The Yankees Have Fans Scratching Their Heads With An Underwhelming Off-season

Anthony Rizzo signed 2-year deal with #Yankees for 30-35 million.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 16, 2022

Anthony Rizzo signed with the Yankees yesterday on a two-year, $35 million deal and the move left fans underwhelmed. Rizzo is a nice player, but considering fan’s expectations coming into offseason after a 2021 season under the $210 million tax, management certainly could’ve done more.

Yankees talking heads (including myself) went off after USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the Rizzo signing.

Don’t ever let a Yankees fan convince you it’s a bad idea to pair Carlos Correa with Anthony Volpe for the next decade. We can root for the kid to be amazing while also hedging our bet with Hal Steinbrenner’s money 🤷🏽‍♂️

— Gary Sheffield Jr. (@GarysheffieldJr) March 16, 2022

To put it in perspective:

Rizzo isn’t a bad player. The Yankees aren’t a bad team.

But when you:

•Were the 5 seed by 1 game
•Got embarrassed @ Fenway in WC
•Have prime Cole/Judge/Stanton
•Re-set the luxury tax

This all just feels very underwhelming

— Stanzo (@ncostanzo24) March 16, 2022

The #Yankees payroll is around 250 million right now, Hal has spent. Look at the roster construction of this team. Lol you tell me who the problem is?

— Pete Simonetti (@SimonettiSource) March 16, 2022

Yankees twitter is one Brett Gardner announcement away from a meltdown

— NYYGirl (@jdun1031) March 16, 2022

As NYYNEWSTV’s Pete Simonetti tweeted, the Yankees’ current payroll sits at roughly $250 million. And what’s worse is the best anyone paid to cover baseball can say about the team is that they improved ‘marginally’, and that’s unacceptable for a team now north of the tax threshold. They piled on to the payroll yet the team still isn’t considered a favorite in their own division.

So fans are wondering who’s to blame for this Yankees off-season? Is it the man pulling the strings in general manager Brian Cashman that ultimately decided to trade Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela for 36-year-old former MVP Josh Donaldson and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa? Or is it ownership that’s letting the fans down? The theory buzzing around Twitter is that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has been the driving force of the Yankees’ downfall. His strange leadership has been compared to his late father George Steinbrenner, who was known for his free-spending and fiery leadership.

Steinbrenner’s comments today about why he’s not spending like Mets owner Steve Cohen are playing a large role as to why:

Asked about Yankees not signing a top SS/1B, Hal Steinbrenner mentions having two top SS prospects, the impact of COVID-19 on finances and other factors: “A lot of things play into it, but I consider everything.”

— Greg Joyce (@GJoyce9) March 16, 2022

After mentioning prospects that could play shortstop in the near future and COVID’s impact on finances, Hal laid out all the factors that’s causing the Yankees to lay off the spending throttle.

“A lot of things play into it, but I consider everything,” Hal Steinbrenner said.

Not good if you’re a Yankees fan that had to deal with the same Covid financial issues their favorite team’s owner claims deterred their future rosters. The difference is that Steinbrenner owns a $5 billion cash cow of an organization and the crosstown rival New York Mets are spending $271 million already. Did Steve Cohen not deal with those same financial limitations? An embarrassing statement to say the least that needs to be walked back immediately.

The New York Yankees, by most, were expected to be heavy players in the markets for superstars Carlos Correa and Freddie Freeman. They’re now sifting through the trade market for arms to back up Gerrit Cole in that rotation. Life really hit Yankees fans fast ahead of spring training. What a dud.