While the rest of the league dives into its annual offseason bidding wars, the New York Yankees, baseball’s longtime financial juggernaut, are tapping the brakes. Hal Steinbrenner’s insistence on keeping the 2025 payroll under $300 million has raised a jarring question across the fanbase: how did the franchise once feared as the sport’s “Evil Empire” end up sounding like a team counting every dollar?

However, for 4 Train Savages podcast hosts Tyler Vieux and Rob Schlatts, the explanation is simple. It all comes down to ownership prioritizing profit, and eventually, Steinbrenner is to blame.

“But now you’ve got all these guys who have way too much money buying these franchises, and where the Yankees were once the big fish in the little pond. They’re now just one of the other fish in terms

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