New York Yankees…Just buying another Championship

By Scott Butler
Updated: June 22, 2010

Brian Cashman Photo by Icon SMI

THE YANKEES BUY CHAMPIONSHIPS. It is JUST THAT SIMPLE.

The New York Yankees’ payroll is $206 million. That number may not mean much to you, but chew on this: the Yankees’ payroll is $44 million more than the next highest team (Red Sox).

That DIFFERENCE between the Yankees and the second highest payroll is higher than the ENTIRE TEAM SALARIES of two teams (Padres and Pirates). Their payroll is $33 million dollars more than the bottom 4 teams COMBINED. The numbers are staggering.

It is simply disgraceful that one team can dwarf the entire league by that much. What kind of skill does it take to buy the best and most expensive player and plop him on your team?

Do you remember those good Braves teams during the 90’s? The Braves earned their NL East crowns and World Series because they needed to constantly revive their farm system and trade talented players like Dave Justice to keep an affordable team salary.

The Yankees never have to worry about that.

A perfect example is what they did last year. Yankees fans were enraged that their team had not won a World Series in 9 years. So what was GM Brian Cashman to do? Would he bring up a shining star from the minors? Would he make a trade for a big time player? Would he look for a “diamond in the rough”? Would he make a strategic pickup of a guy at the trading deadline or take a chance on a Rule 5 player?

CC Sabathia Photo by Icon SMI

Of course not! Brian Cashman asked himself, “who is the best free agent player available?” Then bought CC Sabathia. Then found the second best, AJ Burnett, then BOUGHT HIM. Now he needed a hitter. Time to buy Mark Tiexiera.

That is such a joke. What skill does it take to just buy the best free agent available? There’s no risk in that. But that’s what they do in the Bronx.

Then the Yankees won the world series and their fans take full credit, citing the history of the organization and how much they deserve it.

Let’s compare them to the team they beat in the World Series. The Phillies have a high payroll themselves at $141 million, but there is a big difference: the Phillies grew their talent themselves and those players became the core. Four of their everyday infielders came from their farm system, Shane Victorino was a rule 5 guy and the Phillies took Jayson Werth from baseball oblivion.

When the Phillies wanted to grab a pitcher at the deadline last year, they needed to trade a bunch of prospects to get Cliff Lee. When they wanted Roy Halladay, they needed to trade Cliff Lee and some more prospects.

But the Yankees don’t need prospects because they just pluck the big name free agent. Don’t mention that to Yankees fans, however. They consider it their God given right to win championships. That doesn’t sound like too much fun to me.