Thoughts on the NY Yankees

I don't live in New York City, so you can count me as one of the 295 Million people who don't like the Yankees. How did I come up with that number? At the time of this post, the US Census listed 305 million people in the US, and I figure there are about 10 million living in NY, some who are Mets fans and don't like the Yankees, but those Mets fans are canceled out by those who are outside NY, and for some reason have jumped on the Yankee's bandwagon as their favorite team. Anyway, I don't like the Yankees, and I'm in the majority (did I jump the bandwagon? No, people just don't like the Yankees).

My love for baseball as a whole trumps my view of the Yankees. There is a problem here: the salary cap in baseball doesn't work. Is this the fault of the Yankees? No. They have the money and rightfully they should spend it to put the best team possible on the field. They can do it year after year, because they make money. MLB is to blame for this. Their solution? Tax the teams that go over the cap. Oh you can go over the cap, but you're going to have to pay for it, and then spread that tax around to the other teams. So what? If the Yankees spend the money, and win the World Series every year because they outspend the other teams, $20 million dollars that is shared between the other 31 teams is not going to do any good. That won't even pay for the signing bonus on a draft pick. The rule is the problem, not the Yankees spending.

Now, I do have a problem with the Yankees spending (listen up MLB... FIX THE RULE!) It creates a completely unbalanced league (what's the word... parity). The excuse is that the Yankees are putting the best team out there for their fans, at the same time, making anti-fans out of every other cities fans. And the argument goes: why don't the other teams spend that much? Two reasons: 1. Keep the cost of attending a game low (which doesn't affect Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs... a few others), 2. keeps teams from over spending on free agents, and making bad deals. Kansas City could go out and offer $100 million to one player... and then when no one shows up to the games, they lose money, can't sign other players, become AAA teams. It's a snowball effect. And it can't be done in one year. An owner can't come out, spend millions in one year, and expect the play-offs. It has to be sustained for several years, five at least, for the correct elements of a team to come together. That's why you see the smaller spending teams occasionally win: they invest in their farm systems, spend little money on youth, come through and win. But when that youth becomes too good, they have to part with them because they can't afford it, and that player gets bought up by.... the Yankees, or some other team that spends a lot. The original team has to go back to breeding their farm... it takes time.

So what does this mean? The rich get richer. We continue to hate teams like the Yankees and Red Sox (and Angles to an extent) because they horde the best players. We smile when they don't make the playoffs, and we laugh when they implode. When teams try to out-spend those teams, we shake our heads and feel pity (think the Giants and Barry Zito. They tried to outspend, and wound up with a bust, but at least they tried). But they shouldn't have had to do that, if a cap was in place, and the big teams couldn't make the bidding go that high.

And me? Well, I'm a White Sox fan. I don't hate the Cubs, but I don't cheer for them (unless they made the playoffs, not playing against the Sox. Then I might cheer for them). The White Sox develop a good farm system, they don't overpay for their free agents, and they build a good chemistry team.

And they got rid of Nick Swisher. Traded him to the Yankees. Who are now trying to trade him elsewhere. In their championship year, the Sox were using three other cast-offs from the Yankees (they didn't seem to perform in the bright lights of the big city). And yet... with those ex-Yankees, the Sox won the Series. Instant Karma is gonna get you...