If they trade Clint Frazier for pitching, and if Hicks goes back to being a dud again, then maybe, just maybe they'll kick the tires on Harper. Right now though I think the chances of that happening are slim. Reason being, what Hal Steinbrenner has repeatedly said over the years.



“As I have said many times, a team shouldn’t need a $200-plus-million dollar payroll to win championships,” Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ managing general partner, wrote to The Post’s George A. King III in an email Monday. “I have also indicated for many years my desire to bring payroll down close to or under the [luxury tax] threshold level. I would not attempt to do that, however, at the expense of fielding a competitive team.

[nypost.com]