For Yankees fans, arguably the biggest question surrounding the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been the Competitive Balance Tax, more commonly known as the luxury tax. In recent years, the Yankees have treated the luxury tax as a quasi-cap, one that sometimes they were willing to exceed (as they did to sign Gerrit Cole after the 2019 season), and sometimes one that they treated as an NFL-style cap (as they did in 2021 when they traded Luis Cessa to the Reds in order to shed Justin Wilson’s $2.85 million salary).
With major free agents like Carlos Correa and Freddie Freeman still available and a large extension for Aaron Judge looming — or, quite possibly, a smaller but sizeable one for Joey Gallo — it’s easy to see why the CBT is particularly relevant in Yankees Universe at the moment.