Theeeee Yankees Win! Theeeee Yankees Win!

There are a lot of sports focused sites and blogs on the web (including these two, less well-known, that I particularly enjoy: Voices In The Crowd and Everyman's Fantasy), and thus I've tried to keep my blog relatively sports free. Truth is though, this is MY blog and sports are a major part of who I am. So, from time-to-time sports will pop up on here. This is one of those times.

The baseball season ended almost a month ago and I tried to let it go, but today on Mike and Mike (a morning talk show on ESPN Radio and ESPN 2) team salaries were discussed. Bitter fans of other teams still want to shout to the world that the Yankees bought their championship.

I know I’ll never convince anyone that this isn’t true. Honestly, maybe to some extent it is. The best players demand the highest salaries and the Yankees have amassed a team full of winners. But we need to go beyond the $201 million dollar payroll (2009 salaries) and look a little deeper. I hoped the mass media would do their job, but they seem content to stay above the surface. I am not going to do all the research (not only because that’s boring, but because this is a blog, not an article for Sports Illustrated), but here are some things to consider - not all facts may be 100% correct since I'm not doing the research, like I already said.

Cost of living/taxes in NY/NYC vs the rest of the country.
-The Houston Astros had a payroll of $102,996,414 in 2009, the 8th highest. What is the cost of living in Houston versus living in NY? What are the income taxes? Money in NY does not go as far as it will in most of the nation. In every industry worker’s salaries are higher in NY than in most of the nation.

American League teams should have higher salaries because they have to pay a DH who plays everyday.
-In the National League there is no DH position. In the American League there are 10 everyday players (9 batters and a pitcher). In the National League the pitcher is a batter as well.

In trading Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees in 2004 the Texas Rangers agree to pay $43 million dollars of his salary.
-Alex Rodriguez, the highest paid baseball player in history ($10 million higher than Manny Ramirez at #2), had a salary of $33 million this year. This obviously skews the total salary of the Yankees. $7 million of that, however, was paid by the Texas Rangers.

Luxury Tax.
-The Yanks certainly spend a lot, but they also pay a lot in the luxury tax. There is evidence that owners of other teams, rather than investing this ‘free’ money on their teams, are pocketing it.

How many teams only sell out games when the Yanks or Sox come to town?
-Yanks make the MLB money. PERIOD.

Yanks won with players who may be paid a lot, but came up in the farm system.
-Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Brett Gardner, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Alfredo Aceves, and David Robertson, are the highlights of a strong group of home grown talent. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera were in the top 25 of league salaries in 2009. But they were not ‘bought’, they were compensated for their worth.

Other teams spend a lot, but lose.
-Money isn’t everything. The Mets had the second highest payroll in baseball in 2009 and had a total of 70 wins. The Red Sox spent over $50 million just to talk to Dice-K. How’s that working out?

Ewing Theory
-If you don’t know the Ewing Theory go here.  This says everything I need to.

Anyway, this post (and this blog in general) won’t change people’s opinions. BUT, maybe it will make people think a little more, or dig deeper. Or maybe it will just be interesting to read. That’s OK too...