A Thought Experiment, Third Time's a Charm!

Okay, so what's it all mean?

Sure, that super team I just imagined is pretty unlikely.  There are few if any management teams who would ever be so perceptive or so ruthless.

Once the Yanks had acquired, say, a Scherzer and a Sale, it's highly unlikely that they would have shelled out for a Verlander, as well.  After picking up a Yelich, they probably would not have bothered to go after J.D. Martinez, too.

But that's not the point.

Even with, say, 3 of these 5 players, the Yanks would have easily steamrolled their way to a ring in 2017 and 2018, and been sitting pretty again this season, injuries or no injuries.  And in that case their payroll would have been maybe $20-$40 million lower.

Let's take a gander at the figures.

My dream team Yankees would cost just under $242 mill—not counting whatever MLB cartel penalties would be tacked on.

But the Cash and Hal Yanks—Cash and No-Cash?—slipping quickly backwards cost...$225 mill, according to Spotrac.  (The website also puts the Yanks' "adjusted" payroll at $210 mill—whatever that means—plus $19 mill in tax, making for a total of $229 million.)

In other words, close to the best possible team the Yanks could have come up with would have cost maybe $13-$17 million more than the fumbling, floundering team with little future that we have now.

Of course, the Dream Team Yankees' romp to the world championship in 2017 and 2018 would've made up that $13-$17 million many times over, in ticket sales, added broadcast money, foreign rights, paraphernalia, etc.

So what does that tell us?

That Hal Steinbrenner is not just cheap.  He's a dope.

Had he hired some good help and set them to aggressively building a great team the way so many Yankees owners and executives have done for most of the last century, he would have made much more money.  He could have outdone his father hands down.

But he wasn't willing to risk it.  Instead he kept small men around him to make himself feel big.

He'll go on making money because it's almost impossible not to in major-league baseball these days. But in the years ahead, as the seats get emptier and emptier and the ratings drop lower and lower, we can only hope he'll see how much more money he could have made.