Buying Championships

by ~ December 26th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

Randy Johnson & George Steinbrenner Cartoon

The New York Yankees’ wild offseason spending spree this Winter has led to a lot of peopling moaning about how Major League Baseball should implement a salary cap the way the NFL and NBA have.

I would like to state for the record that I am strongly against a salary cap for MLB teams.

The Yanks have been known as “the team that buys championships” for quite a while now, but they haven’t won one since the year 2000.

That means they haven’t won since signing free agent Mike Mussina to a 6 year/$88.5M contract, or Derek Jeter to a 10 year/$189M extension, or Hideki Matsui to a 3 year/$21M deal and later a 4 year/$52M extension, or Jose Contreras to a 4 year/$32M deal, or Gary Sheffield to a 3 year/$39M contract, or Carl Pavano to a 4 year/$39.95M contract, or Jason Giambi to a 7 year/$121M contract, or Johnny Damon to a 4 year/$52M contract, or Kei Igawa to a 5 year/$20M contract after dishing out a $26M posting fee, or Alex Rodriguez to a 10 year/$275M contract, or Mariano Rivera for three separate contracts totalling 9 years/$106M, or Jorge Posada to 5 year/$51M and 4 year/$52.5M contracts, or Andy Pettitte to a 1 year/$16M contract, and so on.

Yes, they rattled off four World Series wins between 1996 and 2000, but they haven’t won since then despite spending the most dollars.

In 2000, the Yankees payroll sat at $107M.  Last season, it was up to $209M.  They nearly doubled the payroll without bringing in a championship.

Many people think that Yankees are dramatically increasing their payroll yet again for 2009, but it’s a major misconception.  Yes, they’ve spent a ton on these free agents, but they’ve also gotten several expensive players off the books, including Jason Giambi (7 year/$121M), Bobby Abreu (5 years/$64M) and Andy Pettitte (1 year/$16M).  In fact, at last tally I saw had the Yankees current payroll lower than their 2008 mark.

The Yankees added three of the top five free agents this offseason, but unless they rattle off three or four championships in the next five seasons, I’m not ready to bring in a salary cap.  Without a salary cap, Major League Baseball has this fantastic David and Goliath appeal.

How awesome and exciting was it last season when the Tampa Bay Rays ($43M) beat out the Yankees ($209M) and Red Sox ($133M) for the AL East crown?  It was great!  And it wasn’t an oddity either (you may have heard of this franchise called the Florida Marlins).

I love the unbalanced payrolls, and for the forseeable future nothing will change thanks to teams like the Rays, Marlins and Oakland A’s.

No salary cap, please!  Baseball is fine.

Illustration borrowed from Cartoons by Deano.

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  • bakomariner

    It makes me sick that they have this much money, and that players make as much as they do, but I’m fine with the Yanks spending the money. For the most part, they (franchise) end up regretting the contract in the latter years because the player can’t live up to it on the field, and because of that, they can’t trade them.

    I was looking at the all-time contract list, and of the top 16 contracts ever, only THREE have helped bring in a championship…THREE! Manny (2) and Pujols (1)…

    If the Yankees win it this year, that number will go up because of Jeter and company, but I think that’s some good evidence that money doesn’t automatically bring you a championship…

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Dustin Shires

    I can’t say that I agree. Without a salary cap, the rich, spend-happy teams (for example, the Yankees) will be able to go out and spend money on anybody and everybody. With a salary cap, there is no way the Yankees will be able to go out and buy a championship. If they win the championship in 2009, the argument can be made that a salary cap would balance out the power in the league. They wouldn’t be able to sign everybody they wanted. Other teams, teams that wouldn’t normally have been interested in a player if there was no salary cap, would be in the mix.

    I also feel this will bring down the absurd salary demands of players. Let’s face it, at some point or another, if there is a salary cap, teams will be able to say “Look, I can’t pay you 25M a year…” The demands of the players will be forced to go down, at least, I believe this.

    Jon, money may not have bought championships yet, but if this time around it does, what will you be saying? Will you still be okay with their spend-happy antics?

    I’m all for a salary cap.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com/ Rob T.

    I don’t want a salary cap and their won’t be a salary cap. Teams like the Marlins wouldnt approve it because they wouldnt even have a payroll enough to reach the salary floor and you know all the big market teams wouldn’t approve. To keep your players all you have to do is follow the Rays and sign your players to long term deals before they reach arbitration. Teams like the Royals don’t compete every year not because they can’t afford players but because their GM’s are morons

    In the NFL there are no small market teams. Every single team makes a boatload of money every year, they all sell out every game except the Lions plus in a couple of years there might not even be a salary cap anymore. In the NBA you have teams like the Grizzlies trading away Pau Gasol for crap, crap and more crap just to get way under the cap and you have teams like the Suns that trade Luol Deng on draft night straight up for money just to stay below the salary cap. Also Free Agency in the NBA is boring as hell.

    Keep baseball the way it is except they must change the draft process.

  • Captain Lars

    Although there’s plenty of evidence that teams can’t “buy” a championship, that extra money certainly tilts the field in their favor. One of the biggest reasons is that it affords those teams the opportunity to make mistakes that won’t hamstring them.
    If you look for example at the contracts the Mariners gave last year to Carlos Silva and Kenji Johjima, 72 million combined and on the hook for three more years each, and look at the production from those players it makes you scream. But because we’re committed to those contracts we can’t take that money and go after anyone else. If we were the Yankees we could pay some team to take those guys off our hands or maybe even waive them and eat the contracts without hindering our ability to go after someone else. The Mariners can’t afford to do that so we’ll have to keep trotting them out there in the hope that they’ll eventually come around to help us or elevate their value enough to allow us to unload them in a trade.
    The high payroll teams may not always win but they’re almost always in the hunt which is all any team can hope for. Give yourself a chance every year and you’ll probably come away with a title every once in a while.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    RJ Anderson of Beyond the Boxscore put up a short post on the subject, and brings up a good point:

    … If a cap is implemented, the Yankees will still earn a ton of revenue, but will have an excess amount of cash laying around that used to be spent on their roster. Odds are, they’re going to spend that money, and on what? Well, how about amateur talent, both domestically and internationally or technology and advancements in statistical analysis as well as scouting, coaching, and front office techniques?

    What would you rather have: the Yankees of current, who spend money on free agents that are usually near the end of their prime anyways, or the Yankees of a salary capped world, who have a distinct advantage in minor league talent and baseball operations?

  • The Arm Chair GM

    some more great work as always Jon, been reading for a while now.
    I also enjoyed seeing the Rays come out of nowhere and make it to the world series. I think baseball is fine too.