And they say they don't try to buy championships

[The Brain]

Originally posted by Flock of Moosen

<i>Originally posted by The Brain</i>
The Yankee dynasty (for lack of a better term) has always been about the \"core\" of young home-grown players-- which up until this point was Jeter, Williams, Pettite, Rivera (and Posada becoming a starter later on). The rest has always been about veterans and journeyman coming in to fill key roles in other positions, and I don't know who could have been telling you otherwise.

Woo Hoo, 5 whole players! I'm impressed.

33% of your everyday starting lineup (44% when you count Nick Johnson as the DH; 55% on days Pettitte starts). And I didn't initially include Soriano, even though he played in Japan, he also came up in the Yanks' minor league.

Now go ahead and tell me another team which can routinely pencil in that much of its own home-grown talent in the everyday starting lineup.

Originally posted by Flock of Moosen
My favorite quote from that article came from Yankees GM Brian Cashman in regards to other teams,

\"You have only $50 million? Tough, find a way to win. That's your job.\"

You mean to tell me that's acceptable in your opinion? Why is it sports success has to be determined by money instead of talent? What a joke!

From what I said earlier:

But in order to create longevity 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 is a business.

The success measured on the field is talent; but off the field, it's the ability to acquire products (in this case, players) who will both achieve, and bring in revenue in the form of fans. I know we prefer this lofty idea of sport as noble and pure, but in the world of <i>professionalism</i>, it's about the bottom dollar (and the collegiate level isn't that far behind).

But I notice you keep saying that the small- or mid- market teams <b>can't</b> compete. That is not entirely the case.

The truth is, they <b>won't</b> compete simply because they are unwilling to spend money.

Case in point: in 1994, prior to the strike/walk-out (whatever you wish to call it) that ended the season, the two teams at the top of the standings were the Yankees and Montreal Expos. If you were to look at the sheer amount of All-Stars that the Expos have let go over the past decade simply because they were being cheap bastards, you'd be amazed.

Quick list: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, Vladimir Guerrero, John Wetteland, Javier Vasquez. Three starting pitchers, two outstanding outfielders, and a closer. And I'm sure there are more.

I know we like to toss the term "small-market" around like the teams are owned by some little mom-and-pop corner grocery store, instead of billionaire businessmen, but the fact is there are a lot of billionaire owners who are just all too happy to claim themselves team owners (in any sport), but don't really do anything to improve the product they put out there for the fans. Which is why it is a surprise, rather than simple fact of life, when a team like the Royals or the Athletics or Angels actually goes out and signs a free agent for "fair-market value". They are actually showing willingness to <i>be competitive</i>. Too often, owners are content to let the Yanks, Braves, Mets, Red Sox, Orioles, and Dodgers have big payrolls, pay the new "luxury tax"... and then pocket that revenue share in lieu of putting back into the team to acquire new players, or pay the ones they already have. Then they turn around and cry how "poor" they are in comparison to the big bad Steinbrenner.

Yes, the Tribune Company (who owns the Cubs), Disney (who owned the Angels), Hiroshi Yamauchi (president of Nintendo, who owns the Seattle Mariners), David Glass (former CEO of Wal-Mart, now owner of the Kansas City Royals)... yep, none of them, or the myriad other billionaires out there, have/had any money whatsoever to play with. None of them apparently have any cash to take on a shipping magnate who once spent a grand total of $10 million back in the early '70s to buy the Yankees from CBS. You know what Steinbrenner did with that $10 million investment? Transformed it into a billion-dollar franchise that is hated, envied, or copied across the nation. <i>That</i> is good business acumen.