While many baseball fans in New York are ebullient for the baseball season this year, the entire rest of the country may not be. This year, the Yankees have spent over half a billion dollars on players, the most money ever used by a private team in professional sports. The problem is while the MLB deems this imprimatur, and allows for it to be printed and done. A high percentage of their team have proven themselves worthy of being deemed all stars, and their contracts prove that true also.
Question: Why don't other teams just spend more money on players like the Yankees have done?
Answer: These teams to not have close to the salary that the Yankees can afford, creating a big choler towards the Yankees. For example, the left side of the Yankees infield makes more money than the majority of other Major League teams are able to afford. Yearly, the left side of their infield, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, make approximately 42 million dollars combined. The majority of other teams in the Major Leagues have had to cede the opportunity of taking all star players because the salaries they can afford is about $2 million less than what the left side of the Yankees infield is paid. And fans have two different opinions on this action taken by the Yankees: whether this is a perfidy that they have taken advantage of, or if it is beneficial for the fans.
Let's look at the negative standpoint first. Many people think that the Yankees have taken advantage of the high salary that they are able to afford, and have created an all star team that can't lose. This, in one respect, is true. They have more money than any other team in Major League Baseball, and have a ten times bigger budget than about 6 other teams in the MLB. And why? Because they can. I wonder if they had even scrupled as to whether or not what they are doing is wrong, and if they should back off of some of these players. Most teams can only afford one all star, while the Yankees not only have what I assume to be four of the best pitchers in the league, but another nine great players in the field also.
Some people in contrast say that it is just a waste of money because the Yankees management really does not know how a player will do every year. Playing in New York is almost an anathema, which I like to call the "New York City factor." The "New York City factor" is the pressure of performing baseball in the area of New York City. Unlike many other areas in the country, there is no place where baseball is talked about so much. Over sixteen newspapers write articles about the Yankees every game, castigating every wrong move performed by the players. Many acclaimed "all stars" have come to New York City to play, and have not been able to remain sang-froid due all of the pressure that is put on them.
However, many people do not think that what the Yankees did was a bad thing at all. Although the Yankees have been disparaged by many people, they know all that matters is becoming a World Series Champion by the end of the year. There is no salary cap for a reason, and the Yankees took that into consideration and did nothing illegal or wrong. They simply signed great players with the money they have. They were malcontent of the result of the team last year (not making the playoffs), and decided that they were going to get better players who are very consistent every year. Besides, they have another huge budget to pay off; the new stadium. With better players and more all stars, more fans will want to attend games to watch the players perform.
Also, the Devil Rays have proven last year that one is able to win despite having hardly and budget to work with. With the smallest budget in the MLB (about 24 million), they were able to make it to the World Series. They had the best record in the Major Leagues and became the parvenu of baseball. Therefore, it is always possible for a team with a small budget to come out on top.
I do not know whether or not what the Yankees did was good or bad, however I am excited to see how it plays out. They have had many stars come to play on their team before who could not stand the pressure very well and played poorly there. Although the Yankees look supercilious to the rest of the Major Leagues, they may not be just as good as they previously thought.
