I wanted to write a nice little Christmas article. I wanted to be in a good mood. I wanted to write something in the spirit of Christmas.
But I can't. I'm not in the mood.
The New York bleeping Yankees have ruined my Christmas.
The Yankees have officially ruined America's pastime. It's no longer a sport. It's become the Harlem Globetrotters and 29 Washington Generals.
Someone needs to remind the Yankees that the United States is going through a pretty bad recession. There's no recession in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are printing money.
They've landed the top three free agents on the market. The only thing stopping them from signing the rest of the free agents is that pesky 25-man roster limit.
The discrepancy between the Yankees and everyone else financially is completely unprecedented. They've spent over $400,000,000 this offseason.
Let that sink in for a minute.
They have the four highest paid players in the game. Two of them make up the left side of their infield.
Alex Rodriguez makes $27.5 million per season. Derek Jeter makes $18.9 million per season. Mark Teixeira makes $22.5 million per season. Jorge Posada makes $13.5 million per season. Robinson Cano makes $7.5 million per season.
What does that mean? I mean, aside from the fact that Cano obviously needs a new agent?
The Yankees' infield, just their infield, will make $83 million next season. Their starting infield will be making more money than 16 other teams' entire roster.
The Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and Florida Marlins all have 25 men under contract for less money than the Yankees are paying their five starting infielders.
Bah, humbug.
And I'm a Red Sox fan. As far as 28 other teams are concerned, I have no business complaining.
The Red Sox are one of the haves. But even the Red Sox know that if the Yankees want a player, they'll outbid the them for him.
You see, the Red Sox have limits. Eventually, they'll run out of money. The Yankees won't.
I couldn't imagine being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Or a Kansas City fan.
You can bash the have-nots for mismanagement all you want. You can point at the A's, the Twins, and the Rays as shining examples of how the have-nots can compete with, and sometimes even beat the haves.
But if you truly believe that, you're as naive as you are short-sighted.
The A's should still be one of the best teams in the American League, but they're not. They understand that when they bring up a player, they have five years. Once they lose control of that player, he's gone.
That's an awfully small window.
The Rays are good now because they've been terrible for so long they have a ton of high first round picks on their roster. But they know, a couple years from now all those players will be Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox.
All you need to know about the Twins is that Johan Santana is a member of the New York Mets.
Pirates fans don't have much to root for, but someone like Jason Bay at least gave them reason to show up. But Jason Bay has a year left on his contract. So instead of building around him, they trade him knowing they'll never be able to outbid the Red Sox for him.
Get the picture? Baseball is broken.
Major League Baseball needs a salary cap. They need one badly. I'm done with the sport. I'm sick of pompous Yankee fans who think it's their God given right to win championships simply because they're from New York.
The arrogant, short-sighted, greedy, scumbag owners in New York need to be knocked down a peg. Once Derek Lowe signs with the Mets, all five prime free agents this offseason will have signed with a New York team. There's one big-named free agent left (Manny Ramirez).
Any guess on where he'll eventually end up?
All I want for Christmas is a salary cap in Major League Baseball. Until I get one, I'll have to find something else to watch between the NBA and NFL seasons...
Sean Crowe is the New England Patriots Examiner at Examiner.com. He writes a column every other Thursday for Sports Central. You can email him at [email protected].
December 26, 2008
chuck:
omg the whining over this. Yankees put their money back in their team. They don’t jam it all in their wallets like most teams do. They can afford it because fans come to he games and they put a winning team on the field. Back in the 80’s when they stuck you would see crowds of 10 to 15k at the stadium. Instead of being mad at the yankees be mad at the stingy owners who want to do no more than rake money in for themselves.
December 26, 2008
Paul:
Ok, listen I grew up on a healthy diet of the New York Yankees and I’ve heard nothing but whining and moaning about how it’s unfair that the Yankees buy everyone and the Yankees destroy the game.
Because they have 26 world titles and make the playoffs pretty much every year it keeps those loyal New York fans back year after year. With that kind of popularity that is a lot of money behind them, and give them the luxury to pick and choose from the best players in the game to be put on New York’s stage.
Yes I agree $400 million is an insane amount to spend on three players, let alone if it were ten players or even forty and salary cap is a good suggestion but let’s face it it’s not going to happen. Every story or every plot as a person/thing that they have to overcome and that has become the Bombers. They are the antagonist, and if it were not them it would be someone else.
If you were to go Great Britain and as who their favorite baseball team is it would be the Yankees. They are a world power and they are at the big an enough level that they have to perform to everyone expectations. The Yankees are the game of baseball, they have a right to be gloat and shove in into everyone else’s faces that they are the best.
Now I am guessing that this article was written by an upset Red Sox fan that grew up watching his team fail and fail again. Now I picked a winning team and thanks to your poor crappy choice that you made as a child or you just lined up all the team, closed you eyes and pointed at the Red Sox I sat here on Christmas hoping to read an intelligent article about the salary cap problem. But I was let down just like you were when you ripped off the wrapping paper and got socks this morning. Go sip on some eggnog and try to face facts because the Yankees are baseball, enough said that’s it get over it.
December 26, 2008
evil_empire_strikes:
cheers to you chuck and paul! i hope santa brought “sean crowe” and the rest of the red sUx nation a box of kleenex. take the money out your pocket and spend it on your team.oy vey.you people are so ridonculous w/all your whining.oh,and go GIANTS too while we’re at it!
December 26, 2008
JZ:
Just to echo the others: Get over it. Why didn’t the Red Sox sign Teixeira? Because he chose the Yankees. It wasn’t over money. The Sox have more than enough. I’m getting a little tired hearing people from Boston cry over this. Lord, should we applaud the Sox for paying $50 million just to talk to Dice-K? Or to reward royal douchegag JD Drew for screwing over LA with a huge contract? Or the $160 million the team sign Manny for nearly a decade ago? Please. What is upsetting people is that at least with CC and Tex, the Yankees are spending their money wisely.
December 26, 2008
Sean Crowe:
How ridiculously pompous and arrogant must you be to believe that your team, the New York Yankees, deserve to win because they’re what? More popular? From New York? What?
They have twice as much money to spend than the team with the second most money. The team with the second most money has twice as much to spend as the bottom 10 teams.
The Yankees are ruining baseball. Only a pompous, arrogant, baseball-hating, selfish, I’m-from-New-York-so-I-deserve-to-win Yankee fan would feel otherwise.
And, for the record, I was disgusted when the Sox signed Dice-K as well, but the Yankees already had a plus-$200 million payroll and the Sox have to play them 19 times a year…what were they supposed to do?
December 26, 2008
Tim:
You are a girly-man. Stop your whining
December 26, 2008
NewYorker:
DO NOT READ THIS
As we all know, in the last 7 or so years the Red Sox have achieved a remarkable transformation. The sweep of the Yanks in those 4 games in 2004 without a doubt started one of the most profound and dramatic reversal of fortunes in baseball history. In a short few years, they went from pathetic multi-generational losers to World Champions and Yankee killers.
However - here’s the problem. It takes more than two World Series rings in a few years to undo almost 100 years of dramatic losing. While Red Sox fans have certainly celebrated and basked in the glow of being winners, they have never felt completely comfortable with this newfound status - evidenced by the overblown yet curiously thin-skinned braggadocio exhibited during the last few years. Too much, too fast.
Now, the Yankees fans are old pros. While the last few years have not been fun, we’ve had dry spells before. Been there, done that. And the hot streaks - ah yes, the hot streaks. We know we’ll get the hot chick again - it’s just a matter of time.
Now the Yankees make some dramatic free agent signings and - worst of all - they “steal” Mark Teixeira. All while the Red Sox gets nothing - except slowly weaker. So Red Sox fans are understandably feeling the dread of returning to the terrible past. A cruel hoax - they get the hot girlfriend only to find out it’s a short term fling. She’s losing interest. Old feelings of inferiority set in. Panic rises.
However, the fact is the Yankees’ new toys don’t guarantee anything except high expectations.
And the Red Sox are certainly going to add to an already very good team with some yet unknown free agent signings and trades.
And this year, like every year, we’ll see who gets the girl.
I have a sneaky feeling she’s tired of slumming.
GO YANKEES 2009!
December 26, 2008
Ana:
What because we are Yankees fans were not real basball fans? Only people who root for the Red Sox are real fans. Get over yourself. All you are doing by writing this article is say that your not a real fan becuase you don’t trust your team. The Yankees are aleast are telling the truth by saying that they need some help the can’t get from thier roster or farm system. Also, you would fooling yourself by thinking that not every team( only the yankees) delvop thier whole franchise to win the championship. So when boston wins 26 then you have the right to sound off.
December 26, 2008
andrew:
So great to hear redsox fans complain. A team that paid 50mm just to speak to dice k. Arrogant - that’s a sox fan
I’m a yankee fan - baseball needs a salary cap - reading you whine though shows how pathetic you are - get over yourself.
December 28, 2008
Mike Round:
Sean
Since the turn of the century there has been 8 different winners of the WS and the only team to win it twice is the Red Sox.
Pretty much ends the argument that baseball needs a salary cap, huh?
Jeter, Damon and Posada (add Pettitte, Giambi and Abreu last year) get salaries that their production doesn’t merit - that doesn’t make the Yankees a lock to win anything it just means the team can afford to waste money on fan favorites, over rated players or players that may sign for rival teams.
I suspect your tongue was firmly in your cheek when you wrote this Sean - if not then that’s a worry.
Cheers
Mike