With the signing of Zach Britton, the Yankees are slightly above the luxury tax threshold; will they stay there?

Last night, the Yankees announced that bullpen lug nut Zach Britton will stay in Pinstripes for at least the next two years. In a thumb-sucker of a deal, he'll make $13 million per season and - if the Yankees push the button - could stay through 2022. (If they don't invoke their option, he becomes a free agent after two seasons. Jeeze, who wrote this deal, MC Escher?)

According to the scribbled numbers on my gin-soaked cocktail napkin, this puts the Yankees about $4 million over the MLB's de facto payroll cap - (pretty much the same cap that a players union once went on strike to defeat.) But they could slither back underneath it by trading Sonny Gray for a handful of magic beans. 

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... we have reached the hallowed gates of Levittown. 

We will soon know if owner Hal "Food Stamps" Steinbrenner intends to pull over and settle here, or step on the gas pedal and start acting like the New York fucking Yankees. 

Will Hal keep his roster below the MLB luxury tax threshold, and basically field the same team that won last year's Wild Card? Or will he do what the Yankees used to do - and intimated they would do for the last two years - which is use their self-imposed austerity to sign a top free agent, such as Manny Machado, Bryce Harper or Dallas Keuchel? 

Folks, we are about to gaze directly into the soul of the franchise, as it will probably exist for the rest of our lifetimes. (Yankee owner, like the U.S. Supreme Court, seems to be a lifetime appointment.) Above all else, does Hal want to win, or does he want to make more money? Of course, he'll claim to want both - but his words ring hollow when the Redsocks outspend us by $30 million. 

Even with Britton - a nice addition, overall - the 2019 Yankees have major issues. They need another starting pitcher. They need a LH bat. And, as a commentator recently noted on this site, considering Troy Tulowitzi's age, (34) an infield of Andujar, Tulo, Gleyber and Voit might just be the worst fielding infield in Yankee history. 

So, they can buy a free agent with their nearly endless supply of money. Or they can trade Miguel Andujar - their best 3B prospect since Mike Lowell, (and we know how that turned out) - and pull from what is a very finite pool of talent. 

It's simple: Spend the money, which you have... or trade the prospects, which are thinning out.  

I get it that Hal doesn't want another Jacoby Ellsbury. Nobody does. And if Bryce and Manny insist on Cano-esque, 100-year deals - well - fuck'em. But Boston has been quiet recently - too quiet. One of these days, they will splurge on a replacement for Craig Kimbrel, or maybe something much more frightening. Their owner has made his intentions clear: Winning is the object, and they are working toward a dynasty. 

Today, with the exception of Andrew McCutcheon in LF and David Robertson in the bullpen, the Yankees basically have reassembled last year's Wild Card team. (James Paxton remains his own wild card, of sorts, but losing Justus Sheffield is not nuthin'.) The question is: Will Hal settle for second place in these free agent auctions... and second place in the AL East? We will soon know the answer, and it might not be pretty.