Baseball Musings: A Little Whine on Christmas Eve

December 24, 2008

A Little Whine on Christmas Eve

Mark Attanasio is complaining about the Yankees and calling for a salary cap:

In an e-mail to Bloomberg News, Attansio voiced his frustration, while hinting at a solution: "At the rate the Yankees are going, I'm not sure anyone can compete with them. Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap."
Speaking to Bloomberg News on the phone, Attansio added, "They (Yankees) are on a completely different economic playing field. I paid $220 million for my team; now they get three players for $420 million."

Really, the Yankees just shelled out $420 million? No, the Yankees committed to that much money over a long time period.

Secondly, Mr. Attansio's investment in the Brewers was worth $331 million as of the last Forbes report, a 50% increase. The income for the team is $19 million, an 8.6% annual return on his original investment. So maybe, just maybe, Attansio had the resources to go five-years, $120 million on CC and hope that goodwill would carry the day.

Update: This might be the real reason Attansio is upset:

Because Teixeira's Elias rating is higher than those of CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, the Angels now get the Yankees' first round draft pick, pushing the Brewers' compensation pick from the first round to the second (at least 40 picks below where it would have been had the Yanks not signed Teixeira). This is no insignificant matter for a small market organization that has used the draft to its advantage in constructing a playoff-caliber team.

Posted by David Pinto at 12:42 PM | Owners | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I've loathed the Yankees (and more the Dodgers) since I was a kid in the 70s and I understand the uproar over all that money going to three players, especially in this economy. But, I think this yearly bitching about the Yankees and their spending habits as over-the-top. (What's ridiculous are all the stadiums in every league throughout the US paid for with tax dollars!)

The Yankees have been paying their luxury taxes (i.e. corporate socialism to the likes of Kansas City and Baltimore) to clubs across the league. So, while ridiculous, aren't these salaries their rational choice...and a rational choice that helps baseball as a whole and its work force?

It's the Yankees that are now stuck with Teixeira (a player I really like) for EIGHT years! Eight years! There are future superstars entering high school or some Latin American academy (that'll be found by clubs other than the Yankees) who'll be playing and playing well in the Bigs before Teixeira is off their books!

...and this is just the start of arguing baseball salaries. If clubs want to keep their players and keep them paid ridiculously well and for long periods of time, they best follow models like the Mets with David Wright, the Indians with Grady Sizemore (and a host of other guys historically), etc.

And, one last thing: had the Red Sox signed Teixeira, would the media be really so up in arms about all this? Just asking and I'm a Giants fan.

Go Tampa Bay 2009!

Company's at my house. Happy Holidays folks. Out.

Posted by: Kent at December 24, 2008 01:16 PM

Oh boohoo, another cheap, penny-pinching multimillionaire is moaning and groaning about the big bad Yankees! David is right, some of these owners should either:

A. pony up their own money and not pocket all the profits they are making like the Yankees' owners do, or
B. stop accepting the luxury tax money that they Yankees are paying them.

Posted by: sabernar at December 24, 2008 02:10 PM

The yankee's ARE ABSOLUTELY on a different economic plane than everyone, no amount of revenue sharing or luxury taxes will come close to bridging the gap, to argue that owners should dip into their own pockets or spend the extra couple of million would be fine if the argument was over a couple of million but its not its 100's of millions, Brewers up their offer to 120 and still he goes to yanks for 161, brewers up it to 140, yanks go 175, opt out clause, no trade caluse, private jets and a home in CT for his wife.....to argue the yanks are playing within the rules is to agree the rules are imbalanced and out dated.

Posted by: Vinny at December 24, 2008 02:34 PM

Is it not possible that the Yankees' profits are so large that they can afford to spend this kind of money and still line their own pockets? Having a hometown in NY has its advantages...

Posted by: John at December 24, 2008 02:34 PM

If MLB wanted to "fix" this (MLB doesn't) it should add a team or two to NYC.

Posted by: Kent at December 24, 2008 02:40 PM

Hmm, let me see if I can remember what happened just a few months ago. Yeah, that's it. the Yankees missed the playoffs and the Brewers were the NL wildcard team. I hate the Yankees too, but they have the money, and they can spend it however they see fit. I don't think Sabathia and Burnett are going to help them that much, but Teixeira sure will.

Posted by: Jim Casey at December 24, 2008 04:37 PM

Oh, come on, Kent. Three teams in New York??? That would never work, the city would never be able to support three baseball teams.

You're sooooo 1930s. (Which, come to think of it, is frighteningly appropriate.)

Posted by: James at December 24, 2008 05:11 PM

Nice one James. Portland is under over a foot of snow, which is virtually unprecedented, and I've been drinking wine for much of the day with family. Ahh, the 1930s...

And all the crap by the media about how "bad" baseball's economic model is vis-a-vis the NFL or the NBA? Please. The NFL's economics are ridiculous! The whole league is set up for "parody" and the Lions, Browns, Cardinals, and a host of others are relevant every what (?) 20 years? Top ten draft picks every single year, but still stink? The NBA? Don't even get me started.

Posted by: Kent at December 24, 2008 06:02 PM

I know that these salaries are spread out over a few years, but it is worth pointing out that only the Yankees could spend nearly half a billion like this on three players. Not even the Red Sox or Mets (with their new stadium) can match this spending. I'm a Sox fan, and far be it for me to criticize the Yankees spending the money when my team throws $100 million at a pitcher who had never played a major league game, but it used to be that rich teams could only throw such sums of money around on one free agent during the offseason and that's it. The Yankees just did it for three players in the same offseason -- and could still afford Manny or Peavey if the really want to. That has ripple effects.

Of course, blowing money on A-Rod, Giambi, Johnson, Mussina, and Pavano didn't help them win a world series. So we'll see what happens next year.

Posted by: tas at December 24, 2008 10:48 PM

I wish people would stop already with talking about how the Yankees are spending their profits. They are the classic welfare queens living off the taxpayers. I guess its okay for the ultra-rich Steinbrenners to slurp at the public trough. I wonder how much of the banking bailout billions is going to buy luxury boxes.

Are the Yankees even a team? It seems more like a bunch of guys who don't want to compete and instead want to get in on a scam to lock out an entire professional sports league.

Posted by: hal at December 24, 2008 10:54 PM

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