Now that the offseason is upon us, it’s time to speculate about what the Yankees will do to improve the team. They spent last season penny pinching in an effort to get under the luxury tax threshold, and that dictated their every move. In the end, they accomplished that goal. The penalties for going over that threshold would be significantly lower this year. Does that mean that Hal Steinbrenner intends to let Brian Cashman go on a spending spree? Maybe.

When asked about pending free agent Manny Machado, Steinbrenner had this to say:

“We’re going to leave no stone unturned. Every single option that comes across my desk I’m going to be considering. I don’t know who that is or who that isn’t. We haven’t begun that process yet.”

That sounds somewhat promising. If you had asked me two weeks ago, I might have said that I’d rather them focus all of their efforts on starting pitchers and pass on Machado — especially if their goal is to stay under the tax threshold again. However, with the sad Didi Gregorius surgery news that broke Friday, the idea of adding Machado makes a lot of sense. Depending on what they decide to do with Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar, they need to find either a second baseman or a shortstop, and possibly a third baseman too.

Hal also acknowledged that starting pitching was a serious issue during the postseason. If the Yankees are willing to spend, there’s no reason that they can’t have Machado and sign some of the top free agent pitchers who will be available. On the other hand, I don’t trust that Hal is going to let Cashman go over the tax threshold ever again.

He also said this on “The Michael Kay Show” on Friday:

“We’re going to do our best to field a championship-caliber team every single year. This coming year is going to be no different than last.”

Can’t you just hear him saying that they won 100 games and made it to the ALDS while staying under the luxury tax threshold, thus proving that you don’t have to spend to win? Why get starting pitchers when you can have Justus Sheffield/Domingo German/Jonathan Loaisiga/Chance Adams compete for two spots during a spring training competition?! (I sincerely hope they don’t do this.)

It’s a long offseason, and now we get to sit back and see what unfolds. Do you think the Yankees will have a big offseason spending-wise, or will we see them stay under the tax threshold once again? Let us know in the comments.