Hal Steinbrenner absolves Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone, says Yankees have ‘got to get healthy’

The Yankees have been victims of injury, an aging roster, and an uncertain timeline on Aaron Judge’s “rare” toe injury, Hal Steinbrenner said, but the owner continues to stand behind his manager and general manager, and still believes they have a championship-caliber squad “if we can get them on the field.”

Steinbrenner, speaking after the first day of owners’ meetings at MLB’s midtown headquarters, said that while he hopes Judge will return from his sprained right toe before the All-Star break in four weeks, there are no guarantees.

“I wish I knew. I’m not trying to be coy,” Steinbrenner said. “This is a rare injury for a baseball player and [there’s] little to no sample size. On top of that, everyone heals at a different rate. The priority now is to get the swelling gone, continue to work on range of motion and go from there. It’s just such a tricky injury.”

That dour update was part of a wide-ranging discussion where Steinbrenner reiterated his support of general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone, and said neither’s job security was directly contingent on the Yankees making the playoffs.

“Well, no, but it is contingent on the end of the year,” he said. “I’m going to reevaluate what we did and what we didn’t do and whose fault it is.”

So far, though, he wouldn’t pin the Yankees’ early underperformance on either Cashman or Boone. The team went into Tuesday’s Subway Series opener against the Mets 38-29 and in third place in the monster AL East.

“We’ve been playing with two-thirds of a team the entire year” because of injuries, he said when asked about Cashman and Boone. “It’s tough in this division to do that. We’ve got to get healthy. I know everybody has injuries, but it’s been pretty bad this year from Day One. Unlike last year where we were doing very, very well and then we got hit with injuries in July-ish, this has just been a constant thing.”

The Yankees most notably have Judge, Harrison Bader and Carlos Rodon on the injured list, with Bader the only one who seems close to a return. Steinbrenner also pointed out that “veterans . . . need to step up” — presumably Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo, who have all been struggling.

Steinbrenner would be open to adding to the Yankees’ payroll on or before the Aug. 1 trade deadline but said it was too early to focus on specific areas of need — especially as they wait to see what happens with Rodon and injured starter Frankie Montas, whom they acquired at the trade deadline last year. But while willing to pay the so-called Steve Cohen Tax, Steinbrenner still indicated caution: COVID and the 2021 lockout put a strain on revenue, and  wanton spending — or a $400 million payroll — “is not sustainable.” (The Yankees payroll is estimated at a little under $300 million, though that will be adjusted as the season continues.)

“If someone comes to me and says, we really like this guy and even though you have to pay him $30 million, he can get us a world championship, I’m going to consider that,” Steinbrenner said. “But spending money for the sake of spending money? I just don’t know.”

Overall, he appeared pleased that the Yankees are “hanging in there despite the injuries and being a pretty tough division,” but acknowledged that they need to get their bats going. He also recently evaluated the team’s medical department, which saw an overhaul with the hiring of director of player health and performance Eric Cressey in 2020.

“There’s always room for improvement” in that area, he said, adding that the Yankees had players serve an average number of IL days for the first two years, but are outpacing the average this season. “I wish I could say from the report that there’s a smoking gun — that we need to change this and we’re golden. But there really wasn’t . . . We tend to have an older team compared to a lot of others and I think workload management is something we really strive to get better at.”

That, though, wouldn’t stop him from pursuing older free agents.

“We’re always going to try to do what we can in the player development system,” he said. “But no, this is New York City. Fans want the stars. We need the veterans. It needs to be a good mix of veterans and young kids.”

Steinbrenner said he was committed to retaining Anthony Volpe as the team’s starting shortstop, despite the rookie going into Tuesday slashing .186/.260/.605 in 67 games.

“I’ve had zero conversations about” moving him out of the role or optioning him to Triple-A, Steinbrenner said. “I think defensively, he’s been pretty solid. Pitchers have adjusted to him and now he’s going to have some adjustments to make himself. I don’t think any of this is out of the ordinary. I told Anthony at the end of spring training — I said you are the starting shortstop of the New York Yankees. This isn’t a three-week trial.”

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.