Hating the Yankee's for the Wrong Reasons
In all of American Sports there is probably no other team that is hated quite as much as the New York Yankee's. Believe me I've been a fan since I was 5 or 6 and people will let you know they hate the Yankees. This is understandable because people in general hate other people's success. Unless your a fan of that team then you obviously are not going to like them and may even say negative things about them, that is part of sports. Rivalry is great and I wouldn't trade it for the world but I do have one gripe that I have had since the late 1990's when the Yankees started winning The World Series again, and that is people who say the Yankees buy their rings and other teams would win with the Yankee's payroll. This has always been a very weak argument and has been dis-proven time and time again yet casual sports fans, Boston Red Sox fans, and other baseball fans alike will always say stupid shit like "Of course the Yankees have all those rings they bought them didn't they? hahahahaha"
My problem is not really with Red Sox's fans saying this because they are our biggest rivals and they have the right in my mind to shit talk how ever they want but it does lead to misconceptions. What I really hate is when someone who doesn't watch baseball or is just a casual fan tries to make this argument. So I will break this down below with examples of why this is stupid.
First let me get a few caveats out of the way. Yes the Yankees do have the highest payroll. What people don't realize though is that they have been cutting that payroll pretty much since George Steinbrenner died, even a year or two before that when he relinquished control of the team to his kids.
The other part of this is someone is always going to have the highest payroll, when Mets fans, Red Sox Fans, Tigers fans etc. bitch about how much the Yankees payroll is I cringe because their payrolls are super high as well and they are not broke teams. If you are a Twins fan or a Rays fan and bitch then I can kind of see your point until you realize that these poor (for baseball teams) teams have either won The World Series in recent years or have made it to the playoffs consistently in recent years with a small payroll.
If you have a GM that is worth a shit, a Farm System that builds talent, and a good Manager you can be successful with a small payroll. Yes you may not be able to keep talent as long as the Yankees can and that is an advantage that they do have, I cannot argue that.
So getting that out of the way I want to show you why when people say the Yankees bought the best players in the late 90's and won because of that I call bullshit. Lets look at the Premier 90's Yankee roster which would be the 1998 Yankees.
Catcher- Jorge Posada- Farm System
1B- Tino Martinez- Yes they got him off of Free Agency but other teams do this as well and you will always have a few free agents who sign with you no matter who you are. Listen the Tigers are a perfect example of a team who signed some big money free agents in the early 2000's and didn't get any World Series titles to show for it
2B-Chuck Knoblauch-Free Agent but not a high paid big money guy just a regular signing
SS-Derek Jeter-Farm System
3B-Scott Brosius- Free Agent but he was considered just about washed up after having a bad season with the Oakland A's the year before so again not a big money signing
LF-Chad Curtis-Farm System
CF-Bernie Williams-Farm System
RF-Paul O'Neill-When they picked up Paul from the Reds in 1996 he was considered a good player but he became great with the Yankees. Again he wasn't some big pricey guy that the Yankees out-payed everyone for
DH Darryl Strawberry/Chili Davis/Tim Raines- All of these guys were considered past their prime but they all contributed of the bench and at DH. Tim Raines made only 1.3 mil that year and Strawberry who had the most at bats out of the three was paid 875k, while Chili Davis was way over-payed at 4.3 mil.
Now look at the Starting Pitching
SP-David Cone- A legitimate big money signing
SP-Orlando Hernandez- Cuban Defector who was better than people thought he would be only made 750k that year
SP-Hideki Irabu- A big money flop
SP-Andy Pettite- Farm System
SP-David Wells-A Journeymen pitcher who hit his own when he signed with the Yankees who were his fifth team meaning anyone could of had him.
So here is the breakdown, of the 11 Starting Fielders/DH's, 4 of them were farm system players, 4 of them could be considered past their prime veterans, leaving just Chuck Knoblauch, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez as guys who you could consider being big money signings and the O'Neill signing is probably a stretch to call it a big money signing.
As for Starting Pitchers: Only David Cone and Hideki Irabu were big money signings and Irabu sucked.
This is a long blog already so I won't even go through the Bullpen but let me point out that the greatest Closer of all time and one of the big reasons the Yankees won all those World Series, Mariano Rivera was a Farm System player along with Ramiro Mendoza who had a good year.
My problem is not really with Red Sox's fans saying this because they are our biggest rivals and they have the right in my mind to shit talk how ever they want but it does lead to misconceptions. What I really hate is when someone who doesn't watch baseball or is just a casual fan tries to make this argument. So I will break this down below with examples of why this is stupid.
First let me get a few caveats out of the way. Yes the Yankees do have the highest payroll. What people don't realize though is that they have been cutting that payroll pretty much since George Steinbrenner died, even a year or two before that when he relinquished control of the team to his kids.
The other part of this is someone is always going to have the highest payroll, when Mets fans, Red Sox Fans, Tigers fans etc. bitch about how much the Yankees payroll is I cringe because their payrolls are super high as well and they are not broke teams. If you are a Twins fan or a Rays fan and bitch then I can kind of see your point until you realize that these poor (for baseball teams) teams have either won The World Series in recent years or have made it to the playoffs consistently in recent years with a small payroll.
If you have a GM that is worth a shit, a Farm System that builds talent, and a good Manager you can be successful with a small payroll. Yes you may not be able to keep talent as long as the Yankees can and that is an advantage that they do have, I cannot argue that.
So getting that out of the way I want to show you why when people say the Yankees bought the best players in the late 90's and won because of that I call bullshit. Lets look at the Premier 90's Yankee roster which would be the 1998 Yankees.
Catcher- Jorge Posada- Farm System
1B- Tino Martinez- Yes they got him off of Free Agency but other teams do this as well and you will always have a few free agents who sign with you no matter who you are. Listen the Tigers are a perfect example of a team who signed some big money free agents in the early 2000's and didn't get any World Series titles to show for it
2B-Chuck Knoblauch-Free Agent but not a high paid big money guy just a regular signing
SS-Derek Jeter-Farm System
3B-Scott Brosius- Free Agent but he was considered just about washed up after having a bad season with the Oakland A's the year before so again not a big money signing
LF-Chad Curtis-Farm System
CF-Bernie Williams-Farm System
RF-Paul O'Neill-When they picked up Paul from the Reds in 1996 he was considered a good player but he became great with the Yankees. Again he wasn't some big pricey guy that the Yankees out-payed everyone for
DH Darryl Strawberry/Chili Davis/Tim Raines- All of these guys were considered past their prime but they all contributed of the bench and at DH. Tim Raines made only 1.3 mil that year and Strawberry who had the most at bats out of the three was paid 875k, while Chili Davis was way over-payed at 4.3 mil.
Now look at the Starting Pitching
SP-David Cone- A legitimate big money signing
SP-Orlando Hernandez- Cuban Defector who was better than people thought he would be only made 750k that year
SP-Hideki Irabu- A big money flop
SP-Andy Pettite- Farm System
SP-David Wells-A Journeymen pitcher who hit his own when he signed with the Yankees who were his fifth team meaning anyone could of had him.
So here is the breakdown, of the 11 Starting Fielders/DH's, 4 of them were farm system players, 4 of them could be considered past their prime veterans, leaving just Chuck Knoblauch, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez as guys who you could consider being big money signings and the O'Neill signing is probably a stretch to call it a big money signing.
As for Starting Pitchers: Only David Cone and Hideki Irabu were big money signings and Irabu sucked.
This is a long blog already so I won't even go through the Bullpen but let me point out that the greatest Closer of all time and one of the big reasons the Yankees won all those World Series, Mariano Rivera was a Farm System player along with Ramiro Mendoza who had a good year.
I disagree only that the reason why the yankees dont win the world series every year, because with the oney they have, they can and do buy the talent, is because of all the ego on the team. I also wonder if maybe because of all the hispanic players who don't speak english at all or understand it very little maybe mix shit up and do the wrong things. lol
ReplyDeleteI couldn't disagree more Adam. They really haven't had a chemistry issue since Joe Torre's last couple of years. The key to winning it all in baseball is Good G.M, Farm System, Manager, & Chemistry. I can name many teams that thought they could throw money at big name free agents and win but they didn't. The Tigers were one example, the Mets tried it a few years ago when the got Beltran, Bay, Santana. But that is not how you win and the argument that the Yankees cheat by buying there team is ridiculous.
ReplyDelete