Yankees working within the confines of MLB's system...

[theswami]

Not only do us Yankee fans have to endure losing/non-championship seasons but we also get to hear about how our team is destroying baseball when we do win or make our team better.

The Yankees paid something on the order of $60 million-plus in revenue sharing and luxury tax last year. This goes straight to the owners without a demand that the money is reinvested in their teams.

George Steinbrenner annoys me as much as the next guy but I can appreciate what he is doing with HIS business. The team operates within the bounds of the rules of Major League Baseball yet pundits, fans, and owners cry foul. Yes, they operate within the rules....the boundaries that were constructed in 2002 to prevent a stoppage in baseball...the agreement made between the players and ownership....the agreement where there was one lone understandably dissenting vote.

So.....

For you folks sickened by the yet to be official ARod deal to the Yankees...

1) Is it the Yankees fault or MLB's fault that YOU believe that baseball playing field is tilted toward NY?
2) How would you fix it the problem that you believe exists in MLB considering that 2003 was the FIRST full season under a new deal?

 

[wilheim]

Swami, as a life long Red Sox fan I can honestly say the trade really does'nt bother me. If the Yanks had picked up Greg Maddux or Mark Prior, or even Randy Johnson, I would be concerned. There never was a doubt that the Yanks would have a quality player at every position this year. How much better the Yanks will be on the field with A ROD and without Soriano remains to be seen. The whole matter will have to be decided on the playing field this October. Should be an intersting season.

btw. I have no idea how to fix what is wrong, if anything with baseball.


wil.

 

[D2bets]

It's MLB's fult and I'm, well, sickened is a bit strong, but I think the system is bad for baseball. Some sort of a salary would be good. Maybe 110 mil or so now. Something on the upper end of what other upper-markets can afford but still way less than the Yanks throw around.

 

[Kojak]

It does make me sick that the Yankees are able to do this but at the same time it is the system's fault without a salary cap to prevent the spending. I do want to mention that all of the Yankee and Red Sox who think they will be playing for the AL World Series birth, are overlooking the Anaheim Angels. This team has a better pitching staff than the Yankees and at least equal to the Red Sox(Colon,Escobar,Lackey,Ortiz,Rodriguez,Percival,etc). The everyday lineup is better than Boston's and comparable to the Yankees (Guerrero,Glaus,Erstad,Salmon,Anderson,etc.). There are 3 superteams in the American League!

 

[monicus]

George does a great job of putting the best team on the field within a system that favors his team. The Yankees got over 56 million in their local tv contract. I being a Pittsburgh native cheered for the Pirates who recieved 9 million in local tv money. The Yankees recieved 10 more million then the second place team, the Mets, in tv revenue. An extra 10 million every year means the Yankees get 1 more superstar player then the Mets and about 6 more then the Pirates. 1/2 of the teams in baseball don't even have a shot at winning the world series on day 1. Baseball is a joke. The Yankees will be in almost every World Series because they live in the largest city in the USA not because of Geroge.

If you want to fix it you have to share all tv revenue equally among the teams. The NFL does that and that is why the NFL is so well balanced and just about every team has a chance to win the big one on day one.

 

[theswami]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by wilheim:
Swami, as a life long Red Sox fan I can honestly say the trade really does'nt bother me. If the Yanks had picked up Greg Maddux or Mark Prior, or even Randy Johnson, I would be concerned. There never was a doubt that the Yanks would have a quality player at every position this year. How much better the Yanks will be on the field with A ROD and without Soriano remains to be seen. The whole matter will have to be decided on the playing field this October. Should be an intersting season.

btw. I have no idea how to fix what is wrong, if anything with baseball.


wil.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wil-

I'm with you. I don't think the deal makes the Yankees a cinch to win the World Series OR the AL East. The last thing the Yankees need is more runs. The pitching staff is good on paper but in reality questionable. There are new faces and when I think of new pitchers coming to NY to pitch I think about Jeff Weaver during the regular season.

Stop the corination..let's play ball. If the Yanks/Sox series is 3/4 as good as it was last year, I'll be a happy guy. I'm glad I called Ticketmaster in Atlanta a few months ago to get my Yanks/Sox tickets.

 

[JohnnyDeMarco]

Steinbrenner puts every dime he makes on the Yanks back into the team. He doesn't own the Yankees to make money he owns them to win.

This is a game to him-to beat the other owners and punks like Theo Epstein too.

He and Cashman got ARod for 67 million less than his contract. Plus they gaveup on a guy who struck out like 40 times in the playoffs last year.

I hear they want Junior Griffey for Matsui. We'll see.

 

[theswami]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JohnnyDeMarco:
SNIP...
I hear they want Junior Griffey for Matsui. We'll see.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was a HUGE Junior fan UNTIL his time in Sea prior to his departure to Cincy...let's hope you are NOT right about a Matsui deal.

 

[wanderer]

If Kevin Brown is healthy they could win 120 games. Mussina, Brown, and the vastly underrated Vazquez is a MUCH better rotation than Mussina, Pettitte, and Clemens. And after George grabs a quality 2nd baseman like Vidro to complete the best team money ever bought, the race is over. Comparing a whiff artist like Soriano to A-Rod is like comparing Barry Bonds to Hideki Matsui.

 

[Journeyman]

Revenue sharing won`t work in MLB , its nt like football with the enormous TV contract, its a different animal altogether...Even the rule that gives a draft pick back to the team that loses a free agent doesn`t even out,simply because draft picks in baseball aren`t like football....

I don`t blame George either, afterall he hasn`t won in a couple years lol...But as a once passionate 'live and die on every pitch' Orioles fan, I can honesty say if it was Baltimore that was gobbling up franchise players from all over baseball, I wouldn`t feel good about it either...and for anyone that questions IF NY has the pitching to get there lol, are you forgetting about August when they will add someone? You can bet they will find that lefty or that extra reliever they may need...

The people that own and play baseball have ruined it... owners, agents, rule makers, and the union!

Now from another point of view since I am no longer a diehard home town fan, this Yankees lineup will be one to watch , its a given they will win, so may as well sit back and watch them win their 115 games or whatever they choose to do...There is no lineup ever assembled that can match this one...

I really wonder if the NYY fans get the same thrill out of winning playing by these rules...and when 5-6 teams fold in the next 5 years how is that going to feel...some of these teams are hanging on by the baseball seams...it won`t be long now....

The Yankees Cable TV revenue alone gives then an unfair advantage, but thats for another time...

 

[theswami]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Journeyman:
SNIP......
I really wonder if the NYY fans get the same thrill out of winning playing by these rules...and when 5-6 teams fold in the next 5 years how is that going to feel...some of these teams are hanging on by the baseball seams...it won`t be long now....

....SNIP<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't feel good about what George does but as a business person I think he is doing what he thinks is best. (I think he could win cheaper but that is for another time.) The bottom line, to blame the Yankees or Steinbrenner is foolish. What should the guy do if he accepts the premise that a franchise can buy championships?!!

The thrill of winning is NOT the same. I root for them as I always have but frankly, I'm more excited about the Knicks than the Yankees.

For me there are ONLY three things that are important in Yankee baseball today:

1) Winning the World Series
2) Beating a competitive Red Sox team and
3) Bernie Williams having a good season

There was a time when the game was enjoyable for what it was and most games were competitive. Now it is tough to have the same enthusiasm for the team and my passion has been reduced to focusing on three things.

The funny thing about this situation is that if the team is too good it could back fire on George. I have NO desire to go to the stadium to watch them beat up on Detroit or spend hours at home or in a bar watching the same.

I do thank George for one thing, he's given me more time/freedom to do other things when even a decade ago I would have watched the Yankees versus the worst team in the league.

 

[RobFunk]

as a yankee hater, I will shock everyone when I say this: what the yanks did was a really good move and a total no brainer. I mean what are they paying A-Rod? like 16 million a year? thats it?! for argueably the games best in his prime? and for how long? 7 years?!

I dont think there is anything 'evil' or 'sketchy' or 'shopping spree' about this deal. anyone with a payroll of 80 million or so could have had a-rod at that price.

the difference in this deal and the Sox proposal is peanuts. the real player in this was Sorriano who actually MAKES peanuts.

the sox debated everything from wether or not they want 'scotch gaurd' on the seats and what percent tint they want on the windows and the yanks simply went in with a little bit more realistic and adherable goals and took care of business.

you cant really fault NY for what they did. I give them total credit here.

 

[D2bets]

Rob, wait a a second, I swear I remember that he got 250m/10yrs from Texas so unless it was very very frontloaded he's getting around 25m/year. Or did Texas agree to pickup part of his salary in the trade??? If not, only a team with a Yanks payroll can honestly afford that knowing they'll probably never be able to sell it off.

 

[Journeyman]

I don`t blame either team....I already stated that...

Texas actually did the best thing they could have, even though they will probably lose Soriano as they do all their players, (Palmeiro twice, ARod, Gonzales, etc) they don`t want to play for that loser organization....

Texas and Chicago White Sox have to be the two biggest reasons player salaries have gotten further off track, note neither of these teams has gotten close to a World Series....

 

[arnie'sarmy]

The Rangers pay $140 million for three seasons with Rodriguez ($46.7 million a year average for for three last-place finishes.
The Yankees will pay him $112 million over seven years.
Texas will pay $43 million of Rodriguez’s salary over the remaining seven years: $3 million in 2004, $6 million each in 2005, 2006 and 2010, $7 million apiece in 2007 and 2009 and $8 million in 2008. In addition, the Rangers will pay the $24 million remaining in deferred money from the original contract, with the interest rate lowered from 3 percent to 1.75 percent.
Because A-Rod's contract gets devalued by $5 million--a pittance in the overall scheme of it--he will receive a hotel suite on road trips, have the right to link his Web site to the Yankees’ site and get a guarantee that the deferred money won’t be wiped out by a work stoppage.
*I wish a Steinbrenner clone would buy the Brewers, who had to ship their only decent player (Richie Sexson) out for salary reasons, or so the Brewers said. The Yankees spend $190 million on their salaries; the Brewers about $19 million. It's definitely a sport of haves and have-nots.

 

[theswami]

Gammons speaks about this issue...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1736367

 

[WildBill]

Only thing that will solve this is getting rid of the bottom 10 teams. The remaining teams will have a lot better players and less money chasing them so contracts go down. Games will be more interesting to TV so better ratings and a better contract. Yankees would still do best in any system you could devise, but a league with say 20 teams would be a lot tougher to just buy you way through it year after year.