Friday, May 24, 2024

"Unsustainable."

 


My fellow Sterlings, you guys have been so incredibly supportive of my book that I am embarrassed to even mention this. But in case you have nothing better to do on this, the first night of the summer (so to speak), and are in the Greater New York Area, and have cable...you might want to turn into Ch. 75, CUNY-TV's New York Times Close-Up show, at 7:30 this evening.

There, you will have the thrill of watching yours truly being interviewed by Sam Roberts, an old friend and great guy. At some point, he asked me about Poor Hal Steinbrenner's assertion that the current Yankees payroll was "unsustainable."

I believe I said, "Exactly how many free stadiums do the Steinbrenners want?" or words to that effect.

That was flippant of me. When we are, of course, faced with a very real dilemma. 

How, oh how, will Hal Steinbrenner ever be able to keep the Yankees going??? Much less, re-sign the greatest young free agent in history?

Let's go back to the original statement from Poor Hal:

I’m gonna be honest, payrolls at the levels we’re at right now are simply not sustainable for us financially. It wouldn’t be sustainable for the vast majority of ownership [groups], given the luxury tax we have to pay.’’

Whatever will he—or we—do?

Well, Yahoo Sports reports that—according to Forbes—the Yankees have a payroll of $303 million, and annual revenues of $679 million, along with a total net worth of $7.55 billion.

Currently, Juan Soto makes $31 million a year, and he'll be wanting much more than that. 

At the end of this year, a total of $40 million worth of non-Soto contracts will also be up for renewal, by far the largest of which is Gleyber Torres' $14.2 million.

Oh, whatever, whatever will we do?!

Wait, wait! A plan—a bold plan, an audacious plan—has just occurred to me! It's nuts, I know...BUT HEAR ME OUT!

What if...we traded Gleyber immediately, and gave Soto as much as the $14.2 mill as necessary to keep him here???

There. Fixed it. 





23 comments:

  1. Hoss:

    Bought book immediately. Saved it. Took it with me (and wife) to the beach.

    Yeah, a vacation from my retirement. I love the sound of the ocean out my window. Grew up a 20min walk from Coney Island (and we walked EVERYWHERE in my youth). Of course we sometimes took the subway, and then walked.

    The first two dozen pages are, as everyone has said, wonderful. I'm looking forward to the rest, hope to finish before returning to my hum-drum fully retired life.

    I would have sent this to your e-mail, but could not find it.

    -- Apologies to the group for intruding with this private message. --

    JOE

    ReplyDelete
  2. Couldn't they just chuck Gleyber off the GWB? They could even sell tickets. Set up a few concession stands. You know, make a spectacle of it and earn a little extra cabbage at the same time?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sell special one-time heavily logoed Gleyber jerseys? Gleyber was hurled off the GWB, and all I got was this limited edition jersey?

    And the satisfaction of never seeing Gleyber in pinstripes ever again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unless Cole's arm falls off completely, he'll opt out at the end of the year. Yanks can add another year to keep him, but I say let him go and put all that money towards Soto. The odds of Cole being worth 30+ mill a year is very doubtful beyond perhaps two more years vs Soto who'll probably be worth it for at least 7 years.

    ReplyDelete
  5. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Vanity is also that hot babe who hung out with Prince, isn't she? Hubba hubba.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Back to back and a belly to belly…

    ReplyDelete
  8. It’s time for Home Run Derby…

    ReplyDelete
  9. Back to back to back and belly to belly to belly and … what? Boob to boob to boob?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rizzo used to be a gold glover at 1B. He’s more of a detriment now. He ran all the way over in front of Torres to field a grounder.
    This isn’t little league.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hoss, your comment regarding Hal sent some old Scotch shooting from my nose! God, I only wish that I had seen it! Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  12. 8-0? What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hoss,

    Your book is indeed outstanding. Is one about the master in development?

    And I hope to be able to retrieve your interview from the interwebs. By the by, HAL's answer to your question is "as many as I can sucker the taxpayers into funding." But you knew that.

    PS:
    Fuck HAL and fuck Ca$hole with HAL's severed pencil neck.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rufus: https://tv.cuny.edu/homepage/show/nytcloseup/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hoss,

    Great interview! One mquestion on your financial analysis of HAL's sideline -- Do these numbers *just* include stadium revenue or also YES, Starr insurance, licensing, etc., etc.? I'd guess the Yankee brand brings in much more.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "You can't just milk the fans all the time in every way."

    BRILLIANT HOSS!

    But I fear they can. PT Barnum was right.

    ReplyDelete
  17. If Hal did not HATE baseball, "unsustainable" would not even enter the conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lost in the shuffle is Hoss's description of us huckleberries, "My fellow Sterlings"!

    To paraphrase the esteemed Mr. Taggert: "God darn it, Mr. Hoss, you use your tongue prettier than a 20-dollar whore."

    ReplyDelete
  19. Great interview with Sam Roberts! Loved your historical perspective of the game. Perhaps you can do a book signing at Yankees Stadium?

    ReplyDelete

Members of the blog can comment. To receive an e-mailed invitation, write to johnandsuzyn@gmail.com. And check spam if it doesn't show up. (Google account required.)

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.