Can We FINALLY
put to rest the notion (Ted, please notice that I didn't call it a myth) that the Yankees are unfairly buying championships?
It's not working.
It's not working.
Monday, October 09, 2006
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12 Comments:
What's funny -- and yes, I'm mostly just being a prick -- is that since this is conceivably a story some people are telling to make sense of the world (or at least the tiny little corner of it we call Major League Baseball), it actually comes close to being a myth.
On the whole, however, I applaud your linguistic exactitude. :)
You're such a pain in the ass.
Yes, what an absurd notion! I mean even though they have a $200 million player payroll, the Yanks clearly AREN'T buying championships. They have only played in the postseason every year since 1995, won it all in 1996, 1998, 1999, & 2000, and were Series losers in 2001 & 2003... Why do folks continue to cry foul?
great question, nate.
especially in light of the fact that those championships were won when, for some strange reason, king george put aside his habit of buying up expensive free agents.
the nucleus of those teams (jeter, williams, posada, rivera, pettite, etc.) came up through the yankees minor league system, with some good, but certainly not great, free agents/trades (o'neil, martinez, brosius) ... and, of course, the notable exception of roger clemens.
by and large, the past ten year's free agents and players picked up by trade (giambi, sheffield, johnson, matsui, a-rod, even aaron bleeping boone) have not yielded championships.
obviously having the highest payroll in the league does not guarantee a championship.
in '95 the mariners beat them with $12 million less in players' salaries
in '96 the yankees payroll was about $5 million more than the braves.
in '97 it was about $5 million more than the indians (who eliminated them).
in '98 it was about $15 million more than the padres.
in '99 it was $13 million more than the braves.
in '00 it was about $14 million more than the mets.
in '01 they were eliminated by the d'backs whose payroll was about $17 million less.
'02, the angels beat them with a $64 million lower payroll (around half the yankees).
did it again in '05 with a $111 million difference (again, around half the yankees' payroll).
in '03 the marlins beat the yankees spending about 1/3 what the yankees did.
in '04 the red sox spent about $50 million less and beat them in the closest of these series.
all four world series they yankees won were played on basically a level playing field salary wise. the one they played with the clearest 'advantage' in salary, against the marlins, they lost.
so, as you can clearly see, having a huge difference in payroll has not bought the yankees anything except attention.
notion, myth, whining, whatever you want to call it...it's really just a load of crap.
I stand corrected. Still...
The staggering truth is that '95-present is a mere slice of the picture. The Yankees have dominated baseball for some 80 years, advancing to the World Series nearly half of those years (39 appearances) and winning the title almost a third (26 championships). Those of us who hold near and dear merely mortal ball clubs, go Tigers!, of course raise an outcry when we see a dynastic team who consistently sits atop the league open up the coffers to buy up the best ballplayers in baseball; what we wouldn't give for even one of the Yankees' who's who!
I don't deny that we're jealous, but I also can't see how it's "fair" to so exceed what lesser teams -- which is to say, the rest of the league -- are capable of spending. Yankee faithful may not perceive it as an injustice, but the rest of us hardly consider ridiculously outspending all other comers to be anything but a slap in the face by a (justifiably) overconfident opponent; the opponent everyone loves to hate.
Just because the bucks have ultimately bought losses doesn't mitigate matters. Neither does it make the notion a load of crap.
Then again, when the Yanks come to town, we all sit up and watch.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Why'd you take that one down?
because i don't know nate and shouldn't say things like that:)
I don't know dick about baseball (obviously), but I'm going to side with Nate for three very important reasons:
1) I live in Michigan
2) Nate's given me beer
3) He writes well
ruth, i looked them up.
We haven't had this much fun since The Great Easter Egg Debate of '04.
That was fun. I had pretty much forgotten about it.
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