And they say they don't try to buy championships

[The Brain]

I don't recall the Yankees being the ones who gave A-Rod that $250 million contract in the first place. But let's face it, since the Tom Hicks, owner of the Rangers, was stupid enough to basically outbid himself to get one player, and is now trying to backpedal, there were very few teams capable of taking on that huge contract.

The Red Sox had their chance. The Mets did, too, a few years ago before Hicks finally offered A-Rod the moon and stars.

The Yankees are not just capable of paying the salary (although I believe Texas will still pay a portion of it); they are <i>willing</i> to pay it, which simply put not too many teams are willing to do.

The Angels and Marlins proved that small-or-mid-market teams (and for the life of me, I don't know how a team once owned by <i>Disney</i> can ever be considered a "small-market" budget team) can still compete and win when the disparity between "have" and "have nots" is so great. But in order to create <i>longevity</i> for your team, you have to be willing to spend money to make money. It is a simple rule of any business, and the sport of baseball <i>is</i> a business.

There is a reason why the Angels failed to even make the playoffs after their win, and why the 1998 Marlins looked nothing like the 1997 champs (remember that firesale which started less than a month after the World Series?). Even now, Ivan Rodriguez left the defending champs... <i>for more money</i>, although we all know he won't be sniffing the postseason anytime soon in Detroit. For teams to succeed, it has become absolutely essentially to be willing to pay for that success.