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We hope you still love Mike Lowell and David Ortiz. Because the slow tango between the Red Sox and Mark Teixiera came to a sudden crash yesterday, as the Yankees showed up on the dance floor with a briefcase full of $1000 bills and took the slugger back to New York.
So Tex (and we'll have to come up with a derogatory nickname soon, something like "A-Fraud"...we're open to ideas) got his payday - 180 million clams over eight years. And now the Yankees have the four largest contracts in baseball history. The Sox' yes-maybe-no-OK-please offer, and the Washington Nationals' tempting offer of paying Tex a lot of money to disappear off the face of the earth, just weren't enough. And it will be a merry Christmas in the Scott Boras household, if he gave anybody presents, which we doubt he does. Any way you slice it, it's a hell of a lot of money for a guy who's won one playoff game in his life.
While our springtime team was thrown into turmoil, both our local wintertime teams did what they do - win. The Celtics toyed with Philly for their 19th straight win (wasn't it like six weeks ago that they lost 18 straight?) , and got saluted with the obligatory "Beat LA" chant as they prepare to go play the Lakers tomorrow. (Also, one more time, "Beat LA" began as a congratulatory chant to the Sixers, who were about to finish off the Celtics to go to the Finals and were widely seen here (and still are) as the lesser of two evils. Many people seem to have forgotten this, or never knew.)
And the Bruins... wow. The Devils were on a 12-2-1 streak, but there's hot and then there's hot. The B's just can't lose right now. Milan Lucic broke a scoreless tie seconds into the third period, and David Krejci sailed the puck the length of the ice for the empty-net clincher. The only bummer (besides the Teixiera deal we've already discussed) was that Phil Kessel was scoreless for the first time in forever. So it's time to start a new streak Saturday at Carolina.
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Baseball's economics are terrible. One team, the Yankees, gets a lot of broadcast revenue and gets good players by just throwing money around.
The NFL has parity and a salary cap, and every team has a chance to win. Even the Detroit Lions can be decent again in a couple of years. Will the Pittsburgh Pirates ever be able to compete again in baseball?
now that the yanks have kevin cash, do you think it's time to bring back "miracle" mirabelli?
The sports world isn't ending because the Yankee$ are spending tons of money again. Teixeira is very good, no doubt. But, Youk and Lowell's best seasons aren't much different than Teixeira's '08 stats. Lowell might never be the same and Youk may not be as good in '09, so we will have to see.
Teixeira 2008 - .308, 33, 121
Youkilis 2008 - .312, 29, 115
Lowell 2007 - .324, 21, 120
Sabathia's career playoff ERA is over 7. Burnett is always hurt. I'll take Lester/Daisuke/Beckett over them and Joba and Wang.
Plus, I trust Theo. I'm certain he will continue to improve the team.
If Tampa can compete, why can't Pittsburgh? Tampa had a lower payroll than Pittsburgh. Detroit had the 2nd highest payroll and finished last in the AL Central. Only KC and Baltimore had fewer wins in the AL than Detroit.
MJG, you just showed that salary isn't 100% of the issue, it's only 90%. Sure, a Tampa can compete for a year or maybe two if they're lucky, but the only teams that can consistantly compete are those teams that consistantly out spend 80% or 90% of their competition.
Have you ever noticed that the only people who defend the economics of baseball with the argument you provided above are people who support teams at the very top of the spending scale? I wonder why that is.
The economics of baseball are garbage.