Because a guy who only plays every 5th game is grossly over priced at 34 million a year. I know the MLB cap is just a suggestion, but damn are they over paying. And that means they’ll suck for the length of this contract, plus probably just as long on the other side as they try to rebuild. Fastest way to kill a team is overpaying for talent.
The good news is that if you get back under it, even for just a year, it reverts to the 17.5 percent rate. this is why the Yankees are off free agents for now. They have $100 million coming off the books the next couple of offseasons (Teixeira and Beltran after this coming season, Sabathia and Rodriguez after 2017), and they want to use their young players, lower the payroll, and get under $189 million.