New York Yankees: 5 Things Hal Steinbrenner Can Buy After Cutting Payroll

Well, it's official. Hal Steinbrenner finally announced what New York Yankees fans knew for a while now: the team plans to cut payroll down to $189 million by 2014 in order to avoid a significant increase in the MLB luxury tax.

While the Yankees will still be able to field just as good a team with their lesser payroll, Steinbrenner might find that having the extra money around to be useful for other things.

Here are five things he can do with the extra money he saves from cutting payroll.

Brian Cashman's Divorce Lawyer

Divorce lawyers can be awfully expensive and although Brian Cashman has the money, Steinbrenner has a lot more from running the Yankees than Cashman.

Cashman will need it after being caught cheating on his wife with his eventual stalker. Ouch.

So, that being said, maybe Hal can ease the financial pressure on his general manager and pay for his divorce lawyer. It'll be one less thing on the mind of Cashman, who will be running the team with enough on his mind already.

Not to mention, he'll probably be paying his wife half of everything; that is a financial disaster for Cash in itself.

Little help?

A Stake in the Mets

It's no secret the New York Mets are having financial issues and even tried to entice potential owners with a package that will give the buyer a piece of the team for only $20 million.

Here's what Hal can expect from his investment:

1. Access with Mr. Met;

2. A business card with the title, "owner" on it;

3. Owner's workout day;

4. A parking spot at the stadium;

5. A chance to throw out the first pitch at one game per year;

6. Assignment of a team executive to take care of owner's needs.

Sadly for Hal and in pure Mets fashion, tickets are not apart of the $20 million deal.

But no problem there, because with all the money saved from a lower payroll and less the luxury tax, that will leave just enough money for him to purchase the best seats in the house.

Cushions for the Bleacher Seats

The bleacher creatures are some of the most loyal fans in the game. Night in and night out, they sit on the most uncomfortable seats in Yankee Stadium and never complain.

They are also some of the most rowdy fans and you can chalk that up to the sore rear ends and bad backs that can develop from sitting on a metal bench for three-and-a-half hours every night.

So, with the extra money, Hal could be nice and put some cushions on the metal benches for some of the most loyal fans in Yankees Universe. It would make the fans feel like they are attending a baseball game for a world-class organization and not the Bad News Bears.

Lower Ticket Prices

For years we've heard the excuse as to why the Yankees are charging ridiculous prices for almost every seat in the stadium. They spend a ton of money on their team and field some of the greatest baseball players on the planet.

I get that.

But now that the payroll will be 10 percent less by 2014 and the Yanks will avoid getting beaten over the head by a luxury tax, maybe they can stop beating their fans over the head with expensive ticket prices.

It's a pipe dream, but the only reason the Bombers can spend as much money as they do is because of their fans. It's time to start giving back for once.

And no more $50 hot dogs either! I want to be able to have a meal at Yankee Stadium without having to give up meals at home for the following three days.

Re-Sign Great Players

Had the Yankees not taken this step to cut payroll, it might have been difficult to re-sign some of their best players who will need to be re-signed sometime down the road.

The two I'm thinking of immediately are Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano.

Both players, Cano especially, will command big deals and the Yankees must pay up if both Granderson and Cano continue to play the way they did in 2011.

This one is obvious, but is the most important thing for the Yankees to do with all the money they will allow to expire off their payroll. Not even New York could keep adding to their payroll at the pace they were.

No more Kei Igawa and A.J. Burnett mistakes. Time to be more responsible and sign guys to big contracts who deserve it and will actually fulfill them.

After all, all these mistakes are the reason the Yanks payroll needs to be cut in the first place.

Here's to a future where the Yankees are...GULP...financially responsible with the players they sign.