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Despite rising fan unrest and the looming possibility of a salary cap or some other reformation of Major League Baseball’s economic structure, the Yankees are attempting to maintain “business as usual.”
GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone held an end-of-season press conference Thursday afternoon, a session again rife with disappointment as the Yankees finished a 16th straight non-championship season, and sought to keep the focus on fixing the current team—with the same core group of players and within the current fiscal model.
“That’s above my pay grade,” Cashman said when asked whether he was planning for future seasons with a potential salary cap or elevated luxury-tax rates in mind. “It’s business as usual as far as I’m concerned. Every time I’ve ever dealt with [Yankees managing general partner] Hal Steinbrenner, he’s always, ‘Bring whatever to me,’ … and that’s how we’ll continue to roll.”
The league’s current labor deal with the MLB Players Association expires after the 2026 season, and while MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last month at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit that no bargaining positions have been finalized, the union fears that the owners will pursue a salary cap. MLB commissioner emeritus Bud Selig, meanwhile, has extolled with FOS and with others the virtues of a cap used elsewhere in pro sports.
“I’m thinking about ’26, not ’27,” Cashman said.
The Yankees’ season ended last week with the American League Division Series defeat to the Blue Jays. The club’s current streak without a World Series win, despite a $319.2 million luxury-tax payroll that ranked third in Major League Baseball behind the Dodgers and Mets, is the third-longest such run in the franchise’s celebrated history.
Tough Choices Ahead
There is relatively limited payroll flexibility for the Yankees as five of the team’s highest-paid players—star outfielder Aaron Judge, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, and starting pitchers Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, and Max Fried—are each locked up through at least 2027, and that quintet of players alone will be paid $147.3 million next year.
Overall, the Yankees already have $191 million committed in payroll for next season, before any free agency, arbitration, or option decisions are rendered. Cole is slated to return after missing all of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. Rodón, meanwhile, is set to be out of action for about the first month of the 2026 season after a recent procedure to shave down a bone spur.
The Yankees’ budgeting for next season will be set in the coming months as the free-agent market evolves.
Cashman, meanwhile, acknowledged the fan frustration that is circling around the team as the championship drought continues, and he said he shares that feeling.
“We’re just as hungry, just as disappointed [as the fans],” Cashman said. “That’s really the message. … We didn’t earn the right to move forward. It’s as simple as that.”
