No Longer the Best Team Money Can Buy

[RickD]

Teams that have spent more than the New York Yankees ($93 million) in contracts this offseason:

Team | Amount
Rockies | $239 million
Red Sox | $172 million
Nationals | $144 million
Phillies | $126 million
White Sox | $124 million
Tigers | $102 million
Rangers | $94 million

SO...they Yankees will still have the highest payroll...with the Red Sox being about $40 million behind, bu teams are spending more than the Yankees...so if one of these teams wins the WS I expect to hear everyone yell how they bought a championship!

[Old Sweater]

The Rockies are tendering their young stars who will still be in their prime come selling/trading time.

It's great to see some owners investing like the Yankees!

[yankeebiscuitfan]

The Rockies are tendering their young stars who will still be in their prime come selling/trading time.

It's great to see some owners investing like the Yankees!

As long as they can do this financially sound, I am fine with it.

[LetsPlay2]

SO...they Yankees will still have the highest payroll...with the Red Sox being about $40 million behind, bu teams are spending more than the Yankees...so if one of these teams wins the WS I expect to hear everyone yell how they bought a championship!

It's not that simple. Yanks fans always try to simplfy this argument by saying "Oh, but Boston is number two in payroll spending".... trying to make it seem that there isn't much separating the two, when in fact there is.

The Sox did spend a lot of money this offseason.... but a lot came off the books as well. Mike Lowell ($12.5 mil), Adrian Beltre ($9 mil), Victor Martinez ($7.7 mil) all came off the books (totally $29.2 mil). So it's not as easy as saying that they are spending lots of money. The Sox two big signings are Gonzo (making $5.5 mil in '11) and Crawford ($14 mil in '11). Sure, Gonzo will announce an extension shortly after Opening Day.... but that won't kick in until 2012.

And the Yanks made their bed prior to the 2009 season.... signing Tex, CC, and Burnett. The fact that they haven't signed any big names this off-season is their own fault. This little table would read a little different if they didn't whiff on Cliff and Crawford.... wouldn't it?

And we can look at this historically too. I like to use Cot's Contracts (http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/).... which I think is the best source for contract info out there. They have team payroll totals going back to the 2000 season. Here's how it shapes up:

New York Yankees: $1,899,247,045
Boston Red Sox: $1,336,823,973

Difference: $562,423,072

The Sox have spent roughly 30% less(29.61295% to be a little closer to exact....) than the Yanks over that time.... Roughly a third less!

Now, I don't begrudge the Yanks anymore. They choose to reinvest a greater share of their money into payroll. Good on 'em. But don't spend the most, year after year, then try to act like it's not that much more than everybody else.... because it is.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

The Yankees were still in the mix for several of the high priced free agents they just decided not to go there. I am glad to see these other teams stepping up and spending the cash to get these players away from the Yankees.
I am glad that the Yankees did't jump into the FA pond. it is good to see that (for now) they prefer to cling to their Minor League talents.

[LetsPlay2]

I am glad that the Yankees did't jump into the FA pond. it is good to see that (for now) they prefer to cling to their Minor League talents.

Oh, they jumped in.... they just didn't get wet.

Credible sources (in this case Jerry Crasnick of ESPN) reported that the Yanks offered Cliff Lee $132 mil/6yrs with a player option for a seventh year.... which was the richest bid.

I guess it doesn't pay to spit on someone's wife.... especially when you want to sign them.

[Old Sweater]

The estimated payrolls are right on the front page of BR for 2011.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/


Rockies is 92.4mil which I think will be closer to 85 mil.

Yankees, 187.7mil
BoSox,.. 154.3mil to keep their Yankees Lite status.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

Oh, they jumped in.... they just didn't get wet.

Credible sources (in this case Jerry Crasnick of ESPN) reported that the Yanks offered Cliff Lee $132 mil/6yrs with a player option for a seventh year.... which was the richest bid.

I guess it doesn't pay to spit on someone's wife.... especially when you want to sign them.

Sure they tried to lure Lee. But after he signed with the Phillies, they were not willing to give up their draft pick and their prospects. A good thing IMHO.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

He kept saying that the Yankee fans that spat on his wife did not play a role in his decision. But I can't believe that you want to play for a team whose fans "abused" your wife.

[BobH]

Oh, they jumped in.... they just didn't get wet.....



Amen to that, LP. The Yanks struckout this year but it certainly wasn't for lack of trying. To me, claiming they aren't such big spenders...or any more so than other would-be contenders, I would say is a form of sour grapes. Cashman and co. got shut out this year and I don't imagine that sets well with the Yankee faithful...and perhaps it shouldn't for the true fan.-BH

[Old Sweater]

The team that always surprises me with a low payroll and usually getting the most success out of it is the Oakland A's.

Use to be until the last 3 or 4 years and the A's attendance has been on a steady decline longer then that. Players are strictly a stock investment on that team IMO.

[LetsPlay2]

Use to be until the last 3 or 4 years and the A's attendance has been on a steady decline longer then that. Players are strictly a stock investment on that team IMO.

Whatever happened to their proposed new ballpark? If ever there was a team in need of a new park....

A little time on Google led me to this story from yesterday's LA Times. Apparently, the McCourt's are looking to sell the Dodgers and there were rumors that they would look to Lew Wolff (Owner of the A's) to see if he was interested.

From the article:

In his ESPN.com column on Tuesday (subscription link), Buster Olney speculated that Selig might solve two problems at once by shepherding a sale of the Dodgers to Wolff. Selig has delayed a decision on Wolff's request to build a new A's stadium in San Jose for more than a year, and Olney suggested that Selig could do with the A's what he did with the Montreal Expos -- get the owner of the troubled team a new team and then let Major League Baseball figure out what to do with the troubled team.

[Old Sweater]

^ I don't think a owner can have 2 teams. Be like back in the old days when the owner of 2 teams used one of them to stockpile his lesser players as if they were a MLB level minor league team.

This is what led to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders 20 win season.

[Mudge]

In his ESPN.com column on Tuesday (subscription link), Buster Olney speculated that Selig might solve two problems at once by shepherding a sale of the Dodgers to Wolff. Selig has delayed a decision on Wolff's request to build a new A's stadium in San Jose for more than a year, and Olney suggested that Selig could do with the A's what he did with the Montreal Expos -- get the owner of the troubled team a new team and then let Major League Baseball figure out what to do with the troubled team.
No bad blood left over from that fiasco.

[LetsPlay2]

^ I don't think a owner can have 2 teams. Be like back in the old days when the owner of 2 teams used one of them to stockpile his lesser players as if they were a MLB level minor league team.

This is what led to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders 20 win season.

In the proposed solution, they are saying that Lew Wolff would buy the Dodgers and the MLB would buy the A's.... and most likely move them.

---------- Post added at 10:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:43 AM ----------


Sure they tried to lure Lee. But after he signed with the Phillies, they were not willing to give up their draft pick and their prospects. A good thing IMHO.

Looks like the Rays will be getting a first-round pick for Rafael Soriano!

[JoshRedcay]

It sickens me to see how much teams are spending as a Pirates fan, and it's even worse that A-Rod is 1 mil shy of getting as much money as the entire Pirates payroll. Although I say this, I still don't like it when people say a team "bought" a championship. We've all seen many big-market teams fail to even make the playoffs. Sure big-name guys help you out a lot, but they don't win an entire championship for you, there's more to it than that.

[Mr. Baseball]

There's really no such thing as 'the best team money can buy'. No matter how much money the Yankees put together, they can't take guys like Pujols, Halladay, Lincecum, and Braun away from their teams due to them being under contract. New York has limits just like everyone else. You can't buy a championship.

I'm pretty sure the top four teams in payroll are the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Cubs. The Cubs and Red Sox combined for nearly two century's of world series droughts. The Mets only made three postseason trips in the last twenty-five years, and Detroit (sixth in payroll) has reached the playoffs only once since 1972.

[RickD]

Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner wants to lower the team's payroll to $189 million over the next few years.

Under baseball's new labor contract, the luxury tax threshold will be at $189 million after the 2013 season. By getting under the threshold, the Yankees would be eligible to get some of their revenue-sharing money back.

Steinbrenner said this season's payroll is around $210 million. He thinks the Yankees can be successful at a lower level with a strong player-development system.