Why Others “Distrust” the New York Yankees’ Success
November 7, 2009 · Tom Au · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The New York Yankees have a number of great homegrown players. They include shortstop Derek Jeter, pitchers Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, and catcher Jorge Posada.
I’d even include World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, given that the Yankees is the only American team that he has played for. Consider him “drafted” from a “collegiate” level Japanese team.
And the Yankees sure pay these people well to live in New York City. Jeter (among others) makes over $20 million, and Rivera, Posada, and Matsui make $13 million-$15 million a piece. Only Pettitte is a bargain at $5.5 million.
The Yankees also have some able lesser paid players coming up, such as second baseman Robinson Cano, centerfielder Melky Cabrera, pitchers Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and formerly, Chien-Ming Wang.
Perhaps the Yankees could have won the World Series with these players, plus a complement of others, say an Andy Phillips or Josh Phelps at first base, and a modern-day Scott Brosius at third. They’d even be “entitled” to an occasional transplant, say a Nick Swisher in right field, and his equivalent in left.
However, what’s troubling to most people is not the high paid home grown talent. It is the fact that the Yankees’ budget allows them to fill out their roster with the “best and brightest” from other teams:
Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira from the Texas Rangers, CC Sabathia from the Cleveland Indians, AJ Burnett from the Toronto Blue Jays, and Johnny Damon from the Oakland As (originally).
Remove those five players from the Yankees, and you remove something like $98 million from their payroll. That would leave it around $110 million, still at the high end, but “in front of the pack” not “way ahead.”
Then the argument of “it costs more to live in New York” might hold up. Another author argued “Money doesn’t buy rings, the Yankees are just better.”
It’s true that the Yankees are “just better.” But they are “just better” because of the money. That’s because they are a “complete” team.
The high budget teams that the other author cited, that didn’t go anywhere, failed to do so, because they had “holes.”
One of them was the Detroit Tigers, who lost out to the low budget Minnesota Twins, because the Tigers’ superior pitching couldn’t compensate for inferior hitting.
The Chicago Cubs didn’t go to the playoffs for a similar reason. The New York Mets have good players that are managed terribly, while the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners have overpaid mediocrities.
As a National League team, the Philadelphia Phillies had a major “hole” at the DH spot, the Angels’ pitching was not as good as the Yankees’ and the Twins were simply overpowered.
The Yankees’ “hole” use to be pitching. (The former) Chien-Ming Wang was solid, as staff ace, but not Cy Young material. His collapse was a blessing in disguise for the Yankees, who were then forced to acquire Sabathia and Burnett.
Suppose we sent back the five “imports” to their original owners, so that Rodriguez and Teixeira took the Rangers to the playoffs, while Burnett, Sabathia, and Damon Toronto, Cleveland, and Oakland made more competitive in their respective divisions.
And then suppose the Yankees won the World Series anyway. Then we could truly say that “homegrown” Yankees were the series champions.
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