At the owner's meeting in Arizona, Hal Steinbrenner said the Yankees aren't done adding pieces this offseason. How significant will the pieces be? He didn't say, but he continues to be keen on keeping payroll down by 2014 and for years to come.
Credit the Post's Ken Davidoff's Twitter feed for the quotes.
1) On the rest of the offseason.
"We’ve got some work to do, still," Steinbrenner said. "We need another bat. We’re not done yet."
The Yankees are pursuing a trade for Michael Morse. They have had talks about Vernon Wells and, while pessimistic, they still could be players for Scott Hairston.
2) On anger from fans who feel he is not spending like his old man.
"I’m surprised to hear that there’s anger, if you see what we’ve done this offseason," Steinbrenner said.
The Yankees have retained Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda and Ichiro Suzuki. They have signed Kevin Youkilis to a one-year deal. They have picked up Matt Diaz and Russ Canzler on flyers.
3) He addressed if falling below $189M is a one-year thing.
"I believe that you don’t have to have a $220-million payroll to win a championship," Steinbrenner said.
In other words, Hal would like to lower the payroll for good. Fans might not like it, but, in theory, $189M should be enough. The problem is the $189M is going to be eaten up by long-term, big money contracts for regressing players. Not sure how many rings you win that way, but we'll see.
Question: What do you think of Hal's comments?
