Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 665 - 18: Butterfly Effect_2

To maximize personal interests, he often deliberately kept the team's operating costs near the luxury tax line multiple times, and then chose to watch when the team needed reinforcements;

And when he had the chance to sign top stars in the market, Hal often chose low-cost solutions from a long-term operational perspective, but in the end, it made the team mediocre—The Yankees haven't spent less money in the past five years, yet they haven't won a single playoff game, largely due to Hal Steinbrenner's management style.

Perhaps the Yankees under Hal Steinbrenner are indeed financially healthy, but this has never been something a Yankee should focus on—The New York Yankees don't need so-called sustainable development; they should always be an unstoppable championship machine.

"Okay, I roughly understand—let's conclude today's meeting here."

After sending off his professional management team, Hal Steinbrenner lay back on the boss's chair in the conference room, staring at the ceiling in deep thought.

The Yankees fans guessed right; he indeed planned to have the team's general manager, Cashman, start cutting the budget after this season, aiming to reduce the current total payroll of $224.2 million to below $195 million to avoid tens of millions of dollars in fines.

But now, his thoughts have changed a bit; and the butterfly causing a ripple effect is Lin Guanglai, who just joined the team this year.

Hal Steinbrenner regarded the Yankees as his family business, and he himself as a businessman; since he is a businessman, he should speak in business terms.

Before Lin Guanglai chose to join the Yankees, the reason he chose to cut the team's budget was simple:

A fine of around $15 million is just a sprinkle for a century-old giant like the Yankees, but Hal Steinbrenner doesn't like to waste money meaninglessly;

He is not a fanatical fan like his late father, and the Yankees team to him is more like a business rather than a hobby, everything has to be based on a sustainable healthy operation perspective—Since paying over $10 million in fines cannot bring a championship to the team, it is better to just let it be, further tightening operating costs and maintaining it within a more controllable range.

But Lin Guanglai's joining changed everything, the most important being the incredibly significant economic effect:

In the recent meeting, based on the analysis by his own professional management team, as the top baseball star in East Asia, just the authorization and peripherals after Lin Guanglai joined the team could bring more than $20 million a year in revenue to the Yankees;

And the Japanese sponsors who came to negotiate cooperation because of Lin Guanglai himself and the Yankees' legacy are also willing to spend a fortune to put up an advertising sign at Yankee Stadium, expecting to bring in more than $30 million in revenue—this is just Lin Guanglai's first season in the Major League. If he wins more awards personally and the Yankees achieve greater success, this number is conservatively estimated to double;

In addition, the television broadcasting rights of Yankees games in East Asia, the significantly increased audience numbers and ratings when Lin Guanglai starts, and a large number of Asian tourists coming to New York because of him can create political and economic effects that Hal Steinbrenner cannot ignore.

As a businessman, having already gained such huge benefits and being certain of even more astonishing returns in the future, Hal Steinbrenner naturally had no reason to give it up.

According to the current contract, the Yankees can only keep Lin Guanglai for six years. After six years, he will become a complete free agent and will be eligible to sign contracts with any team.

In that case, a crucial question arises: What stakes should the New York Yankees use to keep Lin Guanglai and the huge benefits that surround him?

The answer seems obvious, or rather, besides the honor of a world championship and the corresponding hype, the Yankees don't seem to have any extra chips. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"So, in the end, it still comes down to consistently maintaining competitiveness and being the strongest contender for the world championship every year…" Having reached the answer, Hal Steinbrenner sighed, "Modern baseball, to win a championship you have to spend a lot of money, yet spending a lot of money doesn't necessarily win a championship; it could actually lead the team into prolonged downturns… it's really quite a dilemma…"

Hal Steinbrenner felt he needed some more time to think about it.

"By the way, if I'm not mistaken, the team should be playing an away game against the Red Sox now, right? Let me see how they're performing first…" At the thought of the game taking place at Fenway Park, even Hal Steinbrenner, who is not particularly passionate about baseball, became anxious.

When he turned on his phone and connected to the live broadcast signal, the game had already reached the bottom of the eighth inning; and the current score was—

"4:4! The Boston Red Sox, they've scored another run in this half inning!! Beautiful !!!" The commentator from the Boston local radio station burst into enthusiastic cheers, "In a critical moment when trailing by two runs with two outs and a man on third base, Mookie Betts stepped up again—in the first inning where we lost three runs, we've tenaciously tied the score! Long live the Red Sox!"

With a single swing from Mookie Betts piercing the Yankees' infield defense and sending the teammate on third base home, the stands at Fenway Park erupted in the most enthusiastic cheers of the day, as those banners cursing the Yankees waved once again, sparkling in the Boston night.

"Well done, guys, I knew you could do it—next, let's keep the momentum going and completely defeat those proud Yankees!" When the Red Sox players returned to the dugout, John Farrell smiled and high-fived them, obviously very satisfied with the team's performance—after losing three runs in the first inning and falling behind by a maximum score of 0:4, the Red Sox, who never gave up, steadily and surely tied the score at the bottom of the eighth inning.

On the other hand, in the Yankees' bullpen, the atmosphere seemed somewhat silent: being caught up in a four-run lead by their arch-rivals, the players must be feeling pretty bad right now, even if Joe Girardi tried his best to comfort them and take all the responsibility on himself, it didn't have much effect.

And those Yankees fans gathered in Stan Sports Bar were probably feeling the same way at the moment, only unlike the players with some reservations, they could freely express their emotions with swear words.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—what is Girardi doing? Sevy should have been taken out after pitching six innings, he's not a pitcher like Lin with particularly strong stamina, why not bring in the bullpen for support instead of letting him face the lineup for the third time? Great, now the big advantage has been tied!"

"Damn it! I can tolerate losing to other teams, but losing to Boston in this way at Fenway Park is something I absolutely cannot accept, especially since those guys especially love to show off after the game, just thinking about it makes me sick!"

"Mookie Betts is indeed a good player, but unfortunately, he's a Boston Red Sox bastard, I just can't like him…"

"No worries, there's still the ninth inning—trust our guys, they can do it, and in the top of the ninth inning, Lin is up as the lead hitter, and Aaron is also on deck! As long as they can overturn the score, Aroldis is sure to keep it!"

Feeling the tense atmosphere in the dugout, Joe Girardi sighed helplessly: handling adverse situations is also one of the challenges this young team needs to face.

Girardi's gaze unintentionally fell on Lin Guanglai in the waiting area, but he found that Lin wasn't observing the pitcher or swinging the bat as usual; instead, he was just standing there, staring into the distance.

Following Lin Guanglai's gaze, Girardi saw the green wall in the direction of left field.