As a Yankee fan, I’m used to people hating on the Yankees.
I get it.
People hate winners and want to blame winners for their own team’s misery.
I know a guy on Facebook that I have thought about deleting because every time I bring up the Yanks, he gripes about how MLB is broken.
Whining is whining. It’s annoying when a three-year-old does it because he perceives something isn’t fair and it’s annoying when a grown man does it about baseball.
This happens all the time. When a team loses a game, if you listen to their fans, they didn’t lose—the ref made a bad call that cost them the game, or the other team cheated.
The current Yankees are no exception. Radio air heads, T.V. prognosticators, and Internet gurus are all moaning and complaining.
One guy even went so far as to list the salary of all the teams. I have included part of his little chart below:
1. New York Yankees $201,449,289
2. New York Mets $135,773,988
3. Chicago Cubs $135,050,000
4. Boston Red Sox $122,696,000
5. Detroit Tigers $115,085,145
6. Los Angeles Angels $113,709,000
7. Philadelphia Phillies $113,004,048
8. Houston Astros $102,996,415
9. Los Angeles Dodgers $100,458,101
10. Seattle Mariners $98,904,167
Now, if you are a Yankee-hater, you seem to have something to start screaming about. And, that is without the rest of the teams. I left them off on purpose because I just want to focus on the top 10. The idea of a salary cap “fixing anything” is flawed. There’s a reason the Cleveland Browns are terrible and the Steelers are perennially good.
Here’s my question: If money buys you championships, why didn’t the Mets, Cubs, Tigers, Astros, or Mariners make the play offs? In fact, two of the top three and five of the top 10 didn’t make it.
They didn’t even sniff at it. Force players to take less money, and the Yankees will still win. If you had to choose between the Yankees, and the Marlins or the Pirates, which team would you choose? You’re going to go with the team that has the track record.
Would you want to go to a team that spends less on payroll than it receives in luxury tax money? I wouldn’t either.
The reality is that there are a lot of MLB teams that are run poorly. If you want to hate the Yankees to validate the misery of your own team, so be it. But, at least be honest about it. It’s not about the money. It’s about the Yankees having something your team doesn’t.
Rings.
I get your anger and I get your fear. The Yankees have done some good things in the draft and are set to be good for a long time. Your team probably is not. That is okay, you’ll find a way to make it. Just be honest with yourself.
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Hey Joe, did you buy any tickets today? Or is that something you never need to do because of your amazing connections?
I will be watching the Angels come to Detroit in August to take on Johnny Damon, for whom New York and its tradition supposedly *wouldn’t* have been the first choice after his time in Boston.
Disappointing that the Yankees seem to be coming to Detroit in May lately … May games in Michigan are like rolling the dice in terms of whether you will freeze your butt off. Woulda been my first choice otherwise.
Regarding today’s topic … I do agree with the “culture of winning” argument. Obviously there is more to who wins and loses but it’s something I think more people should think about.
I will say, there is a difference between hating on the Yankees and hoping for some ebb and flow in terms of who is dominating the AL. Hopefully the true baseball fans are just expressing the latter. And it is truly hard to hate them when you consider some of the fine gentlemen on that team, even if you’re not a Yankee fan.
Hey CVH,
I haven’t bought tickets in a long time but this may be the year. Right now, I’m sitting on the outside looking in. I agree about the May trend for Detroit games. Last year, I went to a White Sox game and that was a great night, with small mid-west shower. No, I didn’t pay for those tickets. I have a post coming on how culture affects organizations and especially teams.
“I never said it wasn’t an advantage. I said it’s not theadvantage to end all.”
this is true, and its why i respect the yankees still. the hardest thing to do is win when everone is gunning for you. but its also the reason the system is flawed. of course every sport is flawed in some way or another. but how is having an advantage not the same thing as being unfair? if the patriots have an advantage in football, it IS because of a culture (or illegal game tapes), but its not the system.
“hard caps promote mediocrity”- i suppose that is one way to look at it, but it also puts a premium on personnel decisions. you make a bad draft pick, or a bad free agent, that prevents you from signing other free agents for 3 years. if you make a bad pickup in baseball, the only thing it hurts is your wallet, and if your the yankees,that doesn’t matter. noone thinks the lions are bad because the system is working against them. they are bad because millen was bad. part of the problem of the pirates and the royals is their culture and organization, but the system doesn’t help them either.
To be fair to Millen, the Lions were bad before him.
the difference is that the yankees can spend to cover any mistakes, as well as the fact that it is a lot easier to not make mistakes when you are deciding between 26-30 year old guys who have been in the majors for five years, and finding the high school and college age guys who will be really good in four years. the rays have to do everything right, and then they get about a 3 year window to compete, and after that they are going to lose their best players to the yankees or the red sox.
also you factor in that the yankees can be more aggressive with trades than other teams, because they know that they can spend the money to keep them. the rays can’t give up 2 or 3 prospects at the trade deadline to get a big name for the stretch run, because they can’t spend the money the yankees can to keep that guy around.
I can’t deny that this is how things were run when the Boss was in charge, but I think you can argue that when they were doing this is when they were not winning. He didn’t really put the last dynasty together (he was banned from the game for a little while), which if you look at those rosters a lot of the players were homegrown and they plugged in a few guys that people didn’t want Brossius, etc. The more they went away from that and started going after the BIG name FA’s they more they fell away from winning.
The Yankees farm system is currently stacked with prospects and as a Yankees fan, I hope they don’t trade them away for FA’s that may or may not pan out.
I believe the biggest advantage the Yankees have is the fact that they have a culture of winning. I think this is why the Angels are constantly competitive and why teams like the Pirates are constantly bad. It’s the reason I think that the LA Clippers are often bad–their culture is extremely different than the LA Lakers for example.
Almost true…if you can’t recognize that spending almost twice as much as the next highest payroll is not an advantage then you are a homer. The phillies have made some trades with the players that have brought up through the ranks. No team can have all players from their own farms but to go out and just buy the top 3 FA’s is stupid for baseball. The new york market will always be the biggest but the phillies are definitely increasing their fan base. they travel well in most nl stadiums and could increase even more with a dominant run. And the rambling ceases…for now.
Now, I know your parents and I know they raised you better than to misrepresent someone’s argument and then use that misrepresentation to call them names. I never said it wasn’t an advantage. I said it’s not theadvantage to end all. Again, given your Phillies scenario, there is no way to know if those two pitchers and a closer would have worked out or not. They may not have.
By what measuring stick is the top 3 FA’s going to the Yankees “stupid for baseball”? Almost every team set attendance records last year. Every team made money. The league itself made money.
How many home grown talents must a team have? Look at last years Yankees team, Melky, Gardner, Jeter, Petitte, Mo, Bruney, Coke, Posada, Cano, Joba, Hughes, etc.
In 30 years, as many different teams have won World Series rings as teams that have won the Super Bowl. Hard caps promote mediocrity.
Spending 450 million in the offseason before winning the world series makes your argument a little hard to swallow. I actually laugh at how poorly run they are to have not won more with their payroll. They have made some atrocious signings and have paid for it in wins, but when one team signs the top 3 free agents in one offseason it gets old. Give the phillies 60 million more in payroll and they would have whipped the yankees. That could have added two starters and a closer. The phillies have made their team from within and have just added pieces where needed. I totally agree that a floor should be established so teams like florida cant steal the luxury money from the yankees. I feel good about what they phillies have put together and feel that it should end up as a rematch baring injuries on either account. The way the yankees spend it is hard not to hate them.
But Josh, your argument about 60 million more for the Phillies falls in on itself. You have no idea if those “two starters and a closer” would have worked. The Yankees have proven this again and again. There’s plenty of Yankees who are home grown, especially on last year’s team (Jeter, Posada, Pettite, Cano, Joba, Wang, many others in the bullpen, Gardner). In fact, the Phillies have quite a few trades and free agent acquisitions themselves last year.
Next time, you’re in Philly look around and see how many Yankee jackets, jerseys and hats you see. Then go to NY and see how many Phillies hats, jerseys and jackets you see. It’s not the Yankees fault they make more money than other teams and they pay their luxury tax.
joe- your title is right on. money by itself doesn’t buy rings, just ask the 2001-2008 yankees. But to say that the yankees success has nothing to do with the money they spend is pretty ridiculous too. Do you really think the Rays and the Yankees are a level field. that the rays problem is just that they aren’t run well enough? just the fact that they have been competitive shows they are. even the draft is kind of messed up.
you have a point about all things being equal most guys would choose the yankees because of tradition, but right now, they simply outbid everyone else for whoever they want. they even had the highest offer for Johnny Damon this year, it was just that boras screwed up. that wouldn’t happen in a world with a real cap, and a real floor
Hey Eric,
Thanks for stopping by and offering a reasoned disagreement. I do think it’s funny that Damon lost money because of Boras. I actually do think the Rays and the Yankees are on an even playing field. I also agree that a solid floor is essential as baseball moves forward. Having money to offer guys that outbids everyone else is only one aspect. There are other teams that are constantly competitive without having the Yankees money. That is usually because they are very good with their player personnel decisions. The Yankees seem to be getting extremely better at that as well.
I honestly believe that the “hard” cap is the most overrated thing in sports right now, followed closely by performance at combines and Heisman trophy winners. Did you happen to see yesterday’s post about how many different champions there have been in the NFL, NBA and MLB over the last 30 years. The luxury tax is in essence a soft cap and it’s working. Teams are making money. Smart one’s like the Rays are using the luxury tax money to build their teams.