Monday, August 07, 2006
Yankees DO NOT "Buy" Championships
This is a direct cut and copy post from the book Emperors and Idiots pg. 228:
"If spending the most money guaranteed you anything, then we wouldn't all be nervous wrecks every year in October, would we?" Cashman said later in the 2004 season. "All you have to do is look at the recent past. Look at how much money the Dodgers have spent; how many championships do they have? Look at the Mets; how many championships do they have? When the Orioles had a huge payroll, why didn't every story mention that? And it isn't like the Red Sox are playing with a bunch of underpaid players, right? But all people want to talk about the Yankees is how much money we spend. I don't understand the relevance. You still have to win on the field."
What the Yankees top brass never admitted - what was probably too difficult to concede - was that the best Yankees teams of recent vintage were rarely critized for their fiscal munificence. Those Yankees teams, who won four championships in the five years spanning 1996 to 2000, were powered by players who'd been acquired, in almost every instance, by traditional means, by time-tested baseball methods approved by people who believed in old-fashioned baseball values.
There was a home-grown core of players who'd come up through the Yankees farm system - Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera. There were key players who'd arrived through trades - Paul O'Neill, Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Brosius, Roger Clemens, Tino Martinez. There were some key deadline acquisitions - Cecil Fielder, David Justice, David Cone. There were fruits of the Yankees' growing international presence - Alfonso Soriano, Orlando Hernandez, Hideki Irabu. And there were several key free-agent imports too, notably Wade Boggs, Jimmy Key, and David Wells. Yes, as the Yankees won more and more titles, their payroll swelled accordingly, and by the time the Yankees knocked off the Mets in the 2000 World Series, they were paying out $113 million in player salaries. But even their most ardent critics had little argument with this. Essentially, the Yankees were rewarding players who'd already won for them. They were taking care of their own. They hadn't gotten where they'd gotten by gobbling up every glitzy star on the board.
Posted by Steve Kenul at 9:23 PM
TaraMetBlog posted at 11:33 AM
"But all people want to talk about the Yankees is how much money we spend. I don't understand the relevance. You still have to win on the field."
Amen!
I always ask people, where do we get the money? That's right we win and earn it. Grr
Steve Kenul posted at 1:27 PM
The Yankees have come a long ways since their 1996 title. They have earned in enough money from advertising, revenues, and merchandise, that now they can afford hog h priced players such as Giambi and A-Rod. People need to realize that the Yankees financial situation was not always the best, but through risks and success, they have become the dominate team that they are today.
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TaraMetBlog posted at 11:33 AM
Kokoyaku
