Not every post here is going to be about destructive off-the-field decisions. Hopefully I'll be able to make more posts of this variety, where I can discuss whether a team or a player made a good or bad decision in relation to the game. So here are some thoughts on the recent baseball signings.
CC Sabathia to the Yankees:
The Yanks had to get this one done, and sure enough they got their man. In order to compete with Boston and Tampa Bay right now, the Yanks needed to land that top-of-the-line started that other teams fear going up against. What this also does is that it moves every other pitcher in the rotation down one spot in the pecking order, which means that Chien-Ming Wang will now be the #2 starter. That's one helluva #2 guy, and makes me feel so much better about the Yanks taking on Boston and having to go up against Dice-K as their #2.
Of course the Yankees were able to get Sabathia by throwing an entire-team's-payroll more at him than the next highest bidder. The obvious questions come up here -- is this good for baseball? and is it fair?
1) I always question -- even as a huge Yankee fan -- whether or not it's good for the sport that the Yankees always seem to get the marquee free-agent player because of their enormous payroll. You can really argue the case both ways, but I think it's just fine. When the Yankees had their dynasty in the 90's they weren't going out and signing every major free agent. They started that trend in 2001 and haven't won a world series since. They have grossly overpaid for players, destroyed their farm system, and spent tons of money on good players that they didn't necessarily need. It would seem to me that other teams don't mind it, as long as the Yanks continue to not win championships.
2) Is it fair? You'll always hear fans of smaller market teams like the Royals and Pirates complain that it's not fair that the Yanks spend this ridiculous amount of money. I think this is BS. All you have to do is look at teams like the Twins, who have been consistently competitive for the last decade and have one of the smallest payrolls in baseball. How about the Rays reaching the World Series this year by building a fantastic young ball club through shrewd drafting and trading. They too have one of the smallest payrolls in baseball. In baseball, it's not about the money you spend, it's about making good decisions.
The Yankees spend this much money because they can. It doesn't guarantee them anything, not even a spot in the playoffs. You want to complain if you're a Royals or Pirate fan that it's not fair? Well then maybe you shouldn't be handing out (proportionally) giant contracts to guys like Jose Guillen and Reggie Sanders if you're the Royals, or trading your top three trading chips (Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Damaso Marte) for next to nothing, if you're the Pirates.
Mets get K-Rod:
Great move by the Mets. This is the kind of contract that just makes sense for both sides. 3 years, $37 million, option for a 4th year based on innings pitched. I really think they are getting a good value on one of the top 3 closers in the game, and by the same token, K-Rod is getting quite a nice payday. The other aspect of this deal that is so smart for both sides is that at the end of this contract, even if they go to that 4th year, K-Rod will only be 30 years old. The Mets get him in his prime and, if they so choose, can move in a new direction at the end of the contract, knowing that they got what they wanted from K-Rod. And from K-Rod's point of view, since he will only be 30 he will be able to get another big payday, knowing that he still has plenty left in the tank.
Great move by both sides. The Mets get exactly what they needed, and K-Rod puts himself in a nice financial position for the rest of his career.
It'll be very interesting to see how the rest of the big chips fall now that some of the biggest names have been taken off the table. You gotta love the baseball off-season. Great moves by both the Mets and Yankees this week, let's see if other teams can be just as shrewd.
And of course, if you disagree...go ahead and tell me I'm wrong.
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3 comments:
Hey Rosey, another good post!
I think that you deal with the two main objections to this sort of behaviour (haha, British am I!) well. The Yankees obviously haven't been able to buy a championship and yeah, a team like the Twins does make them look a bit silly when they're only slightly less competitive year-in and year-out.
But isn't the real question whether or not this is "good for the game"? I know this sounds a bit airy-fairy, but what I really mean is that the reason I love baseball is in large-part because of the time I spent playing it when I grew up...and that time was spent on teams. They really were "teams" too, involving a lot of great friendships and time spent (on the traveling teams anyway) getting to know guys over the course of multiple years of play.
It seems that more than any other sport, baseball has lost this idea of a player being identified with a team. Instead, players in baseball are identified with paychecks. This is especially true of pitchers (who, unhelpfully, are literally credited with the team's wins and loses) but I don't really think baseball is a game played by a "team of individuals", at least not at it's best.
So while the "destruction of the farm system" is pretty easy to write off, or to use as a way of showing the Yanks are getting their due...we forget that loads of kids are not being taught (or shown) a game that is about a team strategy played out across what really is a complex line-up and defensive scheme, but rather that if they can get their own fastball fast enough (oversimplified but you get the point...) they will someday be able to buy the Twins with the money they make throwing it!
As a fan of a small-market team that's only come close to winning a World Series in the '90s, I have to say the post-9/11 Yankees are the gift that keeps on giving.
You guys keep shelling out craploads of money for washed up players and have no young, homegrown talent from which to build (though I hear there's a good catcher coming up soon). The Yankees are always sure to underperform against inflated expectations, and every few years when the Indians put it together, it's a pleasant surprise. To be fair, CC isn't in the Johnny Damon past-his-prime mode or the Carl Pavano made-of-safety-glass mode. He's more of your classic Alex Rodriguez amazing-regular-season-stats-but-shits-the-bed-in-the-postseason type of player.
The team that really infuriates me in all of this is Boston. They've decided to match the Yankees ridiculous spending, but they have a front office that actually knows what it's doing. Which is how you get two Red Sox championships this decade and a whole "nation" of smug, R-dropping, obnoxious Boston fans.
Even more annoying about the Red Sox fans is the fact that they keep calling us the "Evil Empire" and they insist that they're just an old-fashioned mom and pop organization. Which is the biggest bunch of BS ever.
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