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» A RECORD-BREAKING SEASON from SportsBlog
This post is dedicated to (as far as I know) lifelong Yankee fan Michele. Noted as the greatest team in baseball history, the 1927 New York Yankees, commonly referred to as "Murderer's Row", consisted of Hall of Fame legends like... [Read More]

Comments

They're still havin' fun cause they're still the ONE!!!

Step one of four in the books....

Historical note: believe it or not, this is the first time the Yankees have ever finished first six years in a row. Even in their golden era, their longest streak was five years, which they did twice: 1949-53 and 1960-64.

the best team money can buy

Don't start sizing those World Series rings just yet...

Michele - you always have a place to stay in Atlanta for the World Series, hon. :)

how do yankees fan feel, honestly, about having a payroll 60% higher than anyone else in baseball? do you just try to completely ignore it? do you acknowledge it and feel slightly ashamed sometimes? do you just thank your lucky stars you live in new york and can root for a team that flouts the salary cap?

i've always wondered about this. i accept that the yankees are an evil, cheating franchise that will spend whatever it takes to win every year, and usually will. it makes it all the sweeter in the years when they lose.

And people wonder why some people thing baseball is so boring? They are getting as bad as that a-hole Schuie in F1. What they hell is the point of watching if the same teams wins all the bloody time?

Scott, I don't own the team, I just root for them. What their owner does or how he goes about getting it done does nothing to diminish my love for a team I've followed my entire 41 years of life.

Yes, George is embarassing, George is a buffoon, George buys his players. But if everyone abandoned their favorite sports teams because the owner is an asshole, the seats at nearly every sports stadium would be empty.

I love the YANKEES, not the people behind the scenes.

scott, you're in denial, buddy. sounds like a classic case of trophy-evny.

Yeah for the Yanks,
The twins clinched last night as well,
and it looks like we might end up playing yaw'lls, and I'm scared, yaw'lls gonna kick our biscuits too.

what fun celebrations tho, had by all. good luck. t

All I have to add, Michele, is watch out behind you for a team that's just now starting to peak.

From today's Globe:

"The Red Sox bullpen woes are well-documented, but is there a team in the American League that wants to play Boston? Something tells me the Yankees would rather play the Twins or A's. The Sox are dangerous. Pedro Martinez is back to automatic-win status and Boston's offense is off the charts. The Yankees and A's have trouble mounting comebacks. The Red Sox come back all the time."

We're coming, New York.

Scott, maybe you could enlighten me as to how the Yankees are "flouting" the salary cap or cheating.

Far as I know they are working within the framework established by the collective bargaining agreement that is available to every single team in MLB. They are also paying the 17% luxury tax on their payroll that exceeds $117 Million. That money is supposed to be going to teams like Tampa Bay and others for their use in spending more on salaries, or upgrading their team and/or facilities.

Last I checked, following the rules was NOT flouting the rules or cheating. Maybe there's a new definition.

While it is true the Yankees spend more than any team, to me it's just as important how they spend it. Of the top ten salaries on the 5 teams with the top payrolls, the numbers for homegrown talent are:

Yankees: 5 of 10 (Rivera, Posada, Jeter, B Williams, Pettite)
Dodgers: 1 of 10 (Darren Dreifort)
Red Sox: 3 of 10 (Nixon, Varitek, Nomar)
Atlanta: 3 of 10 (Lopez, Jones, Smoltz)
Giants: 2 of 10 (Aurilia, M Benard)

So you really hold it against the Yankees for developing the best talent and then paying those guys ? I would also point out that of those 50 players, on other - JT Snow - is also a product of the Yankees farm system.

Where the Yankees tend to spend more money than other teams is in pitching and foreign players (Matsui, Contreras, El Duque, Duquecito, Irabu). Some have panned out, others have not (Weaver, Karsay, Irabu, Duquecito, Henson).

The worst thing you could probably say about them is they are more willing to take risks with their salary, and that they are more willing to pay more for their depth, such as bullpen pitchers (Nelson, Gabe White, Karsay, Osuna, Weaver, Chris Hammond making a total of $21,000,000). I know you'd like to think that money is spent wisely, but au contraire, that overpaid bullpen is 18-18 with a 4.11 ERA with 48 saves this season. Take out Rivera and the numbers drop to 13 and 16 with a 4.63 ERA. With Rivera they are middle of the pack in the AL, without him they would be 10th.

In total their pitching payroll is $70.8 Million, almost half their total. Still only good for third best ERA in the AL, and 11th overall.

I would also point out that two other prominent AL pitchers - Ted Lilly and Eric Milton - were Yankees prospects as well.

So I guess ultimately you would have a point IF all that money DID buy performance. But it doesn't. Just ask the Dodgers, Mariners, Mets, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks - teams averaging $90 Million in payroll that failed to make the playoffs at all.

BTW, watch the Cubs, too.

the funny thing, sherard, is that you just named 5 of the highest payrolls in the game, and they're all disappointing because they didn't make the playoffs...YET THE YANKEES PAYROLL IS MORE THAN TWICE THE AVERAGE OF THOSE FIVE TEAMS! and yes, the yankees do make some good personnel moves, but it's not hard to do when you're spending so much money you have leeway of two major league payrolls. hell, i could make the decision to go after every attractive free agent because i have unlimited resources.

the yankees are a tremendously fortunate team, and used to be tremendously well-run. around 2000 or so, they became a little embarrassing. they stopped developing any talent (their farm system is bereft at this point) and started buying veterans. that's why their payroll skyrocketed.

and i'm not sure how you define "flouting the cap" as anything OTHER than exceeding it by 70 million dollars. it's nice to have enough money to ignore it and pay the penalties, but that's not exactly what the cap was intended for. i think the intent of the cap is shown by EVERY OTHER TEAM in the league staying under it. the penalty is supposed to encourage teams to stay under the cap...it's just that the yankees make so much money they can ignore it. by the way, the definition of "flout" is "to show contempt for, scorn". you might try explaining how exceeding a salary cap by 70 million dollars is showing respect for the salary cap.

in any case, i'm an orioles fan, so i certainly understand what it is to like the team and hate the owner. i just wondered how yankees fans feel about so outpacing the other teams in payroll, and whether it cheapens victory a little bit.

What they hell is the point of watching if the same teams wins all the bloody time?

Says the Englishman, who lives in a country where three teams (Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United) have won 16 of the last 20 Football League/Premier League championships. In the same 20 years, 12 different teams have won the World Series.