The Yankees, baseball and money

[cjclong]

I see post after post about the Yankees "buying" the World Series. In regards to this several things.
First, baseball doesn't set a salary cap. The Yankees are allowed to spend. So there is no cheating involved which is sometimes sort of implied.
Second, there is no question being able to spend is an advantage, but not an insurmountable one and not a guarantee of winning. The Yankees had not won a world series since 2000 and missed the playoffs last year. They paid out a lot of money for pitchers and other players who were busts. The Texas Rangers had a payroll similar to the Yankees a few years ago with ARod and Chan Ho Park and went nowhere. In the fact the Rangers where the first team to pay a player over $20 million a year.
Third, people imply the Yankee have always out spent other teams. In fact, most of the Yankee Championships came in the 1920's, 30's, 40's,50's until 1965. There were no free agents then and clubs signed players cheaply and tired to keep salaries down. Joe DiMaggio was offered a cut in salary after his 56 game hitting streak. The Yankees won because they scouted and signed players like DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Ford, etc. Other teams could have had these players but didn't. The first Yankee Championship in 96 did not come with high salaried players. And the "core 4" of this years team, Jeter, Rivera, Posoda, and Pettite were not expensive free agents but came from good scouting.
If Baseball wants a salary cap they can have one. Until then the Yankees are playing within the rules. I don't hear Dodger fans whining about how much Ramirez is paid or Boston fans gripping about their payroll. If either of those teams had won the World Series this year you would not have heard how they "bought" the series.
The Yankees were a successful team before expensive free agents and they would still be successful if there was a salary cap. Face it, while some players do not want to live in New York there are a lot more more that would go there rather than Kansas City, Pittsburgh, etc.
Again, while there is some truth that money gives the Yankees an advantage the Yankee haters use it as an excuse to down grade the accomplishment of winning.

[suave1477]

cjclong well said!!!

[ironmanfan]

what gets me is that the Yankees payroll is $80 million dollars HIGHER than the next team in line (Red Sox I think).

[BULBUS]

what gets me is that the Yankees payroll is $80 million dollars HIGHER than the next team in line (Red Sox I think).

Their payroll in 2009 was 50M more than the Mets, 65M more than the Cubs, 80M more than the Red Sox, and about 85M more than the Phillies, Tigers, and Angels.

Just proves that money doesn't always buy Championships.

[ironmanfan]

You are right, it doesn't guarantee anything, but there is just something wrong the system that allows that to happen.........

[kingjammy24]

i don't think there is anything 'unfair' about the yankees having the revenue that they have. ultimately it's come from the fans so the yankees have earned it. however, there are a few fallacies here.

"The Texas Rangers had a payroll similar to the Yankees a few years ago with ARod and Chan Ho Park.. "

during the years that arod and park played together, the closest the rangers ever came to the yankees payroll was 2003. yankees - $169mm, rangers - $103mm. a $66mm difference is hardly "similar".

"Third, people imply the Yankee have always out spent other teams. In fact, most of the Yankee Championships came in the 1920's, 30's, 40's,50's until 1965. There were no free agents then and clubs signed players cheaply and tired to keep salaries down"

in 1913, the highest paid player was the yankees' frank chance.
in 1927, the highest paid player was babe ruth.
in 1929, the yankees payroll was $365k and the highest in the majors. the closest team was the cubs at $310k.
in 1933, the yankees again had the highest payroll at $294. the closest team was again the cubs at $266k.
in 1939, the yankees again had the highest payroll at $361k. the closest team was the tigers at $297.
in 1943, the yankees again had the highest payroll at $301k. the closest team were the dodgers at $271k.
in 1949, the highest paid player was dimaggio at $100k.
in 1950, the yankees again had the highest payroll at $651k.
in 1951, the highest paid player is joe dimaggio at $90k.
in 1956, the highest payroll in the majors was the yankees again at $492k.
in 1961, mickey mantle became the highest paid player at $75k.

you think ruth, dimaggio and mantle came "cheaply"? maybe in their rookie year.

winning a WS with an all-star team and the highest payroll in baseball doesn't strike me as a testament to accomplishment. the fact that the yankees didn't do it since 2000 strikes me as an testament to mismanagement and failure. only cashman could blow over $200mm on 4 players (pavano, igawa, giambi, brown) and still have a job and enough money leftover to buy even more superstars. to win a WS other teams have to overachieve. the yankees simply have to not screw up; to get out of their own way.



rudy.

[sox83cubs84]

I admit, if you're a Royals fan or a Pirates booster, it must be frustrating seeing the Yankees spend more on one superstar contract than your team does on it's entire everyday lineup. To me, though, IMHO, a lot of the anti-spending fervor is based upon whether or not the complaining fan's team is a big spender or not. Face it...most fans decry the Yankees almost unlimited pockets, but, would they be so quick to criticize the spending if it was their team? Probably not. And, as some have pointed out, big spending helps, but isn't a guarantee...witness perennial contenders such as the Twins in the 2000s, the A's a few years ago, or the 2007 Rockies. They all had success (not a World Championship, but strong showings, nonetheless) on limited budgets. Whatever the case, if the rules that exist aren't being broken, it's annoying perhaps, but it's also something most fans would have no problem with if it was their team that had the money trees.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[kingjammy24]

dave, i agree. i think the yankees have earned their revenue and i think they should be spending it on the best players available. that's what every team would and should do. i don't think there's anything 'wrong' with any of that. if i were the yankees i'd be pursuing the best players i could buy as well.

all of that said, i'm just personally not impressed when the yankees win because of the huge disparity in payrolls. everyone agrees that a large payroll isn't a guarantee of anything, which is true. the reason it isn't is because even with all the money in the world, you can still be stupid enough to blow it all, which is what the yankees did for most the last 8 yrs. other teams didn't beat the yankees. the yankees beat themselves. cashman had a bottomless wallet at his disposal and still couldn't deliver. i'd like to see how many WS appearances a real GM like sandy alderson or pat gillick would've managed with those yankee payrolls. cashman's savvy M.O. seems to be entirely relegated to picking up the biggest superstars and then praying it all works out. where are the smart trades? the sleepers who surprised everyone? the sharp eye for underrated players and rookies? cashman just waits to see who the biggest free agent is and snaps him up. i have a lot of respect for the A's who've done a hell of a job for decades with small-market budgets. they've been forced to rely on skill because they didn't have much money. cashman doesn't need skill. he just asks george to open up the wallet every time a $20mm/yr player comes on the market.

rudy.

[5kRunner]

Funny thing about that Simpsons pic. Only Ozzie, Griffey, and Scioscia(?) are the only Non-Yankees. The others all played for the Yankees at one time. LOL.

[gingi79]

I think people feel the Yankees won the World Series because unlike other teams, they don't have to make it work with their own home grown players. The Braves won all their East titles with the Minor League System and continue to do so. However, no team can be competitive that way now and I think people blame the Yankees (unfairly) for it.

When the Yanks have the need to, they have the opportunity to upgrade a position. Lets take 1st base for example, they had Mattingly for 11 years and when he retired in 1995, they went out and paid money for the best free agent. Tino Martinez was picked up from the Mariners after he killed the Yanks in the early 90's. Ditto Giambi. Teixeira was the best Free Agent 1st baseman, is young a extremely talented and now they don't need to look for a 1st baseman for like the next 7 years. Everyone needs pitching and the best Free agent pitchers just seem to pick the Yanks the Sox or the money (Mets for example).

However, they may get panged for buying players but they should then get credit for the other side as well. Getting Paul O'Neil was just great scouting. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Robby Cano, Andy Petite, Jorge Posada were all groomed through the Yanks Minors. It just seems that the majority of Yankees players proved themselves elsewhere and came to NY for the Money. And lets not forget Goose and Reggie were the innovators of that in the 70's. They ran to the biggest paycheck rather than staying with their homegrown teams like players had done for the 80 years before.

My last comment is on the Dynasty years of the Yanks, i.e. the 20's to the 70's. The Yankees were a vicious circle ever since Murders Row. The best players wanted to play for the best team which made them the best team because the best players chose to play for them. It wasn't about money, it was about wanting to play for the Yankees because it seemed that all the best players played for them. There was no draft, no free agency. If you were really talented, you could just sign with whoever you want. Why play in Kansas City for the struggling A's and a bunch of nobody's when you could bat after Mantle, Maris, DiMaggio, RUTH, Gehrig etc? Essentially, the Draft, Free Agency, ideas for revenue sharing and evening out the talent pool just seems to be all due to the actions of the New York Yankees.

However, I'm just a bitter Braves fan who feels cheated by the Yankees and Mets (specifically the 2000 season) so while my opinions are valid I'd admit I realize I am somewhat biased.