(AP)
The Yankees are not going after C.J. Wilson or Mark Buehrle because they do not like the costs especially in 2014.
To understand the Yankees’ current thinking, you must understand that no team stands to lose or gain more from the newly agreed upon collective bargaining agreement.
Yes, the Yankees have talked boldly about tightening their budget before and turned out to be rich, hungry kids in a candy store unable to keep their hands off the goodies. So they re-signed Alex Rodriguez after saying they wouldn’t if he opted out of his contract, and bought Mark Teixeira after months spent saying he didn’t fit their payroll, and overpaid Rafael Soriano after vowing he was not worth even losing a draft pick.
So maybe they will break again this time. But as an organization, they are saying they are driven to have a payroll of $189 million or less in 2014 when that becomes the luxury tax threshold. Because the incentives that come via the new CBA are just too great for them to ignore.
For if they are at $189 million or less for the three seasons from 2014-16, they not only avoid paying one cent in luxury tax, which would rise to 50 percent for them as repeat offenders, but they also would get roughly $40 million in savings via the to-be-implemented market disqualification revenue sharing program. However, only teams under the luxury-tax threshold get reimbursed in this program, which is designed to prevent big markets such as Toronto and Washington from receiving revenue sharing dollars, which in turn will lower how much teams such as the Yanks pay (as long as they are under the threshold).
And even if they just went under $189 million for 2014 before going over again in 2015, the Yankees would receive serious benefits. They would get about $10 million in the revenue sharing disqualification program. Also, by simply going under the threshold once, the Yankees would go back to having a 17.5 percent tax rather than the 50 percent that begins in 2014 for them if they never go under. Keep in mind that since the luxury tax went to 40 percent for them in 2005, the Yankees have averaged paying $25.75 million in tax annually.
So we are talking about the kind of money returned or saved that even the Yankees can’t ignore and they are not. It would be one thing to add to the 2014-and-beyond payrolls by inking great players to long-term deals if, say, a Felix Hernandez were available. But the Yankees do not see Wilson or Buehrle in that way; in fact, they see Wilson as no better than a No. 3 starter. So unless Buehrle’s demands drop to the two-year range and an executive involved in talks with the lefty says the asking price currently is three years at $45 million or more then the Yankees are not in on him or Wilson, who is seeking a five- or six-year deal at more than $100 million.
This would mean the only big shot the Yankees fire this offseason already has occurred, with their CC Sabathia retention/extension. It also means they will be bystanders as organizations such as the Marlins and Blue Jays dominate the Winter Meetings, which begin tomorrow.
“We get the eye roll when we tell teams or agents or the media [that the Yankees have financial parameters],” one team official said. They don’t have to believe us. They will see with our actions.
Over the next two years, contracts for players like A.J. Burnett, Soriano and Derek Jeter expire. At this moment, the Yankees have Rodriguez, Sabathia and Teixeira signed for the 2014 season and, for luxury-tax purposes, they cost $74.4 million combined. Every team also is assessed about a $10 million charge for benefits, such as pensions. Plus any bonuses earned, such as the $5 million milestones A-Rod will receive for hitting various historic homers, also count toward the luxury-tax payroll.
In addition, the Yankees do not control either Robinson Cano or Curtis Granderson beyond the 2013 season and would have to either sign them long term (likely at $20 million or more annually) or find replacements. Also, the Yankees still may be trying to shoehorn Jeter and Mariano Rivera into a budget.
So you see how the dollars mount. Still, internally the Yankees are confident they would continue to have the highest payroll and a championship-contending club in the $180 million-plus range.
But it also explains why they are more fervent about retaining their better (think low-cost) prospects such as Jesus Montero and Manuel Banuelos. As one Yankees executive said, “Why do you think Cash is talking so much about Hector Noesi for next year and not Wilson or [Yu] Darvish?”
In fact, the Yankees currently project their luxury tax payroll at $194 million, with most of that allocated to 11 signed players (roughly $169 million) and around $17 million more projected to six arbitration-eligible players, including Russell Martin and Phil Hughes. The Yankees are serious enough about wanting to keep their payroll at around $200 million that they did not pick up the $2 million option on erratic former first-round pick Andrew Brackman. But that payroll goal also limits their maneuverability now.
This is why Yankees executives said of their pursuit of major free agents: The big-name guys are a waste of time. We are not spending that kind of money.
When I inquired about Jeremy Affeldt, who has been made available by the Giants and could fill a lefty relief role for the Yankees, a team official said his $5 million price tag was too high. A competing executive told me last week that the Yankees were keeping regular contact with David Ortiz’s agent, but one Yankees official called that ludicrous, explaining the team had limited funds and would not allocate them toward an area it already has filled.
Thus, the Yankees will be looking particularly for starters who are relatively cost effective and do not have commitments beyond 2013. For example, the White Sox’s John Danks is a free agent after this season and the Cubs’ Matt Garza is a free agent after the 2013 campaign. But, for now, those teams’ asking prices are too large for the Yankees, especially because they do value their cost-effective prospects more than ever as they keep their eye on the $189-million-or-less goal for 2014.
This is why when pushed on Yankees expectations for the Winter Meetings, one team executive said: “I don’t think we’ll do anything.”
joel.sherman@nypost.com