PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — With Camelback Mountain presenting a breathtaking backdrop at the Sanctuary resort, Hal Steinbrenner stopped for a couple of reporters before departing the Major League Baseball owners’ meetings, and painted a prettier picture than many Yankees fans are envisioning.
The Yankees’ managing general partner expressed faith in his team’s offseason activity to date and in its ability to contend, starting in 2014, with a diminished payroll. He also offered a tiny escape hatch to those who are consumed by that falling payroll:
“All I can continue to tell everyone is our commitment to the fans is never going to change. We will always field a championship-caliber team,” Steinbrenner told The Post and the Wall Street Journal Thusday — in his first interview since before the 2012 playoffs began. “Is our goal [a $189 million payroll] next year? Yes. But [we’ll go that low] only if I’m convinced if the team I see, that we’ve put together, is a championship-caliber team.”
For those who saw an opening, a retreat, team insiders remain steadfast in their belief that, a year from now, the Yankees’ payroll will indeed sit beneath $189 million, even if the team misses the playoffs in 2013.
There is unusual unrest among Yankees fans, a notion of which Steinbrenner admitted he was not fully aware.
“I’m surprised to hear that there’s anger, if you see what we’ve done this offseason,” he said. “We’ve signed three or four of the top free agents that were on the market, because we’re going to continue to field a championship-caliber team.”
He was referring to Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Ichiro Suzuki and Kevin Youkilis, although he also said, “We’ve got some work to do, still. We need another bat. We’re not done yet.”
The Nationals’ Michael Morse, whom Washington could trade, interests the Yankees, but there aren’t too many other intriguing hitters available.
The key for both 2013 success and 2014 budget-meeting, Steinbrenner stressed, was the team’s younger players.
“The young players that have stepped up are going to have to continue to do so,” Steinbrenner said, “and some of the ones that haven’t yet are going to have to.”
He mentioned pitcher David Phelps as an example of the former group and pitchers Manny Banuelos and Michael Pineda, both of whom experienced disastrous 2012 campaigns, as part of the latter group.
The $189 million goal came from the collective bargaining agreement that went into effect last season. The raising of the luxury-tax threshold to $189 million for 2014 means that the Yankees could pay no extra fees next year, then reset their tax to a considerably lower level (17.5 percent, as opposed to 40 percent) for 2015 and beyond.
But Steinbrenner said $189 million is not a one-year goal.
“I believe that you don’t have to have a $220 million payroll to win a world championship,” he said. “And you shouldn’t have to.”
Citing the team’s considerable expenses, from a revenue-sharing bill to debt service and the bonds around new Yankee Stadium, plus the payroll, he said the team wants to increase its profit. Nevertheless, Steinbrenner reiterated, “We’re always going to be in the top of the rung when it comes to player payroll, as we always have been.”
What else? Steinbrenner expressed little concern over the highly publicized abundance of unoccupied seats at Yankee Stadium last October: “The empty seats in the playoffs were due to a variety of reasons, quite frankly. The schedule, Stub Hub, things like that. A lot of tickets being available shortly before the game. We didn’t know we were going to be in [the ALCS]. Obviously we went to Game 5 in the first series [against Baltimore]. You’ve got the next game the day after. It was challenging. It was concerning but challenging to get through.”
He said there has been “no real, significant dialogue” between the Yankees and Robinson Cano concerning an extension; Cano can become a free agent after this season.
“I’m not a big believer in extensions, but there are exceptions to every rule,” Steinbrenner said. “So we’ll see what happens.”
The same policy applies to manager Joe Girardi, who is entering the last year of his deal. Nevertheless, Steinbrenner expressed no displeasure with his manager.
“Last year, nobody’s happy with the end result,” Steinbrenner said of the team’s ALCS sweep at the hands of Detroit. “But we still had a hell of a record and a hell of a season, in my opinion. And I’m proud of that. But I’m not proud about where we ended up, believe me.”
On that last sentiment, Yankees fans will agree.
* Also at the owners’ meetings, commissioner Bud Selig announced the owners and players have agreed to intensify the game’s drug-testing program. Players now will be tested for human growth hormone during the season, and all players will have their Testosterone/Epitestosterone ratio measured regularly, to better detect testosterone usage.