Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 01, 2007
Angels in the Bank

If the Angels want to go after Alex Rodriguez, they'll be looking at a payroll of $130 million. That's what it takes to compete with the Red Sox and Yankees these days.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:25 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I think it's inaccurate to say it takes $130 million to compete with the Red Sox and Yankees these days. Cleveland was well short of that this year and competed just fine.

Posted by: Tom at November 1, 2007 11:43 AM

But you don't have to compete with the Yanks & Red Sox in the payroll arena... just ask the '06 Cardinals, '05 White Sox, '03 Marlins, and '02 Angels. The rule of thumb for a championship this decade, is a low to mid payroll team with a number of solid players but no huge superstars. All the attention goes to Boston and NYY for their spending so people forget this.

Posted by: Devon Young at November 1, 2007 02:50 PM

PS. that's why the Royals have a great chance of winning a WS "soon", after getting that new GM. A good GM and a low to mid payroll range is a great recipe. I'm not sure how well it translates into dynasties yet though.

Posted by: Devon Young at November 1, 2007 02:52 PM

Ummm ...
2006 Cardinals: Albert Pujols, Chris Carpenter, maybe Jim Edmonds
2005 White Sox: Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, pick-a-pitcher
2004 Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Johnny Damon
2003 Marlins: Miguel Cabrera, Josh Beckett
2002 Angels: F-Rod, Troy Glaus, Vlad Guerrero

Now, others may quibble with this list, but anyone who is telling me that there wasn't at least one superstar on each of these teams is going to have some 'splainin' to do.

Now, not all of these guys got *paid* among the top 5% (although Pujols does). The trick is clearly to have *underpaid* superstars - even Pujols can be said to be underpaid relative to his worth.

One can note that the most consistently successful teams of the last decade, whether judged by Series, playoff appearances, or total wins, are probably the Sox and Yankees.

Spending money isn't an answer. Spending money on the right guys, and where possible underpaying them, is an answer.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at November 1, 2007 04:43 PM

Vlad was playing for the Montreal Expos in 2002.

Posted by: tony at November 1, 2007 08:44 PM
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