MLB insider gives his take on the New York Yankees standing against NL's Dodgers, Phillies, Braves, Diamondbacks

Forbes' list of most valuable sports teams in the world ranked the New York Yankees at the third spot overall at $7.55 billion, more than $2 billion ahead of the next best MLB team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yet as of today, they have the third-highest payroll in the MLB behind the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Appearing on The Michael Kay Show on Wednesday, MLB insider Jeff Passan was questioned whether the Yankees should keep the conservative approach or rather spend more on their team. While management has cited the luxury tax limit and draft pick consequences for not going overboard with their spending, Passan felt that more spending could mean improvement for their minor league system.

On that note, Kay questioned whether the Yanks should be satisfied with being the best team in the American League while having the third-highest payroll. To this, Passan thought that while the Bombers might be the best team in their league, the AL itself has become mediocre compared to the National League.

The Yankees on paper don't match up to the likes of Los Angeles or Philadelphia, with the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks also in contention.

"Yeah, the Yankees can say that they're the best," Passan said. [12:15] "But I don't think they stack up, certainly not to the Dodgers. You can make an argument that the Phillies are better than them, the Braves are better than them. The Diamondbacks, after adding Corbin Burns, are right there, if not better than them. A lot of National League teams have supremacy over the American League right now."

Hal Steinbrenner waiting to see if the Dodgers' spending pays off

The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers have spent nearly $1.5 billion in the last two offseasons. In an exclusive interview with YES Network, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner spoke about team spending.

“It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kinds of things that they’re doing. We’ll see if it pays off,” Steinbrenner said. “They still have to have a season relatively injury-free for it to work out for them. It’s a long season as you know, and once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. We’ve seen that time and time again.”

New York added the likes of Max Fried, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt to its roster for 2025. However, they lost Juan Soto to the New York Mets which remains a major dent in their batting lineup.