Hal Steinbrenner had heard the constant criticism in New York

ORLANDO Matt Adams Jersey , Fla. (AP) —: Why haven’t the Yankees tried to sign Bryce Harper or Manny Machado?“I get hammered every year about something,” the New York owner said Thursday. “If you don’t win the World Series, that’s perfectly justifiable.”Speaking at the owners’ meetings, Steinbrenner would not rule out more moves before opening day but sounded as if a deal for a high-priced free agent is unlikely.“Fans should keep an open mind that I’m never done until I’m done, and that’s usually not until opening day,” he said. “Proposals come to me every day with these guys, between the analytics guys and the pro scouting guys, and I’m going to consider every single one of them.”New York’s offseason moves included re-signing CC Sabathia, Brett Gardner, J.A. Happ and Zack Britton, acquiring James Paxton in a trade, and signing reliever Adam Ottavino and infielders DJ LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki.After New York avoided the luxury tax last year for the first time since it was established in 2003, the contracts with LeMahieu and Ottavino have lifted the Yankees’projected luxury tax payroll to about $220 million, well above the $206 million threshold.Still, not the splashy moves his father, George Steinbrenner, was famous for.And although Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t listen to sports radio and devour the tabloids, he’s kept abreast of the vox populi by nephew Stephen Swindal Jr., assistant director of player development.New York had the major leagues’ top payroll for 15 straight years through 2013 but has not since and was sixth last year. Many fans say because the Yankees have the highest revenue, they should spend the most on players.“With no discussion of our costs, that’s always the problem,” Steinbrenner said. “I hear everything about our revenues Kevin Long Jersey , I hear nothing about our cost. I hear nothing about the gargantuan debt service payment that we have to pay every year (on bonds that financed new Yankee Stadium), nothing about all of our stadium operations, all the security, not to mention player payroll, not to mention revenue sharing.”And he keeps in mind the price of keeping Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres and other emerging young stars.“I have to look at the big picture, and it is my responsibility — that my family expects, my partners expect — not just to look at the present but to look at the future, too,” he said. “Three, four, five years from now we get a lot of homegrown kids that we love, our fans love, that are going to be coming up for free agency.”Steinbrenner has said many times he didn’t think a team had to spend $200 million to win a championship. New York reached the 2019 threshold by signing Britton, and Steinbrenner gave general manager Brian Cashman authority to keep spending.“We weren’t good enough, so we went out and signed a really good contact hitter in DJ, who can play multiple positions,” Steinbrenner said. “And then we went and got Ottavino really to secure a pretty good bullpen, which can certainly help the starting rotation, right?”New York went 100-62 last year, its best record since its last championship season in 2009 http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-adams-jersey , yet finished eight games back of AL East champion Boston. The Yankees beat Oakland in the AL wild-card game, then lost to the Red Sox 3-1 in the Division Series. Boston went on to win its fourth World Series title in 15 years.“I think we’ve definitely got a better club opening day than we did opening day last year, particularly in pitching, which is my biggest area of concern,” Steinbrenner said.Steinbrenner said ticket sales are about flat, though premium seat sales are down because of the expiration of 10-year contracts that began when the new ballpark opened in 2009. He said talks are ongoing about a potential repurchase of 21st Century Fox’s stake in the team’s YES Network.A big move might spark sales. He hasn’t ruled that out completely.“I wouldn’t be surprised, because these guys come to me all the time with stuff,” he said of his staff. “I can’t tell you if 17 days from now they come with some kind of proposal that I say no or I say yes.”Notes: Paxton, speaking at the team’s minor league complex in Tampa, understands the expectation. “It’s kind of World Series-or-bust for Yankees, fans and I’m excited about having that pressure, and just being on a team that’s so committed to winning,” he said. … Happ threw a 30-pitch mound session to Sanchez. … SS Didi Gregorius, recovering from Tommy John surgery, swung a bat one-handed in an indoor cage. LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers now have multiple reasons to feel optimistic, rallying for a victory Friday over the team they are chasing in the standings while knowing ace Clayton Kershaw is on the mound Saturday.The situation started to look discouraging for the Dodgers, who had lost to the Diamondbacks on Thursday to fall two games back in the division, while sitting in third place. But late home runs from Enrique Hernandez and Justin Turner on Friday gave the Dodgers a 3-2 victory and moved them into second place.A gem from their staff ace on Saturday would move the Dodgers up another rung on the NL West ladder. The Dodgers are one game behind the Diamondbacks and the teams would be sharing the top spot with a Los Angeles victory in the third game of the series.Article continues below ...The Dodgers originally had Kershaw (6-5, 2.39 ERA) scheduled to pitch in Friday’s game, but moved the left-hander to Saturday so they could line up their No. 1 starter in a series next week against another division contender, the Colorado Rockies.Despite two stints on the disabled list this season and just six victories heading into the final month, Kershaw has looked dominating since coming off the DL on June 23. He is 5-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 12 starts since then Ryan Zimmerman Jersey , and has not given up more than two earned runs in any of his last seven outings. He is 15-9 lifetime against Arizona with a 2.53 ERA in 29 starts.Kershaw has started three games against the Diamondbacks this season, and is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in those contests.The Diamondbacks will counter with a left-hander of their own as Patrick Corbin (10-5, 3.15) will take the mound. Corbin has also pitched well of late, delivering five consecutive quality starts, going 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in that stretch, with a .213 opponents’ batting average.Even more promising for the Diamondbacks is that Corbin has a 0.98 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers this season. The Dodgers are hitting just .115 against him in those games and have struck out 24 times. He is just 1-0 in those three starts.Corbin’s career numbers against Los Angeles are not as good, however. He is 4-9 with a 3.78 ERA in 19 career appearances (17 starts) against the Dodgers.Corbin gave up just two runs over seven innings Monday at San Francisco, but Arizona ended the day with a 2-0 defeat.“He’s only got 10 wins on the year,” Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed said about Corbin, according to mlb.com. “That’s our fault as an offense for not giving him enough runs. He’s pitched good enough to easily have 15, 16 wins for us. We did it again (Monday), didn’t score, so hopefully we turn that around these few starts.”One more reason for the Dodgers to feel good heading into Saturday’s game is that closer Kenley Jansen finally looks like himself again. Jansen had a short disabled-list stint in August because of an irregular heartbeat.Upon his return, he gave up a run in four consecutive outings, losing two games and blowing a save in another.But even while giving up a double in the ninth inning to Paul Goldschmidt on Friday, Jansen looked to be in control for the first time in over three weeks.“It was so much better,” said Jansen, who credited a mechanical adjustment for his improvement. “It was me throwing with my lower body and that’s how I did it, let my lower body carry me to home plate. I felt so much better.”“