Once again I have to point out the absurdity of the Evil Empire's competitive advantage over everyone else in baseball, which amuses me since the obscene amount of money spent hasn't yielded significant wins (i.e. World Series championships) this century. Yes, I know, the Yankee lovers will say I am unreasonable, much the same way the filthy rich in America (top 1 pct.) cry "class warfare" when anyone points out maybe they shouldn't control %99 of the country's wealth.
The truth is that both the Yankee fan and the obscenely wealthy are wrong, and all they can do is is try to turn it around, because there is no legit position to stand on. Seriously, almost 74 million dollars more than the Sox? People say to me that I can't complain, the Sox spend plenty, but I can't help but wonder what the Sox could buy with another 74 million bucks. How about Johan Santannas (17 mil), Roy Oswalt, (13 mil), and Roy Halladay (10 million) ? Hmm, that's only 40 million, so the Sox would still be 34 million behind the Yanks, and they would have a rotation of Beckett, Dice-K, Santanna, Oswalt, and Halladay. - OK, the Sox are weak at SS - how about Jose Reyes, at about 4.5 million? Still got 29 million left. Let's add Joe Maur from Minn. to split time with Varitek, Mauer only costs about 6.5 mil. Still have over 22 million left. Since you can always use more relief pitching, let's add B.J. Ryan, figure he comes back healthy, can pitch middle relief for us. At 12 million, that still leaves the Sox behind the Yanks by 10 million bucks. Do you get the picture now, people? Remember, all those salaries would be in addition to the existing players salaries, not as replacements. I really can't understand how anyone can be a fan of a team with every advantage like that. If the team wins it should basically be expected, and not winning is simply abysmal.
2 comments:
Dude, the problem with your point is that you are assuming the players you mentioned would be available on the free agent market at those prices. They aren't. I think even Cashman (whom I have critisized) would be smart enough to get a Santana, Halliday, a real first baseman, etc, etc, for those prices if they could). But they are not. So then the problem is that the Yanks stupidly overpay for the next level (or two or three) down.
In addition to Woody's wise words, I need to add--It doesn't work that way. This is not a situation where you simply get what you pay for on the field. Some decisions are made not so much for the game of baseball, but the business of baseball.
Two quick examples on the Yankees are Matsui and Jeter. The decision to sign Hideki was as much to develop a fan base in Japan as it was to get a decent outfielder.
Jeter isn't the best SS in baseball, he may not even be the best in NYC, he's just the highest paid. But, he is good for the team in many ways, particularly due to his popularity among fans.
The team will reward past performance that other teams won't. Nearly every other team in MLB would have let Jorge and Mo walk last year.
The Yankees sometimes overpay to stay competitive. Yankee fans wouldn't accept years of rebuilding like Detroit, Mets, or Indians fans had.
I could go on and on, but you already know deep inside how wrong you are.
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