"Help is on the Way as Yankees spend smart"
-actual top headline on New York Yankees MLB official team site as of 1/3/09
I was going to try to reenact my initial response, but I positively abhor the wildly overused and teenie-bopper, nonsensical "Laughing Out Loud" acronym. In case you doubt the kick I got out of reading that laugher of a headline, just ask our Siamese who has been literally in my face for the past 30 minutes.
A number of variations of shock and surprise flooded my e-mail last Tuesday.
"What's going on? Can you believe this? What the heck? Seriously... What the heck!?" That was pretty much the recurring theme. So when asked what I thought, I shared in the surprise but promised a more clairvoyant written response post-holiday madness.
Yeah, the Yankees brought in this offseason's two biggest names. Yeah, the Yankees just committed almost a half-billion dollars to um... three people. Three people who are not even in the top-three in the league at their respective positions.
So, can I believe it? Of course I can. But I didn't a few weeks ago when I said that the Yankees were effectively removed from the Teixeira running. I underestimated their resolve (a mistake), and I underestimated their commitment to spending (a confounding oversight). The silliest thing I hear out of the mouths of Yankees-fans is "That's just how committed they are to winning. They do what it takes." In an economy that is bringing major corporations to their knees and record-numbers to the doors of the unemployment office, and is seeing everyone and their moms cutting spending... we have the bully with the biggest stick making sure everyone knows their place.
So much for social responsibility.
Am I complaining? Far from it. What might look like such is simply me bringing some things to light. I mean, do the Sox have a legitimate shot at finishing 3rd in the division and missing the playoffs - perhaps with a 95-win season? Very much so. But such is, I guess. That's not the problem, though. The problem is that the Yankees have essentially spit in the face of every other MLB franchise and in the collective face of every Mr. or Mrs. Smith who got laid-off these past few months... But, I guess, it's all in the name of winning. Putting the best product possible on the field of the new Yankee Stadium. Filling those luxury boxes which have become unsurprisingly tough sells. But I guess committing another $180 million to Teixeira will sell a few more luxury suites. Sour grapes? No... Perhaps some perspective, though.
The Yankees are playing within the established rules. There is no salary cap in the MLB. Therefore any team is free to spend what they please, how they please. Does that mean they should inflate payroll when everyone else is trimming, simply because they can? Well, no, not exactly. Does that mean they should thumb their nose at the sport, at the sport's fans, and at a national economy on the verge of ruin? You'd have to be a Jeffrey Skilling advocate to think so.
There is a luxury tax in baseball - if teams exceed a certain payroll threshold for at least the second time, they are required to contribute 40% of that excess to the commissioner's office. The Yankees are very much past that $155 million threshold. The only other franchise that joined them in cutting a luxury tax check was the Detroit Tigers; but the disparity in payrolls between the two teams was over $60 million. Some more perspective: that difference is more than seven MLB franchise's entire payroll figure.
What this means?? The Yankees committed $423.5 million in contracts to these new free agents. Now this is where it gets good: the Yankees were already well beyond the luxury tax threshold - therefore any new dollar commitments will receive that 40% taxing.
So, some quick math... 423.5 x 1.4 = ...... 593.
That's right. $593 million allocated to the CC, Burnett, and Teixeira aquisitions. Holy schnikes. Who cares, though, right? It's only money. Three weeks ago when I said they weren't done, I guess I was more right than originally thought. And guess what? I can almost guarantee that they are still not done. Part of me is hoping that they finalize another 9-figure deal so that they can approach a prestigious $750,000,000 offseason spending figure. Maybe then, enough will be enough. Maybe then, the wheel will become so obnoxiously squeeky, that there will be no other choice but to douse this immensely flawed and broken system with oil. Then they can light a match for all I care. It's on. It's barely 2009 and I can't remember the last time I've been this fired up for a season. The Sox and the Evil Empire matching up in next year's ALCS would be a phenomenal birthday present.
Last year the Yankees wore the loveable losers hat (rather gracefully I might add - Note: gracefully... not graciously. Don't get it twisted). From Hank Steinbrenner's office came the orders that being a punch line and missing the playoffs simply cannot occur again... at any cost. Of course (being the Yankees and forgetting that championship clubs are built from within) the logical choice is to open the bottomless pocketbook and splurge $650 million (or whatever the final figure will be). That oughtta fix it. So let them trot out all-stars or former all-stars at most every position - let them round out their rotation with the same. And let's see how they fare. Perhaps if they're the ones who finish third in what might be the most competitive division in the history of all the major sports... then maybe they'll figure it out. Maybe those brilliant fellows who comprise the Yankees front office, who (for the past nine years since their last title) keep following the same head-scratching, failing formula (spend more than the next guy and trade away all premium, young cost-controlled talent for washed-up former stars), maybe then they'll cut spending and start rebuilding the way every other team in sports has to. And maybe Mr. Smith will be able to bring little Johnny to a game at the new Yankee Stadium with a clear conscience. And he can tell him all about the Yankee lore of yesteryear... and of a franchise that used to be the most-respected in all of sports.
[Flash back to reality]
But now? Now they're the hated Yankees again.
Order has been restored in the galaxy t'would appear.
