$450.4 Million Later: The New York Yankees Story

It's been quite an expensive past couple of weeks for America's favorite team. It began with the $161 million signing of ace C.C. Sabathia, ending a process which had the Yankees bidding against none other than themselves (side note: could any professional sports team BUT the Yankees achieve something so impossible?). They followed the signing of the 300 pound lefty with an $82.5 million acquisition of A.J. Burnett. Not shocking, as it was expected that the Yankees would shore up a depleted rotation by dropping a ridiculous amount of money, because hey, they have mastered the "you have to spend money to make money" mantra. On Monday, Bud Selig wished his favorite co-owners a "Merry Christmas" by sending them a bill for nearly $27 million; apparently, that's what you have to pay if your payroll is $222 million. "That'll keep those MF'ers from spending anymore money," Bud Selig must have been thinking. And, as we all know, the Steinbrenners responded with a big one-fingered-salute to the Commissioner, throwing $180 million at the last minute to Mark Teixeira, a Gold Glove 1B who significantly improves both the infield defense and the middle of the order for those damn Yankees.

Baseball fans, specifically Red Sox fans, responded to this last signing with shock, disbelief, outrage; "HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN!? Salary cap, salary cap, salary cap! The Yankees just bought a championship! WTF!?" As a Sox fan, I can admit to feeling a bit angry when I first heard the news. I never thought Teixeira was really a necessity for the Sox, but he was a luxury that would improve our team by about three-four wins, which could end up being the difference between the playing in the playoffs or golfing in October. Nevertheless, I got over this news quickly and went to check out the "chatter." As expected, Sox and Yankees fans were going at it like it was 2003. I found the back-and-forth nature to be rather amusing, but I particularly enjoyed this most common excuse from Yankees fans: We just dumped the contracts of Giambi, Pavano, Mussina, Pudge, etc. and are STILL $20 million below our 2008 salary with the inclusion of Sabathia, Burnett, and Teixeira. I may have found this amusing because I'm a Sox fan and inherently find Yankee fans to be clowns, but because I'm generally an objective Boston fan, I'm guessing I found this excuse to be absolutely absurd because the Yankees put themselves on the hook for $450 million over the past two weeks. That is a 45 followed by 7 zeros. Why is this so mind-blowing?

1. The Yankees now have four of the highest paid players in baseball: Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, C.C., and Teix. It would be one thing if these four guys were top five players, but the only guy who falls there is ARod. Jeter isn't even top five at his position, Teix is probably top ten, and C.C. is a guy who earned an extra $7 million per year because he dominated the weak NL Central for two months. Um, did anyone happen to realize that he is not going to dominate the AL East like he did the NL Central? The Yankees will be lucky if he can post numbers similar to Sabathia's 2007 in the best division in baseball, but I can't say that's terribly likely. He is not the best pitcher in baseball and should not be paid accordingly. Plus, do you really want to be paying a 300 pound power pitcher into his age 35 season? As great as the David Wells comparison *seems* to be, it's not a good one; Wells was a paint-the-black, induce contact pitcher, and C.C. relies on a mid-to-high 90s fastball and a hard, biting slider. Aging generally doesn't do good things for power pitchers; certainly not for power pitchers who have serious weight problems.

2. In one of, if not the worst economic situation in this country's history, the Yankees are currently committed to four players five seasons from now (2013): Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett. And they're on the hook for $90 million. Even worse: in seven seasons, they're on the hook for three players for $76.5 million. Add to the fact that they'll likely renew Jeter for another few years when his contract ends in 2010 and you can see that there is going to be a LOT of money tied up in these guys. After pissing and moaning about being stuck under Mussina's, Giambi's, and Pavano's fat contracts for the past few years, you would think the Yankees would be leary about engaging in massive, long-term deals. Guess not.

3. As a future resident of New York City (T-minus six months), this one bothers me the most. Over the past two offseasons, the Yankees have committed $700 million in player's salaries and been billed for nearly $60 million in luxury taxes. This all comes in lieu of a brand new, $1.3 billion SELF-FINANCED stadium. The Yankees won't go without, however; this new $1.3 billion home is basically being financed by the taxpayers of New York City! I do not understand how the Yankees, one of the richest organizations in baseball, could beg New York City for funding and then follow that up by committing $760 million over thirteen months. People will argue that the city of New York is allowing this because the Yankees are taking the money they are saving and spending it on free agents to field a better team, but, uh, what does that do for the City? The Yankees are going to sell-out, sell jerseys, attract fans, and make money (YES!) whether they have to fund their stadium or not; the City will receive their taxes from that revenue regardless. NYC is funding the parking garages and parkland on the waterfront, taxpayer money will go directly to the new stop on the MetroNorth, and the City is allowing the Yankees to issue muni-bonds to the public to help fund the Yankees' side of deal. Not only will the City forego the tax revenue that would be generated from the interest earned by the bond purchasers, but it will cost the Yankees less money than a standard corporate bond because they will have to pay less interest to bondholders due to the tax-exemption. The City has also worked with the Yankees to allow them to classify the Stadium as an "operating lease," which will allow the Yankees to keep more and share less with the rest of the MLB. In the end, taxpayers will end up footing half of the bill during the deepest economic recession in over 75 years. Oh, and the Yankees have thrown around nearly the ENTIRE cost of the stadium in just thirteen months. That is perfectly acceptable.

My rant is over. I do not have an issue with the Yankees throwing around the money that they do have, I just think it is ridiculous to be doing in this current economic environment. And I hate Yankee fans acting like their beloved team just cut salary - are you serious?