Brian Cashman Said There's No Directive To Stay Under The Luxury Tax This Offseason - Now Go Be The Fucking New York Yankees
The term "luxury tax" has been shoved down Yankees fans throats for the last few years. It's the worst thing you can possibly hear as a fan. After the 2017 season, Hal Steinbrenner asked his GM Brian Cashman to get them under the $197 million luxury tax threshold so that they could reset their 50% repeater tax that they had been paying since 2003. That tax cost them $319.6 million total over time. Hal wanted to reset that number and Cash did as he was told. Coming into 2019 the objective was still the same: get under the tax, now at $206 million. This time Cash was unable to do so and went over by $28 mill, triggering the 20% tax. Still, no blood.
Now as we kick off the GM meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona Cash has come out and said there is no mandate to get under the tax. There are no strings on Brian Cashman. He's free. I think part of this is because Ellsbury and Tanaka are off the books after this season, freeing up quite a bit of money. Whatever it is, it's about goddamn time. You want to charge me $20 for a beer and a hot dog at a game? Go spend money during free agency. And I'm not talking about signing Tanner Roark to sure up the back end of the rotation. No, throw fuck you money at Gerrit Cole and get this team the ace it deserves. Get a guy that teams are terrified of when he steps on the mound.
There are big fish to get and he has no restraints to do his job. I've waited years to hear this shit. There's no excuse now. Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg are out there. You are the New York Yankees. Go be the New York Yankees. Go get this team a bonafide ace. Cole/Strasburg Severino Tanaka Paxton King/Schmidt/Garcia. Championship.