October 20, 200322 yr Despite the CLEAR animosity towards the Yankees, this is a pretty good article: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2003...tory?id=1640976
October 20, 200322 yr Author My favorite descriptions are for Mussina:"Stereotypical Yankee big-bucks free agent signing, bought away from the Orioles in 2000" and Giambi: "Classic Yankee budget-busting veteran free agent." Nevermind the fact that Mussina was chased out of Baltimore and Giambi was basically told to leave when they wouldn't offer him [a franchise player, mind you] a no-trade clause. Nothing like good old fashioned balanced journalism... lol
October 20, 200322 yr Author It's also painfully easy to follow a winner. Go Fish! Heh heh heh.... sure. But it's not as easy to love a winner as it is to hate one.
October 20, 200322 yr I love it when the Yank-Me's and their fans start in on how they don't buy championships. I heard Cashman on the QAM pregame last night. When asked about the Yankee's payroll, he said that in every other division aside from the AL East the team with the highest payroll didn't win their division. Too bad Cashman didn't explain the coincidence between NY's payroll and the fact that they've been to the WS what, 7 out of the last eight years or something like that? Once again a case of someone peeing on your head and telling you it's raining.
October 20, 200322 yr dude i dont like the fact the Yankees can afford the payroll they got while we cant spend anywhere near what they spend but i respect the fact that they spend their money wisely(except Hitchcock, Contrerras, Irabu and others). lets not forget all these teams like the Mets, Dodgers, O's in the mid-90's, the whitesox when they picked up Belle, that spend like crazy but dont get anywhere. they get big name FA's like Giambi and Mussina but they also develop players like Rivera, Pettite, Williams, Jeter, Posada and keep them.
October 20, 200322 yr Author I guess, Fish.... OR, just maybe, like marlins02 said, their success is due to good decisions in the front office? :mischief2 And I absolutely refuse to listen to the beneficiary of a Lowell - Yarnall trade tell me about how the Yankees "buy championships." The Yanks, due to their success, are often forced into making moves like that one in order to address a present concern rather than hold on to them to address future concerns... Other beneficiaries include the Twinkies [Eric Milton, Christian Guzman, and $3 million for Knobby!] and the A's [Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver] - both of whom also made the playoffs this year due in no small part to those trades... It will catch up to us - eventually - just not today.
October 20, 200322 yr (except Hitchcock, Contrerras, Irabu and others) Contreras is/will be well worth the money. He was not a mistake, just look at his stuff.
October 20, 200322 yr (except Hitchcock, Contrerras, Irabu and others) Contreras is/will be well worth the money. He was not a mistake, just look at his stuff. the man is in his 30's without any pro experience before this year and they gave him $32 million, he might even be in his mid 30's. signing him might not have been a mistake but giving him that type of money was in my opinion.
October 20, 200322 yr He throws one of the, if not the best split fingered fastball in baseball. He is getting 8 million and will be in the Yankees starting rotation for at least 3 more years. With his stuff and velocity 8 million is well worth it.
October 20, 200322 yr OR, just maybe, like marlins02 said, their success is due to good decisions in the front office? Good decisions? Like paying 3.5 mil for Contreras just so the Red Sox couldn't get him at 3mil? And I absolutely refuse to listen to the beneficiary of a Lowell - Yarnall trade tell me about how the Yankees "buy championships Don't forget Lowell (as a minor league prospect) was expendable because the Yankees decided to grossly overpay (again) Brosius after an unconscious WS. Claiming the Yankees don't buy championships is so ridiculous it's almost insulting. Just remember, for every Yankee fan that points up behind home plate at the "26 world championships" sign in Yankee stadium and claims dominance there is a fan somewhere else in the country that uses the same sign as evidence of the gross disparity in competitiveness due to payroll.
October 20, 200322 yr OR, just maybe, like marlins02 said, their success is due to good decisions in the front office? Good decisions? Like paying 3.5 mil for Contreras just so the Red Sox couldn't get him at 3mil? We beat the Red Sox in the 7th game of the ALCS. He could've been in there instead of Wakefield... I think the 3.5 was worth it.
October 20, 200322 yr OR, just maybe, like marlins02 said, their success is due to good decisions in the front office? Good decisions? Like paying 3.5 mil for Contreras just so the Red Sox couldn't get him at 3mil? We beat the Red Sox in the 7th game of the ALCS. He could've been in there instead of Wakefield... I think the 3.5 was worth it. I'm sure the Yankees FO felt it was worth it too, which is the problem. When you are at 130-150mil, what's another 3.5mil a year? History is not going to be kind when judging the Yankees of the 1990's and beyond. Yankees fans like to portray their recent dominance as just another chapter of a long and successful history - Just the logical progression from Murderer's row, to the Mick, to Reggie and on and on... But this most recent run is nothing like the dynasties of the past, and history will look back upon these Yanks as the fattest and most bloated benefactors of the age of payroll disparity.
October 20, 200322 yr actually he's getting 5.5 this year. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/prof...le?statsId=7043
October 20, 200322 yr Author Claiming the Yankees don't buy championships is so ridiculous it's almost insulting. Heavens to Betsy... Claiming that they *DO* buy championships is beyond insulting and myopic and borders on absurd. Who did the Yankees buy? Mussina and Giambi? And how many rings do those two have to show for it? I believe the answer you are looking for is zero. Pettitte, Mo, Posada, NJ, Soriano, DJ, Bernie... All farm team. Matsui and Contreras = signed outright. Bottom line, 7 out of 9 players in the Yankee lineup have never played for another team. No other team in the playoffs [or baseball] could say that. Not one. Again, I will concede that money HELPS - but you need to concede that there is OVERWHELMING evidence that supports that money can just as easily buy your way into the basement [And yes I *am* looking in the direction of the Mets and Rangers].
October 20, 200322 yr Bottom line, 7 out of 9 players in the Yankee lineup have never played for another team. No other team in the playoffs [or baseball]could say that. Not one. No one is accusing the Yankees of not developing talent - this has nothing to do with the fact that they buy championchips. It doesn't matter where they came from, the important thing is that when they mature and become free agents the Yankees can pay to keep them. Think that the Marlins (or about 24 other teams) would be able to keep a Posada, or Williams, or Jeter if they came up in the Marlins' system? They couldn't afford to keep one, much less seven. It's as simple as looking at the final payroll number. What's the Yankees' total payroll? Does the fact they outspend everyone every year have anything to do with where the players came from? No. WHo has been the most successful team since the labor strike? Yankees. Who has spent the most on payroll since the labor strike? Yankees. Coincidence? I think not. Again, I will concede that money HELPS - but you need to concede that there is OVERWHELMING evidence that supports that money can just as easily buy your way into the basement [And yes I *am* looking in the direction of the Mets and Rangers]. That's just silly. Overwhelming? Two teams with large payrolls is overwhelming evidence? How about this for evidence: The Braves, D-Backs, 97' Marlins, Indians of the 90's or the countless other payroll-fat teams that enjoyed success? I suppose that isn't evidence? Or how about the fact that a low payroll team hasn't won dick since the early 90's? Now that's overwhelming evidence.
October 20, 200322 yr In some perverted way, I'm dreading the possibility of the Marlins winning. AS soon as a low-payroll team like the Fish wins once all the big spending teams will come out and say "see, I told you so, small market teams can compete." Which is an absolute joke and probably the worst thing that can happen to an already struggling game with a massive competitive imbalance.
October 21, 200322 yr (except Hitchcock, Contrerras, Irabu and others) Contreras is/will be well worth the money. He was not a mistake, just look at his stuff. Almost nobody on your team is a mistake. But almost everybody on your team is overpaid.
October 21, 200322 yr Despite the CLEAR animosity towards the Yankees I may not be a fan as long as you have been, but I've been a fan since 1980. I have no animosity whatsoever as my two favorite teams are in the playing in the World Series!! Thanks for the article. Its great to see where everyone came from.
October 21, 200322 yr Didn't the Angels win last year? Weird... Angels payroll was in the upper half of payroll expenditure rankings last year. Not exactly a bargain-basement club by any stretch. But as I said, once a low payroll team wins it all the payroll heavy teams say "I told you there wasn't competitive imbalance." You proved it by trying to push the point off on the Angels, whose payroll was a third higher than the Fish last year. Anyway, go ahead and buy all the championships you want. Just don't sit there and wonder why MLB's popularity is dying off.
October 21, 200322 yr It matters in many ways how much you spend, but it also matters how wisely you spend it. You can't spend over $100 million, get **** talent and expect to win it all, it just won't happen like that.
October 21, 200322 yr It matters in many ways how much you spend, but it also matters how wisely you spend it. You can't spend over $100 million, get **** talent and expect to win it all, it just won't happen like that. SEE: NY Mets, LA Dodgers, Boston Red Sox.....
October 21, 200322 yr It matters in many ways how much you spend, but it also matters how wisely you spend it. You can't spend over $100 million, get **** talent and expect to win it all, it just won't happen like that. That may be true, but I'll take my chances with a 100mil payroll any day rather than 40-60mil. Just because some teams are idiots with their 100mil + payrolls doesn't make it fair.
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