Levine on adding payroll at the trade deadline: “We’re the Yankees”

Via Andy McCullough: Team president Randy Levine indicated ownership is willing to add payroll if necessary to complete a move at the trade deadline. “We’re the Yankees. We’re always active. We’re always trying to get better,” he said. “We’ll leave that to [Brian Cashman]. We’ll see where the team is, what’s the best move, what do we really need, what players are coming back, when are they coming back … We’re going to do everything we can to try and win.”

The Yankees opened the season with an all-time high $230.4M payroll, but a huge chunk is eaten up by injured players. The team has recouped a bunch of Mark Teixeira’s salary from the World Baseball Classic and insurance, and some of that money was already spent on Vernon Wells. New York has a laundry list of needs and, frankly, if they were unable to add payroll at the deadline, their hands would be tied and they wouldn’t be able to do anything other than trade Phil Hughes to clear up about $2.5-3M. Adding payroll is pretty much a must at this point if they want to improve the team.