At some point, someone is supposed to stand up and say, "Enough is enough." But I think that was supposed to happen several hundred thousand million dollars ago.The Phillies have bought all the best pitchers. But they only did it because the Yankees were trying to do it, and the Yankees HAD to try to do it because they didn't go to the World Series this year even with a payroll upwards of what it would cost to build a high speed train to the fucking moon, so not buying the most expensive player wasn't an option. The Red Sox took it easy and got 2 guys that need 20 million annually, the Nationals thought it looked fun so they spent far more than they earn in ticket sales on a guy in his 30s, and surely the Angels will overpay someone before Spring to prove that they can sign checks too. Meanwhile, the Giants offered World Series MVP Edgar Renteria a 1-year contract worth... 1 million dollars.
It's crazy. These contracts that the big market teams are offering are certifiably insane. But $100 million for 5-years is fast becoming the rule rather than the exception, and that's why Grandpa Jeter is upset that the Yankees didn't want to pay him through his 50th birthday.
I had hoped the Giants would become one of these deep-pocketed teams. I thought a World Series Title would bring us gobs of money to throw at Carl Crawford who would say, "Play for the Giants? Of course I will, you're the best!" And that's pretty much what happened. Carl Crawford may have gone to the Red Sox for $142 million, but we signed Miguel Tejada to a one year deal for 6.5 million dollars, and he's 36! Crawford's only 29! Miguel Tejada is 7 years better than Carl Crawford!
This post isn't as whiny/despondent/pathetic as a lot/all of the other posts, because finance is an excuse-makers' best friend. Most teams can't keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox. Plain and simple, they don't have the capital. And that's a valid argument. "Of course we didn't win. We didn't buy 95 victories" and blah blah blah. It's not a fun argument to make, but it holds water. And when the poor team does win, when the Giants' draft picks and farm system and Barry Zito's 126 million dollar riding-the-bench-behind do win the World Series, it's because we're totally and undeniably awesome and the Phillies and Dodgers are a bunch of chumps.
To a certain degree, I love that other teams will drop a billion dollars bringing in All Stars from a rival club. It leaves the guys who are still trying to earn their money for the rest of us. At the same time, the Red Sox signing Crawford and Adrian Gonzales seems a little bit like cheating. And the Phillies rotation having Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels and now f***ing Cliff Lee seems a LOT like cheating. And the Yankees are cheaters in that they cheat and are cheats.
At the end of the day, I don't hate that the payroll discrepancy makes Major League Baseball outlandishly lopsided at times, these owners are just doing business. But I do think a limit to how much the players get paid wouldn't be a bad thing. Sure, there would be a season or two of Alex Rodriquez crying into his crystal goblets and then taking his yacht out for a day on the water to clear his head before taking his helicopter somewhere out over the Atlantic to dump all his old money that's starting to smell because he's a MILLIONAIRE TIMES ONE HUNDRED. But after that, I think guys would start to realize that $5 mil a year is going to be enough to get by. And then maybe, just maybe, good players would go to less rich teams because they want to play and live in San Francisco because it's truly a wonderful city with a great ballpark and a lot genuinely good people.
At the end of the day, I don't hate that the payroll discrepancy makes Major League Baseball outlandishly lopsided at times, these owners are just doing business. But I do think a limit to how much the players get paid wouldn't be a bad thing. Sure, there would be a season or two of Alex Rodriquez crying into his crystal goblets and then taking his yacht out for a day on the water to clear his head before taking his helicopter somewhere out over the Atlantic to dump all his old money that's starting to smell because he's a MILLIONAIRE TIMES ONE HUNDRED. But after that, I think guys would start to realize that $5 mil a year is going to be enough to get by. And then maybe, just maybe, good players would go to less rich teams because they want to play and live in San Francisco because it's truly a wonderful city with a great ballpark and a lot genuinely good people.
