Arguing With Myself: Making Sense of the Mark Teixera Signing

OK, enough, we get it: the Yankees are bullies, don't they know that the economy stinks right now, it's totally unfair, the Yankees are going to buy another World Series.

I'll admit, it's getting tougher and tougher to defend the Yankees as this off-season shopping spree goes on, but I'm going to try.

First off, concerning my post on Mark Teixera last week, there is a big part of me that still wishes he had gone to his hometown Orioles. Am I happy to see him wearing pinstripes? Of course. He is a hard-working, exciting ballplayer; the kind of player I think young kids should emulate. But like I said last week, it would have been a good story had he taken less money and gone to his hometown team.

Next, I am sick and tired (and it's only been one day) of reading articles that say Teixera is despicable and that all he cares about is the money. How dare these people? He has earned the right to sign wherever he wants and for how much he wants after putting up excellent numbers and playing stellar defense over his career. It is not the player's fault that teams are throwing ridiculous sums of money at him.

Now, here's where it gets tough. I tried to argue a few weeks ago that the Yankees spending a ton of money on a player is simply the way things are. They have more money than any other team, and they intend on spending it. The best ways I could defend this are a) they sometimes makes very poor decisions on who they choose to throw money at, and b) they have not won a world series this decade despite all the money they have spent. However, with the team now holding the 4 highest paid players in all of baseball, and committing almost a half a billion dollars to 3 players in this off-season I am finding it difficult to continue to justify my reasons.

Nothing has really changed in my argument. This is simply how things are, but there does seem to be a sense of unfairness to it all when the top 3 free agents all go to the same team in the matter of a week. It just doesn't feel right.

Despite my uneasy feeling though, I still think people should stop with this ridiculous chorus of "The Yankees bought the World Series." Just because they're the favorites now doesn't mean they're going to win it all next October. This statement pings of jealousy. "Oh, the Yankees only won this year because they bought all the best players. They didn't really win the World Series." Oh, really? Then let's not even play the next season. Let's just give the Yankees the trophy now and call it a day. And I didn't hear these people chirping when the Yankees came in third last year. There weren't too many chants of "Oh, they bought 3rd place this year." This absolutely absurd whining needs to stop NOW.

Ok, deep breaths Michael. I digress....

Baseball executives are split on how they feel about all these signings. Some say that it's bad for baseball and that it's impossible for other teams to survive in this climate. Others, like Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi, said that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs are great for baseball. This coming from a GM who shares a division with the Yanks and Red Sox. He commented this morning on WFAN in NY that these teams always sell out stadiums when they are on the road, they bring lots of attention and excitement to the sport, they make other teams really work hard at developing good ball players and building great teams, and he said he doesn't hear anyone complaining when the Yankees pay their big luxury tax to the other teams.

Clearly this is a divisive issue among fans and MLB personnel alike. I still defend my Yankees, but I have to admit, I don't do it with that same sense of righteousness that I did one week ago.

But I still don't want to hear anyone complaining that they bought the World Series if they win it all in '09. Someday soon, the rules might change when it comes to player contracts and salary caps, but until that day comes, the way the Yankees do business is just how things are.

And if you disagree....go ahead and tell me I'm wrong.