Baseball is no longer America’s pastime. It has been replaced by the NFL, which is not only America’s new pastime but also America’s passion. That being said, you would think that no one would be paying any attention to baseball this time of year. Especially when you consider that the NFL season is winding down with teams fighting for their playoff lives on a weekly basis. Not to mention that the NBA (which I also love) season is in full swing, and is very exciting. However, one baseball team has still managed to grab national headlines. I will give you one guess as to what team I am referring to. Go ahead, I will give you a minute…. That’s right the NEW YORK YANKEES!!!!
After not only failing to win the World Series last season, but finishing an embarrassing THIRD in their own division the Yankees decided that changes had to be made. Random changes were not needed, but specific positions needed to be upgraded. They realized that they needed starting pitching and also needed to upgrade the first base position. Their next moves are what separate the Yankees from other Major League Baseball teams. They actually went out and got the absolute best players to fill their needs. This is very different from what the Atlanta Braves did when they needed a right-fielder a couple of seasons ago. Rather than sign a real major league talent and compete for the playoffs they decided to sign the washed-up Raul Mondesi and the even more washed-up Brian Jordan to platoon at the position. Instead of simply adding an arm to the rotation (much like the Braves did with an ancient Tom Glavine), they decided to sign CC Sabathia! Sabathia absolutely dominated the second half of last season. He didn’t just dominate he was historically good. In his final 17 starts he was 11 – 2 (he had 4 no decisions) with 7 complete games. Over this same time period he also had 128 strikeouts and only 25 walks. I will give you a second to take it all in and realize just how amazing those numbers are….
For those of you who don’t regularly follow baseball, I will tell you that he wasn’t a flash in the pan. He has been an absolute menace to opposing hitters his entire career. To join Sabathia in the rotation that also added AJ Burnett, who is also a very good starting pitcher. They followed these signings up by adding a switch-hitting first baseman, who has hit at least 30 homeruns every year of his career except his rookie year. That would be Mark Teixeira, a player that the Atlanta Braves traded away for a bag of baseballs, a pair of tube socks, and a pair of flip-down sunglasses (that was such a stupid trade, but I will address that on another day).
Although I am not a Yankees fan, I certainly have a huge amount of respect for them as a franchise. This is because (unlike the team in my home city) they do whatever it takes to try to win each and every year. They realized that they had some areas that needed to be improved and they went out and spent a total of $423.5 million (of STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!!) to improve them. Not only has this off-season proven that the Yankees will spend whatever it takes to win, it has also proven that the New York Yankees are also recession-proof.
Since the Yankees went on their off-season spending spree, people from all corners have been speaking ill of them and their business practices. General Managers and front office executives of other teams have even been suggesting that Major League should consider implementing a hard salary cap to allow other teams to ensure that other teams can continue to compete financially with the Yankees. To all those speaking ill of the Yankees and their dedication to putting a winning product on the field for their fans, I simply want to say HI HATERS!!!!
The New York Yankees sale out virtually every home game and they also own their own cable network that airs their games locally. In addition to that they are also among the league leaders (if not the league leader) in merchandise sales. For those of you who don’t have a PhD in economics, what I’m basically saying is that they make more money than any other team. Therefore, they have more money to spend than any other team. I think the Steinbrenner’s deserve a lot of credit for re-investing this money back into the team rather than simply putting it in their pockets as a nice profit for the year.
To be truthful, I really question the business acumen of those who don’t like the way the Yankees do business. Last I checked, the object of professional sports was to win and make money. The Yankees have a history of doing just that. Now, there are those franchises that simply exist to make money and really don’t place a premium on winning. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, and the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos have not put anything remotely resembling a winning product on the field in a very, very, very long time. If your team continues to make a profit each year, yet fails to compete for a playoff spot regularly, they are doing you a huge disservice.
If you have a problem with the way that the Yankees do business please comment and let me know. What should they do differently? Should they allow areas of their team to be weak so that everyone else has a chance to beat them? Should they not put the best possible product on the field for their fans (who pay the fourth highest average ticket price in baseball)? If your team did what the Yankees did and put themselves in a position to compete for the division titles and World Series Championships year in and year out, you would be elated. Remember they have the money. If they don’t spend it on players, they will simply pocket it. It is time for everyone to stop being so hypocritical about the Yankees’ business practices, and more importantly to STOP HATING!!!!
****SPECIAL SHOUTOUT****
The award for "BEST GAME THEORY REFERENCE ON A SPORTS BLOG" goes to SCOTT (a regular reader of STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!!) for masterfully referencing the "Prisoner's Dilemma" in his comments on last week's blog entry.
4 comments:
Carlos, I don't disagree with anything in your blog, but I want to make two quick points since we are talking about the Yankees.
One: Is Steinbrenner investing his money back into his team or the taxpayers'? As you know, the Yankees are moving into a new $1.6 BILLION stadium this Spring. Half the cost of construction, $800 million, plus another $390 million for transportation upgrades will be paid for by taxpayers of New York City. Get ready for it - that's a lot of STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!!!!! It is easy to spend money on players when it is someone else's money.
Two: While I know your main focus is on the Yankees 'win at all costs' approach, which is admirable, the one thing that you glossed over is that it does not work. The Yankees have not won a World Series since 2000, when their roster included much more home-grown talent. So 8 years of heavy spending has them with the same number of rings as your Pittsburgh Pirates: 0.
Remember, I am not disagreeing with any of your points, I just want to bring your love fest back to earth.
NORTHSIDE MARTY IS BACK from Israel and I'm ready to go! Shalom to all of my loyal fans here in the states and in Israel (sup Will Bynum????)!
I've said this before, but there is something in the water of ATL that makes it "cool" to hate on the local sports teams. Carlos hates on the Braves at every opportunity. It's New Year's Day morning and I'm tired. Bye.
In response to the comment from Scott....
You make a very good point about the Yankees not winning the World Series since 2000. Which is exactly the point that I am trying to make with this entry.
WE MEASURE THE YANKEES BY WORLD SERIES TITLES!!!! The organization and the rest of the sports world views their season as a failure when they do not win a championship. They are one of the few team in sports that we hold to such standards.
The point is that baseball ticket prices go up every year. The Yankees make a boatload of money every year. They are committed to putting the best product on the field year in and year out. If they had great players in thier farm system they will simply bring them up, and they have. There was some pretty good homegrown talent on the 2008 roster, i.e Robinson Cano and Jobba Chamberlain to go along with the mainstays of Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, and Chien-Ming Wang. This proves that they use home-grown talent when they think it is good enough and when it isn't they simply write a check to get the player they think is good enough. (Look at all of the major league rosters, you will be surprised how few players there are that are on the team that drafted them.)
If the Yankees didn't spend money they would be doing thier fans a huge disservice, considering the amount of money that they make. More often than not, they also spend it wisely. Take a second to think and then name three Yankees signings that were absolue busts. It might take a while, because there are very few.
It is funny to me when sports fans brag about how thier team is somewhat decent even though they don't spend money, because like I said in MOST cases ticket prices go up every year and television contracts only get bigger, so if your team is not spending money (when the homegrown talent isn't good enough) it simply means that the owner is continuing to get richer at your expense without doing all he can do to win.
If a sports team wins more than one championship within ten years, it is a great accomplishment. Remember there are cities with teams in all of the major sports that have never won a championship or haven't won one in the last fifty years. No one is going to win every year, but I can name one Major League Baseball team that has a shot every year. That's right the New York Yankees.
The thing that I respect about the Yankees is that they never cheat thier fans and are COMMITTED TO TRYING TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP EACH AND EVERY YEAR!!!!
Love'em or Hate'em, you gotta respect them.
In response to the comment from martin....
I'm not a hater of Atlanta teams. I simply don't appreciate accepted mediocrity (the Braves lateley).
My favorite NBA team is the HAWKS!!!! I'm not a bandwagon fan, but I have been down since day one. Although they sucked until recently, you saw the plan in place. I can respect that. I also have a great deal of respect for the Falcons and thier desire to put a winning product on the field.
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