB front office, which had traditionally held all the cards in contract negotiations. For more than two decades now, Boras has been depicted as the supervillain in contract disputes, the barbarian who ruined a perfectly delightful gentleman's game, and always, always, always the reason why a beloved player just bolted from the town that raised him. He became baseball's Babadook, the demon that turns youngsters against their parent club. If not for that damned Boras, Alex woulda stayed in Seattle...

But listen: That quote upstairs? He's fucking right, and I can't let it wash over us, unnoticed. Yesterday, Boras touched upon one of the critical questions within the Yankiverse, one that we too often ignore. We bemoan the huge pots of money being wasted on a Jacoby Ellsbury or an A-Rod, and we think, If not for those damn contracts... as if our front office had been hypnotized by Boras' shiny watch.

As the Yankees head into 2018, once again Food Stamps Hal Steinbrenner is vowing to shrink payroll below the luxury tax threshold. That will mean - the Gammonites constantly assure us - the Yankees can bid next year on the likes of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and/or Clayton Kershaw. This is the carrot cake being dangled in front of us: If we cut payroll now, we can spend big next year. But it begs the question: If Hal balks now, why won't he balk then? Harper may demand $40 million a year. Do any of us expect Hal to bite? Cheap is cheap, and the Yankee owner is not acting like a Yankee owner.

According to Forbes, the Yankees are worth $3.4 billion. That's more than three times what the Florida Marlins recently sold for, and it's not counting the Steinbrenners' minority ownership of the YES Network, which has been valued at more than the Yankees. Prince Hal has too much money to count. Whatever he saves this year in luxury taxes will be pocket change. In playing an austerity card, he is merely enjoying a parlor game: Let's have fun, Bootsie, and see how cheaply we can win the world series! 

Yesterday, shortly after Boras erupted, reporters approached Hal and recited the above quote. Hal's response was to smile and say, "I can see Scott saying that." And - yes - he's right. We must all consider the source and then take a shower. But here's the deal, folks:

THE ENTIRE YANKIVERSE NEEDS TO BE SAYING THAT, TOO. 

This season, the Yankees will be chasing the World Series. We're not fantasizing another one-game Wild Card. And it will probably require Food Stamps Hal to reach deeper into his platinum purse than he wants. Right now, it means eating Ellsbury's contract until he becomes a trade chip commodity. It means shelling out for CC Sabathia on a one or two-year deal. It means finding and buying a lights-out bullpen lefty and, for God's sake, it means springing whatever it takes for the Japanese Babe Ruth. And if Babe-San is not available, it means going after a solid starting pitcher - and, yes, overpaying in almost every case.

Of course, the parlor game here is Hal trying to finagle all this while staying below his self-imposed fun payroll. That's where the Yankee fan-base needs to start asking questions. Boras is right: The team's payroll is shaping up to be less than it was a decade ago. That begs an honest question: What exactly are the goals of this team?