Home MLB Yankees spend, spend then spend again

Yankees spend, spend then spend again

by Matt Smith

I wasn’t going to post anything else today after my ‘awards’ piece, but the news that the Yankees have agreed an eight-year/$180m contract with Mark Teixeira has compelled me to get back in front of my keyboard. 

No doubt my experience mirrored that of many baseball fans when waking up to the news this morning: logging on to MLB.com, seeing the headline ‘Yanks land Teixeira with eight-year deal’ and muttering a common two-word phrase in which the second word is ‘me’ and the first word begins with ‘f’. 

Oh yes, the Yanks have done it again!  After giving Sabathia $161m and Burnett $82.5m, the Steinbrenners have fumbled around under the cushions of their sofa and found another $180m of change to add another free agent to their collection.  As befits the stereotype of an impatient New Yorker, Yankee fans haven’t had to wait until Christmas day before receiving a bundle of wonderful presents, although next year’s amateur player draft could be a greater test of endurance.  It looks like they won’t get to select a player until the fourth round thanks to all of the draft picks they will lose. 

That’s a price the Yankees will be more than willing to pay.  In fairness to them, if you are going to lose draft picks and spend a lot of money, you might as well do so by acquiring the best players available.  Giving multi-year deals to pitchers is always a risk (one that can’t be completely avoided), but signing CC Sabathia for $161m makes a lot more sense than giving Barry Zito $126m, or even inking mediocrities like Carlos Silva to four-year deals worth $48m.  Although the Burnett deal has the potential to turn into a disaster due to his injury record, if he can keep on the mound then he makes the Yankees’ rotation a fearsome group.

Just as Sabathia and Burnett represented two of the top pitching talents available, Mark Teixeira was undoubtedly the premium bat on the free agent market.  He has proved to be a consistent run producer and also an excellent fielder at first base and there’s no doubt the Yanks have got a quality player for their money.

Maybe there is some hope for depressed baseball fans fearing that the signing of the first baseman has made it inevitable that the Yankee’s will sweep their way to success. The Braves traded for Teixeira at the end of July ’07 to turn a play-off hopeful into a play-off participant.  Result: they didn’t even win the NL wild card, never mind the NL East division. The Angels traded for Teixeira at the end of July ’08 to turn a play-off team into a World Series champ.  Result: L.A. fell at the first hurdle in October.  So, perhaps Tex isn’t quite the impact player we have been led to believe? 

No, I haven’t been able to convince myself that’s the case either. 

While Yankee fans are ecstatic, everyone else is busy bemoaning the unfairness of it all.  Even though it is true that the Bronx Bombers have seen a lot money coming off the payroll this winter, that doesn’t diminish the impact of committing themselves to spending $423.5m on just three players.

Take my A’s as an example.  Last year, our opening day payroll for the 25-man roster was a shade under $48m.  Even when you disregard their signing bonuses, the Yankees’ three new players will earn $54m combined in 2009. 

So is the signing of Teixeira yet another symptom of everything that is wrong with the game?  Not as far as I’m concerned. 

Like it or not, the Yankees generate a huge amount of revenue and they are entitled to spend it as they wish (and you have to grudgingly admire the fact that they choose to spend that money on trying to win rather than lining the owner’s pockets).  The Yankees also generate revenue for the other teams to enjoy, indirectly by increasing the value of the overall TV contracts and directly by shelling out ‘luxury tax’ ($26.9m for 2008).

More than anything, the Yankees’ prolific spending should be the source of great entertainment.  The potentially great team the Yankees will be fielding gives everyone else a target to aim for.  They are firmly cast as the pantomime villain and a convincing bad guy makes any show all the more exciting.  Fans of the other twenty-nine teams will be gritting their teeth today, saying to themselves: ‘I hope we get a chance to knock those bloody Yankees down a peg or two’. 

These signings (and there may be more to come) have made the Yankees a formidable contender for the World Series and they could well go on and win it all.  However, anyone who knows anything about sports (and particularly MLB) knows that there are never any certainties.  If the Yankees end the year parading the World Series trophy, I’m sure their massive wealth will be at the forefront of my mind.  But that same level of spending will also make it all the more enjoyable for a team that is able to beat them.

Oh, I can see it now.  Game seven of the ALCS, the scores are tied in the ninth inning and the A’s complete a glorious comeback against all the odds, one that makes David versus Goliath look like an even contest, to book their place in the Fall Classic.  Maybe with Jason Giambi sliding into home plate for the winning run just to exorcise the ghost of his brother’s base-running antics of 2001?

Bud Selig likes to talk about parity, but nothing is more boring than everyone being the same.  Watching the Yankees and their expensive free agents battling against the youthful Rays, with a payroll of probably not much more than a quarter of their rival’s, will be compelling entertainment in 2009.

And the main reason it will be so compelling is that while the glamour free agents and the $200m+ payroll will make the Yankees a very tough team to beat, that same situation didn’t stop the Rays from coming out on top last year.

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4 comments

Joe Cooter December 24, 2008 - 2:33 pm

As a yankee fan, I am not coming to this board to gloat. Although, I have to confess going to the Boston Globe’s website and see how the redsox fans we’re angry at Us and Red Sox management was hysterical.

You are right about the revenues generated by the Yankees. Everyone seeming complains about the money they spend,but when they come into Tampa Bay the rays see a boost in attendance. When they go to Denver, the Rockies see a similar boost in attendence. It is very similar to what happens in the Premiership and FA Cup in Britian. Everyone seems to complain about how the Big Four are seemingly ruining british football, but when your club draws a home match in against them in the FA cup, you doing think your going to have a boost in attendance?

I also happen to agree with you about parity. I can’t stand it. To my mind, the parity is a code word for mediocrity.

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Matt Smith December 24, 2008 - 2:59 pm

Must be hard not to gloat today Joe?! As I wrote above, you do have to credit the Yankees’ ownership for being prepared to spend a lot of money to get the best players, even if it can be annoying (to say the least) to their competitors. Nobody can deny that they are completely committed to winning.

The FA Cup situation has got so bad that in some cases when a smaller team has been paired at home against a big club, they have asked for the game to be moved to the big club’s stadium. They would prefer to receive a greater amount of money from the higher attendance than to keep their home-field advantage.

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Joe Cooter December 24, 2008 - 3:38 pm

Here is the thing about the signing that makes it hard not to gloat. It upgrades OUR offense while at the same time preventing the Red Sox from doing the same. Make no mistake about it, the redsox needed Texiera. AFter trading Manny, David Ortiez’s production declined, in part because he didn’t have Manny’s bat to protect him. Mark Texiera would have provided that.

Here are a couple of articles from today’s Boston Globe (which is owned by the New York Time btw) The Headline for Bob Ryan’s colum was entitled Bronx Bombshell Sends Loud Message. Basically, Ryan seems upset and uses sacrasim to show how his anger at the signing. The story can be found here: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/12/24/bronx_bombshell_sends_loud_message/

Here is another article from the globe: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/12/24/red_sox_trumped_in_teixeira_stakes/

BAsically it seems as if the RedSox Nation is in full blown panic mode. There fans don’t know who to be more upset at. There ownership who seem cheap and petty, when they could have easily afforded that extra $2 million a year, or the Yankees who are beginning to resemble the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in that they too always get their man.

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Joe Cooter December 24, 2008 - 9:25 pm

The following is a poll that has appeared on Boston.com which is trying to gage how Redsox Nation is feeling.

What best describes the way you’re feeling about the Yankees landing Mark Teixeira?
I’m furious at the Red Sox for not upping the ante! How could they let the Yankees do this AGAIN?!
Good riddance … Teixeira wasn’t worth that much anyhow. I trust that the Sox made the right decision here by not over-reaching for him. I’m going to LOVE hating this guy.
This is not fair. The Yankees have a bottomless supply of money. How can the Red Sox compete with that? The Yankees truly are the “Evil Empire.”
I don’t know who to blame, but I do know one thing: This has ruined my Christmas more than the economy.

What should the Red Sox do now?
Re-sign Jason Varitek, ASAP
Sign Derek Lowe
Make a big splash by pulling off a big trade … perhaps for Twins catcher Joe Mauer or Padres ace Jake Peavy
Sign Kevin Youkilis to an extension.
Relax, sip some egg nog, and not do anything drastic in the wake of this devastating news.

Which person(s) do you blame most for Mark Teixeira joining the Yankees instead of the Red Sox?
Mark Teixeira
Theo Epstein/John Henry
Scott Boras
The Steinbrenners/Brian Cashman

Which team do you think will win the AL East next season?
Yankees
Red Sox
Rays

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