The rich get richer… and baseball gets poorer
The rich get richer and baseball loses a little more of its luster. The Yankees add Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns and Kerry Wood. Only the Yankees could afford to sit Kearns on the bench. At least Seattle played the bombers with Cliff Lee. Yankee fans though are still mourning the fact that they didn’t land Lee, Haran and that they missed out on Joe Mauer. Until baseball wakes up and institutes a payroll ceiling and floor, it’s hard to take it serious.
When baseball adds another wild card team for each league, I’ve got the system for determining the play-off teams for the American League. The three division winners, the non-division winner with the best record, and the Yankees (or the non-division winner with the second best record if the Yankees win their division or the other Wild Card). This will guarantee that the Yankees are in the post-season every year which will keep TV happy and will provide the Yankee fans with their annual entitlement.
Money may not guarantee a championship, however, it can close to guarantee regular post-season appearances. That’s not to say that spending a lot of money guarantees success – see the Fred Wilpon’s New York Mets. It’s also not to say that you can’t win without spending a lot of money. But look what has happened to the once proud franchises such as the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, et al.
I’m also tired or hearing how the Mets and Red Sox payrolls are up there as well. There’s really not a comparison with the Yankees. Look at the 2009 payrolls:
| Team | 2009 Payroll |
| Yankees | $201,449,189 |
| Mets | $149,373,987 |
| Cubs | $134,809,000 |
| Red Sox | $121,745,999 |
| Tigers | $115,085,145 |
| Angels | $113,709,000 |
| Phillies | $113,004,046 |
| Astros | $102,996,414 |
| Dodgers | $100,414,592 |
| Mariners | $98,904,166 |
| Braves | $96,726,166 |
| White Sox | $96,068,500 |
| Giants | $82,616,450 |
| Indians | $81,579,166 |
| Blue Jays | $80,538,300 |
| Brewers | $80,182,502 |
| Cardinals | $77,605,109 |
| Rockies | $75,201,000 |
| Reds | $73,558,500 |
| Diamondbacks | $73,516,666 |
| Royals | $70,519,333 |
| Rangers | $68,178,798 |
| Orioles | $67,101,666 |
| Twins | $65,299,266 |
| Rays | $63,313,034 |
| Athletics | $62,310,000 |
| Nationals | $60,328,000 |
| Pirates | $48,693,000 |
| Padres | $43,734,200 |
| Marlins | $36,834,000 |
The Yankees salary was 35% more than the Mets or more than the entire payroll of the Pirates, Padres and Marlins. The Yankees payroll was more than double than 20 of the other MLB teams (all teams from the Dodgers, 9th on the list, on down) and more than the Nationals, Pirates, Padres and Marlins combined! It was 5.5x the Marlins payroll! So if anyone tells you that baseball is fair…
Money doesn’t always = success, however, “no money” = can’t complete on a regular basis!