Yanks slapped with luxury tax, again

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This year’s bill: $23,880,000. On the bright side, this is the second consecutive year the Yanks lowered their luxury tax input, having paid out $26,000,000 last year and a whooping $33,980,000 back in 2005. Old pal Roger Clemens tacked on $6,980,000 to the luxury tax bill all by his lonesome, and since 2002 the Yanks have paid $121,600,000 in luxury tax penalties. That’s alotta cheddar. 

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Clemens takes to the Internets
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  • Harry

    Damn Old-Ass Clemens… We paid $6 million for six wins…

  • Jamal G.

    And yet people hate us and say we’re bad for baseball…

  • JRVJ

    If I understand the luxury cap correctly, the Yanks paid a little bit less in luxury tax this season because the threshold went up $8MM (in essence, the Yanks were at the same place as last year, but the thresshold went up).

    I haven’t done the math, but off the top of my head, when you substract Clemens’ salary, plus transfers for Jaret Wright ($4MM to the Orioles) and for Randy Johnson (I forget the exact sum, but a little money went the Arizona way), and then add Hawkins plus raises to Mariano, Posada and A-Rod (plus to Cano and Wang), the Yankees will still end up with about $10MM less in payroll this year.

    And next year, at least $46.5MM come of the books ($17MM for Giambi, $11M for Mussina, $10MM for Pavano, $5MM for Farnsworth and $3.5 MM for Hawkings – neither of which I believe the Yankees will keep), and up to $32MM extra depending on what happens with Pettitte and Abreu.

    So if Santana/Sabathia and Texeira are available in the 2008/2009 off-season, the Yanks can still pony up about $35MM (say $20MM for Santana and $15MM for Texeira) and DECREASE their payroll by a nice chunk (plus the thresshold goes up an extra $8MM and the Yanks get revenue sharing relief for the new Yankee Stadium).

    If I were the agent for Santana, I would be telling my client not to even think about accepting a trade. And if I’m the agent for Sabathia or Texeira, I’d be telling them not to sign any extensions and head for FA.

  • barry

    In the end Yankee spending helps baseball.

    • Realist

      Sad isn’t it? The NYY keep helping those who REFUSE to pony up an are still the bad guys…lol ;-)!

  • usty

    Ha…it’s not like the Yankees are paying for it…they passed that right on to the fans for the season ticket plans. My section 11, row U seats went from 18 to 27 dollars this year. That’s insane to me. Apparently now I’m a tier reserved MVP….it’s ridiculous.