The New York Yankees were criticized last winter for behaving much more like one of their chief rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, than a team once led by free-spending owner George Steinbrenner. While the rest of the major leagues committed more than $3 billion on superbly talented free agents, the Yankees took an uncharacteristically austere approach and largely sat out the spending spree.
General manager Brian Cashman shrugged as potential targets like Carlos Correa and Freddie Freeman signed elsewhere. “We’re prepared to go with what we have here,” he insisted during spring training, echoing the sentiments of his boss—Hal Steinbrenner, the son of George—who previously described this version of the Yankees as “championship caliber.