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This Could Be Your Ad! Sponsor . . .
Not about the Money! Advertise your business, or pay tribute to your favorite team! |
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This Could Be Your Ad! Sponsor . . .
Not about the Money! Advertise your business, or pay tribute to your favorite team! |
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| A bargain at the price |
How often do you hear teams crying about an inability to compete because of their payroll? Torii Hunter recently complained about the Twins playing for "minimum wage" compared to the Yankees, despite their opening day payroll of over $63 million. Granted, after the Bobby Abreu deal, the Yankees' 2006 payroll is just over $200 million. But the success of the Yankees franchise is hardly built on money alone; you've got to have intelligence to back up all of that money.
Don't say that the Yankees just bought themselves the division when the acquired Bobby Abreu, Corey Lidle, and Craig Wilson for Shawn Chacon, a wad of cash, and some ho-hum prospects. Abreu, Lidle, and Wilson combine to make roughly $20 million this year. I realize that not every team has the spending power to take on that kind of salary in the middle of a season, but at the same time, the Yankees managed to get three of the better deals in the game among available players.
What else could $20 million have gotten them this year? How about Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz, and Randy Wolf ($19.7M)? Or maybe Sean Casey, Juan Pierre, and Joel Piniero ($20.5M)? I know, why didn't take on the $22.8 million combined 2006 salaries of Shawn Green, Shea Hillenbrand, and Livan Hernandez? Each of these players was available in July, and most of them wound up with a new team willing to take on a lot of money for little in return. But I'd take the Yankees' trio over this bunch of mediocrity any day of the week.
Naturally, some of these players, like Green, came in a cash-lined casing in the deal. But look at the Wilson-for Chacon deal: Chacon was actually due more money for the remainder of the year than Wilson was! In fact, you may have noticed a preponderance of Pirates on that not-such-a-bargain list. Ironic, since Pirate fans are among the biggest "our market is too small" crybabies around. Well, I could fill up three articles with better ways for them to have spent the $19.2 million that they did on Burnitz, Casey, and Randa this past offseason.
And it's not as though it's impossible for these small market teams to compete. The Twins have consistently been in the lower third of teams' payrolls, yet they are perennially in playoff contention. How about the Florida Marlins? As Richard points out in today's Daily News and Notes, the Fish had a payroll $20 million lower than any other team at the start of the year, and they are currently in the thick of the NL wild card. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but all of their offseason moves that were written off as 'fire sales' were some of the shrewdest of the winter.
Then there are Cubs fans. They're the worst. They consistently complain that the Tribune company doesn't spend enough money, despite the fact that the Cubs are consistently in the top third of all payrolls, and generally among the top five teams. In fact, GM Jim Hendry commented in the Chicago Tribune today that ownership is not tight with their budget. "I've never been told 'No' in the middle of the year," he said.
The problems with the Cubs don't include a reluctance to increase the payroll. It consists of a poor use of their money and a terrible track record of developing their young talent. Hendry deserves some credit for taking much of the blame for the Cubs' disappointing three-year stretch.
Does it help to have extra spending power? Of course it does. Is Major League Baseball on a level playing field? Of course it's not. But it's a lot more level than people think. If you're a Pirates fan, and your team hasn't fielded a winning season in 14 years, the payroll excuse gets pretty tiresome. If you're a Cubs fan who is frustrated that your team's $100 million payroll isn't enough for it to compete, imagine how frustrating it would be to see the club spend $200 million and still fail.
And whether you're a fan of the Twins or of the Yankees, go ahead and be proud. No matter what advantages or disadvantages a club has, there's only a 27% chance of making the playoffs every season, and to be able to get there consistently deserves a certain amount of admiration.
Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Keith Glab resides in Chicago, Illinois, and can be reached at keith@baseballevolution.com.
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