Hal Steinbrenner Willing To Spend Even Further Into Luxury Tax to Improve Yankees This Season

It's no secret that the New York Yankees are going to be very active on the trade market ahead of the trade deadline this July. In fact, they already made a splash this week adding AL home run leader Edwin Encarnacion to an already potent lineup. The Bronx Bombers flexed their financial might in the deal, outbidding the Astros and Rays through their willingness to take on payroll.

As the Yankees look to improve their first-place squad further, they will no doubt have to take on even more salary as they search for a big-time starting pitcher. Though the team has been hesitant to overspend in recent years, majority owner Hal Steinbrenner told reporters that he is willing to pay the MLB's highest luxury tax penalty to improve their chances at another World Series title.

This certainly bolds well for the Yanks, who are still looking to upgrade their starting rotation as they head towards the second half of the season.

Of course, there is very good reason to believe in this team. The Yankees lead the AL East by 2.5 games coming into Wednesday's action despite missing star players like Aaron Judge and Luis Severino for varying significant amount of time, as well as the recently returned Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton.

The team has plenty of talent, but the Yankees certainly have the resources both in prospects and cold, hard cash to acquire a starting pitcher like Madison Bumgarner or Trevor Bauer. Could the willingness to take on such significant salary even sway the Nationals to deal Max Scherzer? It could be possible, but perhaps not entirely realistic.

In any event, the Steinbrenners winning to spend means Brian Cashman has no restrictions when it comes to upgrading the team. That's grim news for the rest of baseball's would-be contenders.