Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner yesterday in radio interviews on WFAN-AM and ESPN Radio 98.7 N.Y. "seemed to make some attempts to reassure apprehensive Yankee fans by maintaining that the team would like to have a payroll of under $189 million next season 'but not at the expense of building a championship-caliber team,'" according to Jay Schreiber of the N.Y. TIMES. Getting under the $189M luxury-tax threshold in '14 "would provide significant savings for the Yankees." Steinbrenner on WFAN said reaching that figure is "a goal we take seriously" (NYTIMES.com, 10/8). In N.Y., Joel Sherman writes he has "yet to speak to an executive in the industry who doesn’t believe the Yanks’ payroll will fall under the threshold next year." Steinbrenner said of the possibility of saving approximately $100M by going under the threshold, "It is a significant, significant number that will be at our disposal rather than for other teams. It is a very big number." Steinbrenner when asked about his passion for the job said, "How much is dictated that I am not visually passionate like George was? And I don’t do some of the things he did and act some of the ways he acted. How much of that is a factor (in the impression he doesn’t love the job). But I do enjoy this job. It is a tough job. It is a challenging job. Have I been known to throw a shoe at a TV? Oh, yeah. But my personality is I don’t like to show emotion publicly. The passion is there, but it wells inside." He added of a possible sale of the Yankees, "There are no plans to do that. There are no talks about doing that. We want to win another championship; that is what we want do" (N.Y. POST, 10/9).
EMPLOYEE RETENTION: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Daniel Barbarisi cites sources as saying that the Yankees have made manager Joe Girardi a "significant offer, believed to be" in the $12-15M range. Steinbrenner said that there are "limits to the Yankees' pursuit" of free agent 2B Robinson Cano and that "the 10-year-deal Cano is reportedly seeking isn't in the team's plans." Steinbrenner: "I don't feel that this organization is ready to do something like that" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/9).
