Recession? What recession?

Yankees continue ridiculous spending habits

Ryan Janz

While the whole world is stuck in recession mode, Hank Steinbrenner and his New York Yankees are out for recess and want to play - except Steinbrenner and the Yankees are like the bullies of the playground looking to pick on all the poor kids.

The Yankees payroll will be around $200 million in 2009. By comparison, the reigning American League champs, the Tampa Bay Rays, had a relatively measly payroll of $42 million last year.

Steinbrenner, president of the Yankees, has chosen not to re-sign Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu and Mike Mussina but went ahead and signed first baseman Mark Teixeira and pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to big contracts in December. Their deals will have a combined monetary value of almost $425 million over many years.

In a time of collapsing economies, were the Yankees fiscally irresponsible in their spending? Yes. Should we blame them for the disparity of team payrolls in baseball? Not exactly.

While the Yankees’ wealth and cash flow create an unfair advantage when it comes to attracting high priced free agents, they are doing everything in their power to create a winning baseball team and it is perfectly within the rules of Major League Baseball.

Yet, it turns ridiculous when Alex Rodriguez made more money in 2008 (around $25 million) than the entire Florida Marlins baseball team ($21 million). The blame should go towards Major League Baseball.

The MLB still uses the luxury tax system, where it penalizes teams who go over a certain amount of salary for their players, instead of a salary cap. This has allowed richer teams, like the Yankees, the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, to sign any player they want while poorer teams like the Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates cannot afford to sign any big names.

However, it seems like a salary cap will never be implemented. If owners insisted on a hard salary cap on teams’ players, then surely, a players’ strike would happen again. Teams with high salaries would also be up in arms, as they believe that a salary cap would inhibit on their ability to field championship-calibre teams.

Still, the Yankees must be aware of the times. They must realize that fewer people can afford to watch a MLB game and if they want to finance their new signings, they must get people in the stands.
The Yankees cannot continue to be the bullies of the sports world. Baseball’s economics seem to deny any existence of a recession but with people being laid off and health insurance being cut, it will be a difficult time for all professional sports teams.

It remains to be seen whether or not teams like the Yankees, the Mets and the Red Sox can weather the storm. For the Yankees, the forecast seems sunny but it is only because of their naivety.

Published in Volume 63, Number 20 of The Uniter (February 12, 2009)

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