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The Spectacle Blog
Last night, the New York Yankees clinched the American League East on a pinch hit two-run single by Jorge Posada for a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
I know a lot of baseball fans bemoan the Yankees high payroll. Yes, C.C. Sabathia is making $23 million, Mark Teixeira is making $22.5 million and Robinson Cano is making $10 million this season. But Alex Rodriguez is making $31 million in 2011 and yet injuries have limited him to 95 games this season. This will mark the first year A-Rod has failed to drive in at least 100 runs since 1997. A.J. Burnett is making $16.5 million this season and with a 10-11 record and a 5.28 ERA is having a difficult time justifying his position in the starting rotation. And despite his heroics last night, Jorge Posada has had well publicized struggles in a season in which he made $13.1 million.
Ladies and gentlemen, the story of the 2011 New York Yankees is how they managed to win the AL East at a bargain. Although they did re-sign Derek Jeter for three more seasons ($15 million in 2011) they didn't sign the likes of Carl Crawford or Cliff Lee in the off season (despite their best efforts to woo Lee.) Instead, Yankees GM Brian Cashman looked towards the scrap heap and found some precious metals like catcher Russell Martin ($4 million), outfielder Andruw Jones ($2 million), third baseman Eric Chavez ($1.5 million) as well as pitchers Freddy Garcia ($1.5 million) and Bartolo Colon ($900,000). All five players have made significant contributions to the Yankees this season for less than $10 million.
Then let's also consider the players who were developed in the Yankees organization who have also made significant contributions to the team this season and aren't millionaries. Ivan Nova has become the Yankees number two starting pitcher with a 16-4 record with a respectable 3.62 ERA. Nova earned a modest $432,900 this season. David Robertson emerged as Mariano Rivera's eighth inning set up man and earned a trip to the All-Star Game at a cool $460,450. Rivera, by comparison, made $15 million in 2011. Outfielder Brett Gardner made slightly more than half a million this season ($529,500 to be precise) and very quietly leads the AL in stolen bases with 46.
And then there's Eduardo Nunez. I don't think anyone expected Nunez to play more than 100 games with the Yankees this season. But with both A-Rod and Derek Jeter hurt for significant periods during the summer, Nunez filled in on the left side of the infield and the Yankees didn't miss a beat. At $419,300, Nunez might be the best Yankee bargain of them all. Between the four of them, they are earning less than $2 million.
Like it or not, the Yankees spent their money wisely in 2011 and they could very well get a big return on their investment in October.
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More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/09/22/yankees-win-al-east-at-a-barga
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Clint| 9.22.11 @ 12:14PM
The Phillies, while having some post division win let up, would like a shot at the Yankees.
JohnD| 9.22.11 @ 12:21PM
They still have basically put Baltimore and Toronto out of the, major leagues for more than a decade now, and shut all small-to-mid-market teams out of free agency by setting that market. Until Baseball adopts 100% revenue sharing or a salary cap, it will be boring and irrelevant. When fans in KC, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Baltimore know they have no chance even in spring training, well. . . just look at the "pennant races (there are none).
Aaron Goldstein| 9.22.11 @ 12:36PM
The Yankees were a far more dominant team before free agency. Between 1947 and 1964, the Yankees were in 15 World Series winning ten of them.
The Yankees have always had high payrolls yet Don Mattingly never played in a World Series and had only one post-season appearance in his final season in 1995.
Over the past decade teams like the Red Sox, White Sox and Giants won World Series after droughts of well over half a century. The Phillies won their first World Series in nearly thirty years while the Angels won their first World Series title in franchise history.
As for small market teams and pennant race, what does that make the Tampa Bay Rays?
JP| 9.22.11 @ 12:42PM
I do agree. The Yankees of the 1990s remain one of my favorite teams simply because their roster was filled with players most people today have forgotten (Brosis, Martinez, O'Neil,Borowski, Hayes, etc...). Why the Steinbrenner family decided to go after highly paid superstars instead of continuing to rely on solid, middle of the road vets is a mystery to me.
SCM| 9.22.11 @ 12:46PM
With such large wage variations on their roster, you would expect some class warfare/class envy in the clubhouse. How do the guys making ONLY a half million a year put up with those making 20 million?
I wonder who are democrats and who are republicans? Or liberals and conservatives?
Idaho Ike| 9.22.11 @ 1:59PM
Thanks for the info, Mr. G. A small nit scarcely worth picking but I teach kids English: in using "cool" in reference to earnings, the American usage is to apply the word to a big heap of kale, whereas you are applying it to the reverse situation.
Question: Do you happen to know whether there is any correlation between AL/NL World Series winners and the political fortunes of either party -- and the stock market?
Looking for your review of Moneyball.
Cheers.
Aaron Goldstein| 9.22.11 @ 3:17PM
Well, the Yankees haven't won a World Series with a Republican in the White House since 1958.
So if you're a Yankees fan, 2011 might be a good year.
I am planning to write something on Moneyball in the next few days.
Dagny Taggert| 9.22.11 @ 3:29PM
Huge Yankees fan who lives in Boston. Enjoying witnessing the fans revert back to their self-loathing norm. Nice to see the recent reversal where the Yanks do well picking off the scrap heap, while the Sox were burned by their big-money signings.
Paul McGrath| 9.22.11 @ 6:19PM
The Red Sox have lost their swagger and Texas is not what they were last year. The Yankees are tough and the additions they made this year surely improved them--could anyone have predicted Granderson going 41/119?--but their big stars are getting a bit gray in the tooth. The Tigers are much younger, their hitting is as good, and with their recent addition of Fister, their starting pitching might be better. It's going to be Detroit v. New York in the ALCS and I make no predictions further than that.
Aaron Goldstein| 9.22.11 @ 7:26PM
That's quite possible. I picked the Tigers to win the AL pennant at the outset of the season and am sticking with that even against the Yankees.
Bob K.| 9.22.11 @ 7:42PM
Only a guy who makes his living as a political commentator and writer would think that Ivan Nova's salary of $432,900.00 for playing Baseball in taxpayer subsidized stadiums in the middle of the country's the worst recession since 1930 is a modest amount of money!
No wonder people don't think that Republicans are serious about fixing the economy!
Get back to your real job Aaron!
Aaron Goldstein| 9.23.11 @ 8:19AM
In comparison to C.C. Sabathia's $23 million a season, Nova's $432,900 is a modest amount of money.
Bob Grant| 9.22.11 @ 7:43PM
I'm a huge sports fan but find it difficult investing the time to watch a complete baseball game these days. I simply cannot devote attention to sit through more than a few innings without falling asleep.
Age or something else?...'94 strike?...steroid scandal?
I CAN, however, watch 3 complete college football games on Saturdays and complete television coverage of a golf tournament.
What's the trick these days? Please help this former baseball fanatic.
MikeN| 9.23.11 @ 11:07AM
Yankees have such good minor leaguers because they can afford to outspend other teams in signing bonuses. The small market teams with high draft picks pass on players just because they know they can't sign them. See Derek Jeter.