Hal Steinbrenner targets acquiring starting pitcher; how is the question

DALLAS -- Hal Steinbrenner was clear in laying out his priorities for the rest of the offseason.

"I think another starting pitcher is something we're certainly going to look at,'' the Yankees managing general partner said Wednesday at the Major League Baseball owners' quarterly meetings. "All the other positions, I think we're fairly strong.''

How the Yankees will address that need, however, he did not make as clear.

Steinbrenner initially did not discount the possibility that the Yankees will be players for a big-name free agent.

"We're going to look at everything,'' he said, adding that he believes Masahiro Tanaka is a legitimate ace "if he's healthy.''

But the more Steinbrenner talked, the more one could infer what already has been discussed widely this offseason: If his team does bring in a big name, it is likely to come via trade.

"I've always said we need a good balance,'' Steinbrenner said. "This is New York. We need marquee players, we know that, but we also need the veterans, a lot of which happen to be marquee players. We need the veterans and we need the kids. There's no doubt, and you can see it from just about every other club, if you've got young talent, you can win championships, and it gives you more flexibility as far as the payroll.''

The kind of flexibility Steinbrenner didn't sound as if he has this offseason.

The Yankees already have payroll commitments for 2016 of more than $180 million, because very little money is coming off the books. There have been large dips into the free-agent pool in recent years -- especially before the 2009 and 2014 seasons -- but those investments corresponded with significant chunks of payroll relief from expiring contracts.

"All I know is what I've always said: I shouldn't have to have a $200-million payroll to win a world championship,'' Steinbrenner said. "It's been proven over and over again.''

Getting under the $189-million luxury tax threshold remains a goal for Steinbrenner. He said young, cost-efficient players such as Luis Severino and Greg Bird, who were called up last season and made immediate contributions, will help to do that. Among the "kids'' Steinbrenner said could contribute in 2016 are second baseman Rob Refsnyder, outfielder Aaron Judge, catcher Gary Sanchez and even righthander James Kaprielian, the team's first-round draft pick (16th overall) last June.

"The last couple of years the money that has come off, we've kind of had to put it back in to fill voids, again, because we haven't had the young players to do it with,'' Steinbrenner said. "The [free agents] that we picked up two years ago, the Ellsburys and the McCanns, they've been great, I'm glad we did it, but a couple years from now the payroll situation will be different. I will have flexibility, we will be active on the free-agent market. We always are, but I've got other options.''

Which are young players from a farm system that has started to produce big-league talent.

"I'm excited about Bird and Severino, and we've got Sanchez coming,'' he said. "And you'll see some Refsnyder, hopefully Judge at some point. So we're going to fill some gaps with young guys, too, and we finally have the ability to do that.''

Steinbrenner did not sound eager to part with the draft pick that must be surrendered for signing a player with a qualifying offer attached to him, the case with just about every top free agent.

Speaking of keeping first-round picks, he said: "It's important. If we're going to have this balance that I'm talking about, we're going to work to get under the threshold, which I'm certainly going to work to do, as money starts coming off and we get out from under these eight-year deals, you've got to have these kids. And if you're picking in the top 15 to 20, it's different than picking 50. We all know that.''

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.