it's such a tired, lazy, hackneyed, trite line of reasoning. Hate the system, not the team.

and where were these clowns last year, when the Yanks did nothing? Yelling "Money can't buy a title"!!!!

Haterade tastes particularly wonderful this morning.

Thank you for saying this. I have no forum for expressing this, but people think the Yankees bought titles going back to Mantle and Berra. The 4 in 5 was a bunch of gome growns with key trades for veterans (O'Neill). If anything, the years since 2002 show what money can buy you: a lot of expectations, a lot of disappointment, and a lot of early exits.

The one place the money helps is in mitigating the rebuilding years. But if you think money buys the World Series, it really doesn't.

Obama's redistribution of weath strategy contains litigation which calls for the Yankees redistributing World Series trophies to Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Of course you need luck and execution and yada yada yada but if you can offer more money to the best free agents in baseball than anyone else, why wouldn't it be considered "best team money can buy." It's the truth! Whether it's tired or lazy, it's still true. Last year we made fun of the Yankees just like we are making fun of the Mets now.

Yankees fans, please don't take this personally (haha, lost cause), but if it were the Royals that spent more than anyone else in baseball and continued to do so year in and year out, we'd hate them too. Baseball needs competitive balance and will only be reached when there is a salary cap.

Wasn't there a Broadway show back in the 1950's called "Damn Yankees", where a '40-something' Washington Senators fan sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for his youth, and he helps bring a pennant to Washington? Also, was not the movie "Major League" somewhat similar, except this was a rag-tagged bunch of Cleveland Indians who somehow beat the Yankees for the pennant? Point I am making is that is have always been "in vogue" to hate the New York Yankees for their continued success. This all goes back to the years 1947 - 1964, when the Yankees won the AL Pennant 15 times, and the World Series 10 times. I do believe the quote back then was "Cheering for the New York Yankees was like cheering for US Steel". Money does not buy championships; on the field execution is what wins games. However, having the most skilled players increases the likelihood of delivering a championship. The Yankees were very lucky to win the Series this year, as the Phillies have an awesome team. And yes, I am speaking as a Yankees fan.

I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS CRYING IN BASEBALL, FUNNY THING IS THE SAME PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN ABOUT PAYROLL WHEN THE YANKEES WIN DON'T COMPLAIN WHEN THE YANKEES LOSE WITH BIG PAYROLLS.

THANKS TO CHARLIE MANUEL WHO IS A GREAT MANAGER AND KNOWS ALOT OF BASBALL FOR SAYING AWESOME COMPLEMENTS TO YANKEE PLAYERS, HE HAS CLASS.

THANKS TO GEORGE FOR ALWAYS PUTTING OUT A GREAT TEAM FOR THE FANS, YOU HOLD THEM TO A HIGHER STANDARD FOR US, FROM DAY ONE YOU SET A STANDARD THAT ONLY NEW YORKERS UNDERSTAND, THIS ONE IS FOR GEORGE.

THANKS TO JETES, JORGE, MO AND BIG GAME ANDY, FANTASTIC LEADERS, YOU TOO HAVE SET A STANDARD, YOU LEAD BY EXAMPLE. TO THE REST OF THE TEAM, YES YOU ARE WELL PAID BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO PLAY, WONDERFUL JOB.GIRARDI AND THE COAACHES WONDERFUL JOB, EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE YANKEES, GREAT WORK.

TO THE CHAMPIONS OF BASEBALL, THANK YOU, A YANKEE FAN :)

I agree with your comments, especially the setting of a higher standard that the rest of the sports world should try to attain. Very well said.

Oh, I have plenty of hatred for the system. And I don't begrudge the Yankees for taking advantage of the system. My problem is with the cockiness that many of the fans (and most of the players/executives) have, like New York is just where the trophy belongs because the Yankees are really just honestly that much better than everybody else. I just can't even imagine how I would react to all this "it's been such a long time coming" nonsense if I were a fan of, say, the Cubs, Rangers, Mariners, Padres, Astros, Indians or Giants.

Of course you can't buy a title. But you can buy a much, much greater chance than anyone else has the opportunity to get of obtaining that title. It's not the Yankees' fault for taking advantage of that, or their fans' fault for celebrating when it works. It just seems a little...problematic.

Putting a well-made product out for the public's consideration is Un-American? The sin in baseball is not the Yankees, it's David Glass running the Royals like a Wal-Mart and wanting profit above value.

This is exactly what I mean...this idea that the Yankees are about winning above profit while the other owners are just greedy. It's true that, on the extreme margins, some "small market" owners have pocketed way too much of their team's money. But this suggests that the Yankees would do just what they're doing if they didn't have access to the biggest sources of profit in all of professional sports...

whoever wrote this article I wish I could met and punch them in the face.. for years they keep saying the same over and over. but the yankees and NEW YORK want the best and we get the best. Most of the players want to plat for NY.. and other teams have as much as money as the yankees but the are too cheap to spend it... so There.. so MR Craig Calcaterra.. please show your face so I can punch you in the face for being stupid and repaeting yourself over and over.. this is an old subject. Give it a rest!

AMEN to "comeonman"'s comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So sick of hearing the Yanks bought the Series. $$$$ is one of many elements a team needs to get the ring. If money were the answer, why haven't the Yanks one every single freakin' year??? Stop the crying and wish the classiest group of guys in sports (ok, I am SOOOO biased) a big congrats!!

I don't blame the Yanks for operating the way they do. I know I would do the same thing if I were them. But the deck is stacked and I think Craig dismisses that a bit too easily. If you knew nothing other than the payroll of each team and had to play that hand you would play the Yankee hand every time.

The payroll argument Craig has above is a very narrow definition. All he does is illustrate the Yankees relative to the 2nd highest payroll. Digging further, 1996; the Yanks were $6MM ahead of the #2 team but $20MM ahead of the #8 team, 1997; $9MM ahead of #2 but $25MM ahead of #7, 1998; actually #2 to Balt. but $15MM ahead of #7, 1999; $1MM ahead of #2 but #20MM ahead of #8 and so on. So while they haven't been as far ahead of everyone in payroll as they are now they have been on a very short list of teams that can buy the players they need and more importantly survive the moves that don't work out (Pavano, Unit).

Clearly, saying they just buy titles is incomplete but so is Craig's counter to that by saying they had no titles from 2002-2008. Sure they didn't win any titles but I think they won more games than anyone during that stretch. His last point is dead on, "you have to be smart, you have to execute and you have to be a bit lucky too". But if the Pirates (bear with me, here) and the Yankees are both smart, execute and have some luck wouldn't you still bet on the Yankees?

Danny -- do you read only the headlines as a rule, or did you pass out before you could get to the actual content of this article before commenting? I mean, I know you didn't read it, because if you did, you'd probably realize that you and I probably don't disagree on much.

Just curious if we should take back the NLDS win from the Phillies over the Rockies since the Phil's payroll is over $30 Million more? At the end of the day money puts players on a team to fill the seats and sell the t-shirts etc. It doesn't win you championships though. See every team since 2000 who won the World Series for proof. Its a tired excuse and I think all haters should come up with something new. How about steroids....oh wait....that one has been used too much too. Fact is haters will be haters.

Last year the Tampa Bay Rays put together a solid WS team with a very low salary so it can be done. However, it is much harder... when a certain team buys their players, just ask the Cleveland Indians (Lee, Sabathia). It will never change unless all the teams agree to a cap. No matter who you are a fan of. My only beef is that NY teams get all the press and accolades always. BTW, Joe Buck sucks

and other teams have as much as money as the yankees but the are too cheap to spend it... so There..
The part where you want to punch Craig for saying more or less what you're saying is funnier, but this little bit is just so wrong on so many levels.

Bitter Philly fan. *tear*

The Yankees played great this year and won the series outright. Yippee, good for them! I loved the grant fundamentals, the base stealing by Johnny Damon, the hitting of Jeter and Matsui, but, being an Indians fan, and seeing my great players going to where the money is because the Indians have no money, it outright stinks. Yankees fans can't see that because the big lights and big money get in the way of their vision. It hurts to have a good organization like the Indians, but not have the money to keep the great ones around, especially since there is no loyalty in baseball. It also hurts to hear A-Rod or any other Yankee or Yankee fan say, "it's been a long time since we won." GIVE ME A BREAK! 1948 since your last title is a long time. It's more than my lifetime. Big money will always win out, as you can tell by our country...baseball is just a microcosm of what is going on in the "real world." Congrats on 27.

Oh please... the better team won... Phillies had a hell of a year and to make it to the series two years in a row is an accomplishmewnt. Money doesn't buy you titles - execution and luck win you titles... the stars were aligned for the Yankees this year - Job well done guys... Give this old tired subject a rest already.

Money doesn't win games, players do.
Deal with it, Yankee haters!

To Danny,
Please don't use the word "we" when referring to the Yankees and their fans. You represent are exactly what so many people dislike about the team and the fans. Had the Phillies prevailed, would you punch them out , too? Next time you have a thought...

As a Yankee fan since the early 50's, I can't distance myself enough from you and your stupidity.

1 season a team had a higher payroll. The Yanks had the second highest, and every other season they had the highest. And only a handful of teams were close in salary. Even if it is just a few million it is still more then every other team. Now it is $50 million more though.
The Yanks are spending $40 million a year for 2 free agents they picked up last off season. Those 2 pitchers combined for 32 wins in the regular season. That is more money then the entire Marlins payroll.
Its just as bad on the NL side also. Its getting to the point where the only teams that have a chance are the Mets, Phils, Cubs, Astros, Braves and Dodgers(maybe not for a few years now though with all their issues).
I feel for the Indians, great farm system that continuously develops great talent but can afford to keep them around when they hit their prime. Having Cliff and C.C. as your 1-2 in a 7 game series would be almost impossible to beat.

How can you POSSIBLY be a Royals season ticket holder and settle into your seat in the first week of April and think "this is OUR year"? It's never going to happen. EVERY TIME we hear a report of a BIG free agent being available, who are the teams they ALWAYS mentioned as front-runners? Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Mets, Cubs? The haves... It must SUCK to be a fan of just about EVERY other team knowing your team has about .000001% chance of winning it all that year.

If you would like to see parity, how about a minumum and a maximum salary cap. Pirates can no longer spend 30 million Yanks can no longer spend 500 million ( I know they are not that high YET ) Cap of 80 to 100 million per team per year no exceptions. If a team tries to spend under or over that amount, they would be imposed a tax of 500% of the difference.

If you want to see a pure game, that depends on the skill and heart of the players, not the size of the owners wallet....

Dude, you have to actually read the article first, then comment. Not the other way around. With that said, while I understand that not every owner can go out there and sign all the A-Rods of the world but the real question should really be directed towards the owners of the teams that are sellers every trading deadline. It seems that they're all trying to create a good team but every time they get a valuable homegrown player, they trade for hopes of another prospect.

The Yankees exectued down the stretch and were clearly the better team. (and I am a die hard Red Sox fan!) People forget that baseball is a business and you have to spend money to make money. The Yankees made the right investments this year, think of all the money they have spent in the past that were a bust! (Igawa, Pavano are a few) I agree that to have more parity in baseball there needs to be a salary cap but I agree with YankeesFanLen, that if David Glass wants to pocket the Royals money than invest in the team, that is his problem. Though I still think that the Yankees suck :), it is only because I am jealous that my team couldnt put it all together to win it.

There can be little doubt that most lovers of baseball would like to wear "Yankee Pinstripes" regardless of salary, and why not? There is no other team in baseball that has the legend associated with it like our Yankees. Jealousy begets anger which turns to "Yankee Hatred", that said, it`s a credit to many other fans that they can rise above such hatred and enjoy the way an excellent team plays the game regardless of the money they make. Who can argue against that other fact that the Yankees are now the greatest team in baseball, not just because of the money they make, but because of the way they played their games.

People also leave out the part about the Yankees generating GROSSLY (pun intended) more revenue than any other team in baseball and pay exorbitant taxes to weaker teams because of our payroll. Our fans spend more money than any other fans on merchandise and tickets.

Blame the system. And for those who favor a salary cap, you need not look any further than Football and Basketball. Parity is elusive.

You can't really believe that the heart of a player in Seattle is less passionate than the heart of any one of the Yankee's? It's directly in relation to the talent the owner BUYS, not the passion of the player.

I do agree with you on the min/max idea though. Tax them if they're under and DO NOT allow them to go over.

Clarification: no one is saying that when you spend more on a team you are guaranteed success, talented players can still turn into losers under the spotlight.

When you spend more you have a better chance of winning. When you spend way more you have a much better chance.

New York bought the world series. who cares?, it was still fun to watch. but Yankees fans, don't pretend it was something special.

Did the Yankees buy the title? Duh...

Money can't buy you love, but it can buy you a World Series title..

A few Yankee fans are happy, the rest of us want to hurl....

Of course the money is a factor. Why else would anyone else want to go to the Yankees organization? Wasn't it Damon who said he couldn't be bought by the Yankees? Money talks........

I am not saying they have less heart... but the Yankees have changed the rest of MLB into their farm system.. Sure a minor league team can occasionally beat a magor league team.. but the talent is no longer the same always stacking the odds in favor of the major leage team.

I'm a die hard Sox fan as well, but it's MUCH more than a business. If it was treated like a real American business, they would have been broken up into several smaller Yankees teams long ago for fear of a monopoly.

Wait till next year when they end up getting Joe Mauer from the twinks. The twinks will still be competative, but the Yanks will be getting the best catcher to play the game in a generation, and the Twinks cannot pay the amount that Joe deserves compared to the rest of the inflated salaries that the YANKEES started...

Have to agree with MM.......you hate seeing one of your teams players come up thru the farm and after a couple years in the majors.......they go to the Yankees.

Saying money can't buy a pennant is like saying money can't buy happiness. There are many cases where it holds true, but generally speaking, we all know having plenty of money gives you a much better shot at both in our society.
I grew up watching the Yankees in black-and-white on WPIX. Today's Yankees are a high-powered corporation (as are many sports franchises). While I still love the game, the Yankees are to me an example not only of the best possible baseball team, but also the worst excesses of professional sports.

The Yankees, as well as some other high salaried teams, pay a luxury tax to the rest of baseball for their high payroll. One of the problems is some of these teams in need take this money and put it into their pockets instead of investing it back into their team. If Bud Selig wasn't just a shill for the owners, he would force them to re-invest this money on the teams.

I wouldn't count on Mauer leaving. He is a loyalist and if he leaves I would blame your organization more than blaming the Yankees. He alone fills your seats, sells your shirts, and gives everyone in MN a reason to go to the park, if Minnesota ownership is too stupid to see that then they deserve to lose him to another team.

But whose fault is that? B\c the yankees are willing to pay for players, they are the bad guys? Do you complain on behalf of the startup companies that can't hire top talent like Microsoft? You have to spend money to make money but the twins seem to feel differently and become sellers every year.

Yankees were the best team in baseball this year no doubt. But take away the 3 FA's that cost them half a billion dollars, they probably would not have been. All the "Yankee Pride" chatter - and there may be some truth given the history of the franchise - doesn't erase the fact that the Yankee payroll is FAR above anyone right now. It is what it is - they Yankees bought this championship. You can call me a "Yankee Hater" - I was born that way (originally a Mets fan), and continue to be that way (live near Tampa). And don't try to rationalize this Yankee Fan by saying "the Royals could be us if they were smart", because that is utter BS. I'm not saying the Royals couldn't do a better job maintaining a decent product, but when teams like the Yankees can toss money at any problem on the field without a care to the fiscal health of the club it will be tough for teams like the Royals, Pirates, and Rays to hang for very long, if at all. COngrats on #27 - will Joe Girardi wear Sparky Lyle's number now?

As a long time Yankees fan I'm glad the Steinbrenners are willing to pay top dollar for top players - sometimes it works out - sometimes it doesn't. I'm very happy it did this year. If others want to whine about it, I say let them. Some people aren't happy unless they have something to complain about.

The thing I am most tired of reading is how there is no "loyalty" in baseball. To those of you who feel this way I have a question for you - you are looking for a job - two companies are interested in hiring you - Company A offers you $50,000 more than Company B - you have worked for Company B before - you liked the people and the company - but are you really going to turn down the money from Company A? No, you wouldn't, and if you answer any differently, you're lying. So why should baseball players be any different? When a player becomes a free agent he is looking for a job. Of course he's going to go where the money is. It's human nature. It is what any of us would do.

Place an asterick next to the title. * = Purchased

Money can and always will buy a title when your that far above anyone else. The years they didn't win simply meant they underachieved.

If anyone has ever seen the movie Boiler Room, there is a great line that kind of goes like, "If anyone who tells you money doesn't buy happiness, it's because they don't have any!"

I think the same applies....anyone who is top dog, whether it be in sports, business, both, or anywhere you look. Those below you will be jealous and find reasons to knock you down.

As a Yankee fan, (same goes for Cowboys fan in the 90s, Pats fans recently) etc. it just comes with the territory and you have to face the fact that people will hate your team, and it is only out of jealousy, cause if it was their team their mouths would be shut.

only people east of St.Louis watched anyway....Boring !!!

It's not that the Steinbrenners are willing to. Almost every owner would be willing to. It's that they're uniquely able to because of their unbelievably huge revenue stream. And that's the problem.

I do agree with you that it's stupid to blame the players for a lack of "loyalty." But I don't think you even hear all that many people doing that anymore (except I guess the Mariner fans w/r/t A-Rod).

The Yankees are great for baseball! Just ask the seven year old kid in Pittsburgh who wonders why his team never wins. Then realizes that his football team manages to win once and a while. Now he likes football... and people wonder why the NFL is more popular?

No salary cap is BAD for baseball... BAD for sports. The luxury tax is a BS sell out to the MLB union and Yankee Managment's unwillingness to accept a cap.

Yankee management being one of the biggest crusaders against a cap? What's that tell you about the Yankees organization? Wake up, Yankee fans... your own team is yelling "Let us buy championships... or let us try to buy them, at least!"

Sports without parity is just boring.

Even as a Yankee Fan I couldn't stop laughing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBKvoIe0xRs

I have an idea. Let's put a spending cap on what each country can spend on their military each year. That way it is fair, and no one country will be more powerfull than the other. The idea that it is unfair that the Yankees spend as much as they do every year on their team is INSANE! It is their team! The Yankee Team and Office work Hard and EARN thier position in the MLB much like the USA earns it's status as a world power. It is run as a FREE market the way it should be. The team that works the hardest, invests, plans for the future, and has respect for the sport and the other teams, will most likely win more championships than the other organizations. Much like the USA holds it's position in the world. All of the Yankee haters who criticize the size of their payroll are not unlike the other countries of the world calling America the Evil Empire and Hate us because we are successful. I don't know about you, but I work hard for what I have and feel I am entitled to live a little bit more comfortable after accomplishing my goals. Yankee Haters... Go live in a Marxist Country where all is even and fair.. Where the people who work hard have the same status in life as those who sit on their ass! good Luck with that.

the yankee organization is the reason baseball is not americas game anymore. Small clubs just can't compete. They should take a lesson from the new americas game - Football. Football has huge audience numbers because in any given year, just about any team can win. They all have the same amount of money to spend and they need to spend it wisely.

the yankee organization is the reason baseball is not americas game anymore. Small clubs just can't compete. They should take a lesson from the new americas game - Football. Football has huge audience numbers because in any given year, just about any team can win. They all have the same amount of money to spend and they need to spend it wisely.

I fear exactly what MM pointed out. There is something seriously wrong with MLB if Mauer ends up in NY. He grew up in MN and is the face of the franchise, but there is no way the Twins will be able to offer him what NY will offer. I only hope he looks at more than money. And while the Yankees have not won a title in a few years, they clearly bought this title. Where would they be without the free agents they bought over the last few years. I don't blame the Yankees for this, but I do blame baseball. Every year, the playoff teams are tilted heavily in favor of large market, deep pocket teams, and the small market teams represent only one or two of the playoff teams. And, if a small market team makes it to the World Series, while I love to see that happen, I also cringe because I realize that such success will only further undercut the ability of small market teams to succeed in the future because baseball will use such "parity" to argue that no fix is needed to the system. Parity doesn't exist and won't until baseball fixes the revenue disparity. What is needed is revenue sharing and a salary cap, both high end and low end. You can't expect KC and Tampa to be able to consistently spend $80 million when the markets in which they consist cannot generate that kind of revenue on a consistent basis.

I am a big Phillies fan, but I don't begrudge the Yankees getting the best players they can afford. I would however, much rather have a baseball salary cap similar to the football cap. That levels the playing field, and sets up a system in which bad personnel decisions can not be corrected with the cutting of a check, but hurts for years to come. It would permit teams like the Indians to compete with the Yankees, Dodgers, etc.

The Yankees are really the Bankees because they TRY to buy
The BEST players. When the Yankees LOSE thy are the CRANKEES !
Because they were SUPPOSE to win ! Get it.

JAB4

If payroll buys championships, why wasn't this WS the Yankees vs the Mets? They were the top 2 spenders in 2009.

and what about the 4 top 8 payrolls? where were the Cubs, Tigers and Astros in the '09 playoffs? watching the playoffs? playing golf? catching up with the family? the only positive answer was not in the playoffs.

Saint Louis won the NL Central (ahead of the #4 payroll Cubs) with the 13th highest payroll.

Philly won the NL East with the #7 payroll well ahead of the Mets. As a side note, the Marlins with the lowest payroll finished 17 games ahead of the Mets playing in a non-baseball stadium.

LA Dodgers came in with the 9th highest payroll and won the NL West 3 games ahead of the Rockies (#18 payroll).

In the AL the Yankees of course were #1 by about 66 million over the Mets and 79 million over the next closest AL team, the Red Sox at #4.

The Los Angeles Angels of California in Anaheim California Angels, or whatever they are calling themselves these days came in at #6.

And the lowest ranking team, payroll wise, to make the playoffs were the Twins came in at a staggering 24th place. Now, I have heard and read, but haven't confirmed that the Twins owners are billionaires like the Steinbrenner family, they just chose not to invest in their team.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries is the link I got my info from.

Congrats to the Yankess for putting together a heck of a season and for a great post season and WS.

The problem is not with the Yankees or the Steinbrenners. The problem is with all of the other owners who just keep all of the profits of a team instead of re-investing them. Maybe if, say... Cleveland spent a little money to keep it's great players who came up through the organization, that money might come back to them when the fans have a sense of pride and something to believe in again.

Baseball is a BUSINESS. You have to spend money to make money. It's just like a restaurant - do you go to the place that gives you delicious, heaping portions for your money, or the one that puts it on a smaller plate so it "looks like more"? As a fan... what would you rather pay for?

They also have that other classic Bronx type, players who've dreamed of wearing pinstripes ever since they were boys, their heads filled with romance, fantasizing about Babe Ruth, Joe D and enough money to embarrass Goldman Sachs.

What no one who loves baseball really wants is a wobbled Yankee franchise that has lost its confidence or, as has seemed possible recently, even become comic.

The sport's stage seems empty without the Yankees standing prominent upon it. Now they are back in the very center of that theater, pinstriped muscles flexed. Relish it. Or deal with!!!

Tex had 4 offers, he said he always wanted to be a Yankee, Donnie baseball was his hero...........
Cashman went to California to speak to Mrs. Sabathia because CC
said Cash had to convince her because he was sold.
Burnette called CC and told him, " I'm in, " let's do this"
Swish said he was happy about the trade, he was coming to play first bas, but Tex signed so he moved.

addendum to my first post:

the Twins beat out the Tigers who came in at #5 on the list.

This morning alone I have read comments on several blogs - this one, the NY Daily News, the NY Post, mlb.com, among others - where people are whining about lack of player loyalty. And Teixeira and Sabathia are getting the most hits for their lack of loyalty. Which in itself is ridiculous - they were both traded at the trade deadline last season and spent what, 2 or 3 months with the team they were traded to?

Also, I stand by my use of the word "willing." Having it and being willing to part with it are two entirely different things. When George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973 they were one of the worst teams in baseball because CBS, from whom Steinbrenner and Co. bought the team, were not willing to spend money on the team. As the old tried and true adage states, "You've got to spend money to make money."

Every team that wins bought their title. Every team that lost bought their loss. It's a business. The Yankees bring in more money, and instead of the owners keeping it for themselves, they provide a great team for the fans that pay for it. I would be pissed if I was a fan of a team that chooses not to keep their stars.

Sure, the Yankees spend money, but it is not their fault. A-Rod makes almost as much as the entire Florida Roster, but he is not worth more than the whole team.

If there was a cap on it, what would everyone dislike about the Yankees? There will not be a cap because the players will not play under one (see 1994 players strike), or was it just they Yankees that wouldn't play back in '94?

No offense taken. You make some good points Tom. But to hate them becasue "they bought" the series, no way. they still could have lost to philly. Buying these free agents does not guarantee a world series ring or even a pennant. Take a look at the spending spree during the past 4/5 years, no pennant or series title. Now take a look at last year, Tampa Bay Rays and Phillies. Very little money was spent on them and they did it with raw talent from the farm system with a few free agents. Next year we may see the royals in it or not but if they try to go dollar for dollar they will lose but if they went farm talent against big money athletes, i'll take the farm talent, they dont get paid as much and want it more then the big dollar guys aka TB Rays, 2008.

Absolutely right you are "The Doc". The Yankees keep winning hollow victories.

How appropriate to use Pittsburgh as an example of a baseball team reduced to being a farm club for the large market contenders while the NFL envies (or hates) the Steelers for excellence on a level playing field. Art Rooney Sr. stood up to the large market teams many decades ago and that made football what it is TODAY.

I used to follow the Bucs regularly when they had a chance at something/anything. Now, the pride-less owners happily make money with a perennial loser, the players are not kept long enough to get to know them, while the taxpayers payed for much of the world-class PNC Park - a spectacular park fit for a winner!

I'll say it again. If MLB doesn't institute revenue sharing and salary caps - the small market teams will die and the Yankees will be playing with themselves.

I like your point however when the take players from other teams (CC Sabaith from the Brewers) they lessened the strength of other teams.

And the lowest ranking team, payroll wise, to make the playoffs were the Twins came in at a staggering 24th place. Now, I have heard and read, but haven't confirmed that the Twins owners are billionaires like the Steinbrenner family, they just chose not to invest in their team.
This is the most ridiculous argument people like to make. Yes, the Pohlads are billionaires. No, they do not invest more money in their team than they can make back plus a tidy profit. Neither does any other owner. You don't get to be a billionaire by making investments you know you're going to lose on. The owner's personal wealth does not, and should not, have anything at all to do with the amount of money he/she/they spend(s) on the team. It's all about the revenue the team itself brings in. And that's the huge, huge advantage the Yankees have over everyone else.

Steinbrenner deserves a lot of credit for creating that bottomless revenue (not that playing in New York wasn't a nice little assist there), but not for being "willing" to spend it.

The Mets management gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Bernie Madoff to invest. The Yanks management put hundreds of millions of dollars into players as an investment. The difference is obvious. Plus, all of MLB benefits from the Yankees in terms of increased attendance when the Yanks play out of town and in terms of TV/ad revenues because viewership increases substantially when the Yanks are playing.

The Yankees are really the Bankees because they TRY to buy The BEST players. When the Yankees LOSE thy are the CRANKEES ! Because they were SUPPOSE to win ! Get it.

JAB4

And you are a moron

@ twinsfan:

I fear exactly what MM pointed out. There is something seriously wrong with MLB if Mauer ends up in NY. He grew up in MN and is the face of the franchise, but there is no way the Twins will be able to offer him what NY will offer...I don't blame the Yankees for this, but I do blame baseball.

Blame ownership as it's their fault if they let a marquee free agent hit the market. For a perfect example of what to do, see Longoria, Evan and Ramirez, Hanley. Two players, locked up young, that kept them under team control far beyond their initial contract. The same should have been done to Mauer a year or two ago. Once he gets to the last year of his deal, why wouldn't a guy like Mauer test the FA market?

Absolutely right you are "The Doc". The Yankees keep winning hollow victories...

You've placed your anger in two different spots, let's see which is more based in reality over the "sad state of baseball", the

Yankees

Now, the pride-less owners [Bucs]

But yes, it's always someone else's fault.

Money talks, B.S. walks. The Yankees organization has the money, so they buy the best players and put them out there. They still have to play up to what they get paid, but this year, they did.
Still the best team money can buy.

Omega - while the family that owns the Twins (the Pohlads) are billionaires, or at least Carl Pohlad was before his death, your argument still misses the point. Your argument assumes that the small market teams would be profitable if their owners spent like the Yankees. Comparing the Yankees and the Twins, the New York metropolitan area consists of roughly 22 million people and the Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitan are consists of roughly 3.5 million people. Even if the Pohlads spent like the Steinbrenners, the Steinbrenners can do so profitable because the cable television revenues, ballpark revenues, sales of merchandise, etc. from their larger market will always guarantee that they are a profitable team, even when they make bad investments (Sheffield, Pavano, Johnson, Brown, etc.). If the Twins were to spend the same amount of money that they Yankees spend, even if they won the World Series every year, I doubt their market could pay back the Pohlads for such investment. There is no way a small market can afford a $200+ payroll. No owner, large market or small market, will continue to fund a team if the market cannot possibly pay it back. I don't discount the WS wins of the Yankees prior to the advent of free agency, but after free agency, their ability to outspend the other teams will always give them greater odds of winning the WS. This year, the Yankees brought in some quality individuals to supplement their solid cast of players and it made all the difference in the world. However, ask yourself, how good would some of the small market teams (i.e., Twins, Rockies, Rays) be if they were able to add to front of the rotation starters and a triple crown threat to their existing rosters? If they could afford to do the same, the Yankees would not have been WS champs this year. So don't gloat too much or hate on the small market fans for venting their frustrations at the system.

Frankly, if you don't think money buys talent (and championships) you are beyond hope - just like the powers that be in MLB.

Keep rooting for your paper Yankees. MLB is dying and will be dead in a few decades without change. Atta boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the Yankees won, big deal.
When you have "the best team money can buy", what would you expect.
I hope it rains on the parade in NYC today.

The Yanks have always had a high payroll, dating back to when they aquired Babe Ruth (and the media was shocked by his high pay). I just find it sad when they can't win with a team of all stars.

Actually, you're the moron. If the Yankees winning was so pure and clear, why are you in here defending them?

World Series 2036 Game 4 - Yankees 22, Girl Scouts 0!
Go Yankees!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of you Yankee fans and promoters are so full of crap, I can't even believe you would put such tripe in print. Baseball is becoming an after thought in the world of sports, and the Yankees are just the tip of the sword. You can claim no unfair advantage, but any honest person knows that is dung. Conversely, I don't blame the Steinbrenners one bit for taking advantage of the situation. I believe George always wanted a winner more than the money. For that, you truly can be proud. If it were me, I would too.

Minnesota has had a consistently good team that presents in the post season frequently, but hasn't had the umph to make it to the top for many years. Florida's teams have been once in a while, and expensively, winners, and outside of them, the vast majority of the time, the large market teams represent the post season. Use your statistics to prove that it is some other way, but it isn't.

Teams like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Kansas City could offer the A-Rods and other high dollar stars the same salaries, but they wouldn't sign there because of commercial endorsement opportunities that the large market teams can give, and the general lack of respect these cities get.

If baseball doesn't want to go the route of the USFL, it had better address a more equitable system so that everyone begins on a level playing field. If you really want to understand the frustration of the fans of a small market team, just check around major league baseball and see how many true stars started their careers in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, it will give you a fair indication of how the fans in those cities are sick of the chest thumping from the Yankees and Red Sox nations. As long as your line-ups are dominated by non-homegrown talent, resist the urge to feel so great about your team accomplishments.

When Ewing Kauffman owned the Royals he spent whatever was necessary to keep the team viable. With a population of less than two million people, they routinely drew 2 to 3 million attendance per year, so don't say their team can't be supported adequately. The Chiefs draw as well, and are worth as much, as nearly any team in the NFL, and they live in the same small market and have lousy ownership to boot. The Chiefs haven't put a true winner on the field for forty years. Think of that when you start blowing your own horns and belittling the small market position.

Right now it looks like baseball is more similar to the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Capitals. New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles X 2 for the 2009 post season.

To all you non-Yankke fans out there: Kiss my A**. The Yankees play by the same rules everyone else does. They spend their money on the team. They pay the highest tax on the payroll to the other teams. Those teams just refuse to spend that money to improve their team. You want a salary cap, get the other teams to agree to it. They won't!
And as far as the Yankees goe, let's see where the money really goes. If you take the entire payroll for the Yankees as a team, they loose money every year. How do they make it up. The YES network for one, and all the merchandize they sell. Plus, the owner has his outside business to make the money on to bankroll the team.
So cry about the Yankees all you want. Ever time they come to your little pathetic ball parks, you sell out & have a stadium full of fans. Just to bad most of those fans come to cheer the Yankees!
You can hate us Yankee fans all you want & you can hate the team, but we still put the best team on the field this year & we have the Workd Series trophy to prove it!

If money could buy titles, the Yankees would win every year. Since they don't the obvious basis towards this team is sickening.

GO YANKEES!! LOVE YA GUYS.

Church - The Twins did lock Mauer up for a number of years, but he's coming to the end of that contract. They also locked Morneau up to, but you can only do that so many times in a small market team. The Rays will learn that soon when those contracts begin to expire. We also locked up Torii Hunter for a number of years, but eventually his contract expired. We also offer $20 per year to Johan Santana, but we couldn't give him 8 years, so he went to the Mets. No one will really remember this, but Big Papi was also a Twin, but we couldn't compete with the Red Sox offer on him. At the time, he was a part-time designated hitter playing only against righthanded pitching. Who knew what he would become? Apparently, only the Red Sox... After losing marque player after marque player, it becomes a bit tiresome and it does feel like your small market franchise is just a minor league team for the large markets.

Its the system to blame not the organization. Now, looking at it from a business point of view, the Yankees have been paying a lot o money for several years at least to put together the best team. The won the title this year however, how many years in between titles have they paid large sums of money and did not win?

See it is a business and the Yankees are good at this. The years they were loosing, there was more media coverage than ever. The Yankees were laughed at, millions of articles written however, they had everyone talking about them. There was no shortage of Yankee caps and Jersey's out there, no shortage of press - hell they built a new stadium! Sounds to me that they are the best business organization in MLB, the fact that they just won a title is an added bonus.

---that is how I see it!

Will

Can we please give this tired excuse a rest already, bitter fans of losing teams? If the owners of your clubs took the money that the Yankees and other big market teams have to pay out in revenue sharing and actually invested it in signing some quality players instead of lining their pockets, we wouldn't have to keep hearing all this nonsense. If spending big bucks on players wins championships, then why are The Mets and The Cubs still sitting home every October?

There's a lot of wrongness here.

The Yankees play by the same rules everyone else does.
Technically true. Realistically false.

They spend their money on the team. They pay the highest tax on the payroll to the other teams. Those teams just refuse to spend that money to improve their team.
They spend a significant portion of the money they take in on the team, just like (almost) every other team does. They just take in a whole lot more of it.

You want a salary cap, get the other teams to agree to it. They won't!
Most owners have traditionally been in favor of a salary cap (and why not? Why pay players what they're worth if you don't have to?). It's the Yankees and the Players' Association who won't agree to it.

A salary cap isn't the answer. But neither is continuing to allow the Yankees to play a different game from everybody else. There's got to be some sort of middle ground there.

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah. If I was a baseball payer and had the chance to earn millions and millions of dollars for acually "PLAYING" a game... hell, I'd take the money and play. Win, loose or draw, the Yankees are just one of those teams you either love to hate or hate to love.

I could care less either way - I just love watching the game... no matter who was playing. Oh yeah, I did and or do have my preferences but it is what it is. If you want ot watch low salaried players who work hard for their money, go watch a home town minor league game... there's some real playing there.

So, in closing... GET A LIFE AND QUIT BITCHING! Why is it those who always insist on giving advice are the ones who can't take advice?

Just sayin...

Its the system to blame not the organization. Now, looking at it from a business point of view, the Yankees have been paying a lot o money for several years at least to put together the best team. The won the title this year however, how many years in between titles have they paid large sums of money and did not win?

See it is a business and the Yankees are good at this. The years they were loosing, there was more media coverage than ever. The Yankees were laughed at, millions of articles written however, they had everyone talking about them. There was no shortage of Yankee caps and Jersey's out there, no shortage of press - hell they built a new stadium! Sounds to me that they are the best business organization in MLB, the fact that they just won a title is an added bonus.

---that is how I see it!

Will

Will, you hit the nail on the head.

You cant tell the Yankee's didnt buy there title wake up and smell the coffee. If it was some other team you would be crying like a baby.

The Yankees are one of those teams that you really love or you really hate. Every team pays for their players, the Yankees just pay more. Is'nt that the American way, if you can afford it, buy it. If major league baseball was to create a salary cap it still wouldnt matter because ultimatly it's not about the money, it's about being a Yankee and being part of the history.

I wish I would have said that Oldtimer. It's not that the Yankees win a lot that bothers me - it's HOW they win. Hollow, purchased victories.
Once again - MONEY BUYS CHAMPIONSHIPS in MLB! To deny it is to declare yourself a statistical idiot!

To the Yankees fans, and the Sox faithful: The rest of us like our teams just as much. Your teams are your teams, not "America's." Count up the population, Baseball isn't even of the country's sport anymore. There is no escaping the logic that if your revenue is higher, as the Yankees, Mets, and Sox among others is, you have more to spend. It is just like billionaires whining about their taxes when people are living paycheck to paycheck.

The sense of entitlement is what is tired, so have some class and let the rest of the people vent their grief while you search for a shelf to put your 27th WS trophy on. Keep your smug retorts to yourself, you know how this felt when the Sox "nation" gave you such hell when they won. Doesn't make it right for you to pull the same nonsense. The rest of the country may not have your same idol worshipping reverence for the team, the steinbrenners, saint jeter, etc. Keep it to yourself please.

What baseball needs is a third team in NYC.

Like it or not the Yankees are good for baseball - probably more people root against the yanks than for any particular ream - but besides that the amount the Yankees pay to MLB in the luxury tax is huge. Note it is distributed to lower market teams with the intent of them using it to become better and more competative on field products.

if it weren't for the money, the title would be Cleveland's...

Rings to the highest bidder is the American way?
Really, is that why MBL is dying and football is thriving?

Bull - pure bill. Nothing is could be further from the truth. The Yankees keep all their profits!

Don't you even know what profit sharing is??

Who will the Yankees triumph over when all the "pathetic ball parks" go to seed? Money can't buy everything it's true; but what it can't buy the Yanks can't use...

Fair or unfair may not be the proper question, but the Yankees and their commercial advantage bought

Damon
Burnett
Matsui
Texeira
Rodriguez

no different than other eras:

Catfish and Reggie

The Bambino

It's good to be the king...

The fact is that nobody here knows exactly what owners pocket vs spend and along those same lines, nobody here knows what owners can/can't afford.

And baseball is hardly a dying sport. Its as economically health as its ever been. 03-07 were incredible up years in attendance and 08-09 were only slightly down and thats prob due to the economy. If you're in here to say that baseball is a dying sport b\c you and your group of 5 friends think thats the case, you need to check you facts.

MLB isn't dying. Not even close.

But this is silly: "ultimatly it's not about the money, it's about being a Yankee and being part of the history." roflmaool.

SBG is right on. A third team in New York would do wonders. Never happen.

As a lifelong Yankee fan(born in 1950, so I go back a ways), I'm really beyond sick and tired of the "Yanks buy championships" line. It's gotten way too old. Jeter, Posada, Mariano, Pettitte, Melky, Gardiner, Joba, Huges, Cano, Wang, etc., etc. all came up through the Yankee system. The free agents went to NY because they wanted to win. Just because the other owners choose to pocket the extra money instead of putting it back on the field, that's the Yankees fault? Steinbrenner took an aging and listless team and thirty-five years later has the greatest franchise and the most famous brand in the history of sports. He should be lauded for that accomplishment. Yes, the money attracts top free agents, but why shouldn't it? When Johnny Damon was making his dash around the bases the other night, it wasn't the money that was motivating him, it was pride in being the great pro that he is. Money can't but that. (Kudos to the Phillies - a very tough and impressive bunch)

Jeter, Posada, Mariano, Pettitte, Melky, Gardiner, Joba, Huges, Cano, Wang, etc., etc. all came up through the Yankee system.
You've described the core of an 80-win team. And I love how people act like the Yankees' money doesn't count when all it's helping them do is keep home-grown players that other teams couldn't afford to.

The free agents went to NY because they wanted to win.
Riiiiight.

Just because the other owners choose to pocket the extra money instead of putting it back on the field, that's the Yankees fault?
Seriously, this many people are so desperate to back the Yankees at all costs that they actually let themselves believe this is what happens (and not just that the Yankees have many times more "etra money" to spread around)? Wow.

Just once, I'd love for some news broadcaster to interview a Taliban fighter (or go back in time and interview a Panamanian or Iraqi). They'd probably get some quote that says to the effect: "The Americans beat us because they spend so much money on their weapons to defeat us. It's just not fair."

Why is it that having the greatest resources and power is bad only in baseball? I thought most people liked being associated with winning?

Isn't winning the object of any game?

Well said. I gaurantee that other MLB owners and their towns dont complain when Yankee fans fill their seats, hotel rooms, restaurants etc.. I was in Cleveland this year for a Yankees game and the bar owner I spoke with said that weekend series against the Yankees were the nost profitable dates of the entire year for their downtown area. That's revenue sharing at it's most basic.

A couple of thoughts on Yankees and money - (and yes, i am a Yankees fan). The highest payroll will ensure a competitive team and absolutely gives you a huge advantage. However, try to remember that when boss George bought the Yankees they were only slightly more valuable than any other team. Like any good owner of any business he took money that he could have pocketed and invested big in big players (Catfish and Reggie) when no other owner would (not could, because they were other teams with wealthier owners). Once the winning started he or his circle had the foresight to start the YES network and the profit increase gave him the ability to spend more. Simply put, this is a case of a wise owner making great moves AND REINVESTING in his business to improve the product and ensure success. As to the big market argument, remeber the Yankees share their market with the Mets and have a team 100 miles to the south and another 200 miles to the north. Even with the population of the city, how is their market any bigger than many teams? We have had a great owner, plain and simple.

It might be tired. It might be lazy. But it's true. The Yankees are the best team money can buy. Whether they win a championship is moot. They are still going to out spend everyone else and it's not goint to change anytime soon.

Ditto to Bill

If this was NFL or NBA I could grant you the "great franchise" argument. But baseball is baseball--compared to what the Celtics have put together the last few years with a much more restrictive cap, the Yanks cast a wide, loot-filled net to purchase what they need.

Red Sox fan here. Have to tip my hat to the bombers for their incredibly focused play down the stretch. Sox couldn't do it this year. Interestingly, the Yankees haven't always done it even with the bloated payroll, so I don't think the argument holds water. (I still think we have the better fan base...and the better "nation"...but I'm sure our friends in New York might disagree. :) )

Enough already with the sour grapes about money. The Yankees won with determination, skill, and hard work. They wanted it...and you could really see it in the games. Everyone wants their team to win, and nearly everyone outside of New York hates it when the Yankees win. But everyone can recognize outstanding teamwork and play on the field. Thats why the Yankees are the champs this year...not their payroll.

Now. excuse me while I put my "Yankees Suck" T-shirt back on. :)

Congratulations New York.

While there are some home grown players on the Yankees, the none-home grown players plucked from other rosters (i.e., Burnett, Sabathia, Texiera, Rodriguez, Damon, and the ability to buy players from other countries when other teams cannot even compete with the money spent (i.e., Matsui for the Yankees and Matsuzaka for the Red Sox (sic)) is what irks the small market teams. Even those you've drafted are somewhat tainted because many talented players let it be known before a draft that they will not sign unless they receive signing bonuses outside of what a small market team can pay, so those players get passed over until later in the draft when the big market players are drafting. And, I've yet to see one star in their prime be plucked away from the Yankees, and can only remember two plucked away from the Red Sox (Damon and Clemens, although Clemens was on the way down until he discovered steriods).

Really? money buys a title? People, trust me when I tell you that I, as a lifelong diehard Red Sox fan, am qualified to tell you differently. What team has EVER spent the ENORMOUS sum of ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS for a pitcher? And what did we get for it? A whining, prima donna, crybaby, fragile, useless excuse for an athlete who was, and is, a complete waste of money. He never has, and never will, live up to his paycheck. And what about J.D. Drew? we paid a RIDICULOUS amount for him, outbidding other teams in the process, and he has been COMPLETE DEAD WOOD. His "sweet swing" isn't much good if it doesn't connect the bat with the ball. So people, trust me . . . .you can pay out ridiculous, even SINFUL, amounts of money and still not win a title. Having the most expensive players does NOT mean having the best players. We Red Sox are a testament to that fact. Give the Evil Empire their due . . . . they outplayed everyone else this year, it's as simple as that. We can whine about it, or we can be adults and recognize that our respective teams were outplayed this season, and move on to next season.

Bill - the reason they have the extra money is because they know how to manage and market their brand. The YES Network, thanks to George, has been a goldmine for them, as will the new stadium. Since when is it a crime for a business to have a competitive advantage? If GM outsells Ford, do we penalize GM for that?

B\c sore losers everywhere need something to blame. Thats about all that this is. but if the phils won, oh boy would we hear how money CAN'T buy a title and how true passion/desire overcome. Want proof thats what we'd be hearing? Dig into your memory bank for the past couple years. Yankees suck, money can't buy you a title, you still need passion and desire to win. But this year the story goes, you bought the title, I hate you. Sore losers, just sore losers.

I agree 100%!!!

Hatter's are best served cold. There is a number of teams that wouldn't be around without the profit share that the BOSS came up with and guess wich house is always full. Yes the yanks spend $$ to get the best player's around, would you go the extra mile to send your kids to the best schools???
Mets fans have comeback why??? Cause in the past couple of years they have gone the extra mile to bring talent. Fans like to know that they're team stands a chance before the spring training starts.
So fate away peps just hate way

From 2001-2008, the Yankees didn't win a championship and the same people who are in here talking about how they bought the championship this year, were saying "See, money CAN'T buy you championships." Ok, guys, which one is it? :)

No matter what the team does, they're going to get criticized. Now, I'm a fan of the A's and the Braves and I've seen good and bad times from both. Heck, the Braves were one of the biggest spenders during their big run and all they had to show for that was 1 World Series win.

Some of you guys that keep claiming that money buys these championships should look at the fact that until around 2003 or so, the Yanks weren't spending that much more than the other teamsand as the gap widened, they still weren't able to win the championship year after year.

Also, a lot of people blame Steinbrenner for the high cost of doing business but let's not forget that he's tried his best to hold the line at times and he's been screwed over by the other owners. After the GM got Jeter to give them a "home town" discount, the Boss nixed the deal because he didn't want to set the bar and one of his biggest critics (and one of the game's biggest hypocrites), Tom Hicks, signed A-Rod for what was then an outrageous salary and he was forced to into paying more to sign Jeter AND anyone else that he wanted. I'm not saying that the guy is innocent in all this but the fact is that there have been plenty of times that he's reacted to what the other "poor" owners have done and then he's had to take the blame for what they did.

Are you Yankee lovers retarded or something? Of course you can buy a title and the Yankees do it whenever they can. They've been doing it for over 50 years. Back in the 1950's, Kansas City was laughingly referred to as an extention of the Yankee farm system. Do you loons think that it's smart baseball execution that's won them 27 titles? Keep drinking the kool-aid. They bought Matsui, Rodriquez, Texeira, Sabathia, Cano, Swisher, and Burnett. They're the best team money can buy and that's why they're known as the "Damn Yankees". The real, smart franchises are the Twins and Marlins. They compete and sometimes even beat the moneyed Yanks and do it on a shoestring. They have a great farm system cultivate their own superstars, not buy them. Respecting the Yankees is like respecting a big fat wallet.

Hatter's are best served cold. There is a number of teams that wouldn't be around without the profit share that the BOSS came up with and guess wich house is always full. Yes the yanks spend $$ to get the best player's around, would you go the extra mile to send your kids to the best schools???
Mets fans have comeback why??? Cause in the past couple of years they have gone the extra mile to bring talent. Fans like to know that they're team stands a chance before the spring training starts.
So fate away peps just hate way

I wasn't the one that said baseball is a dying sport, and I don't think it is. Baseball is a great sport and I love it. But I also don't think it will ever be the No. 1 sport in America anymore and I think that it won't be because of its economic disparity. I think the Yankees team, for the first time in about 8 years, really deserved to win. They clearly were the best team, plain and simple. But if the Twins, Rays or some other small market team could compete economically, I don't think you'd see them winning their 27th WS. My main complaint is that I just don't like how slanted the field is in favor of the large markets. As a fan of a small market team, it hurts to see your stars leave for the teams with the deeper pockets. Granted no former Twins were on this year's WS teams, but I understand how the Indians fans feel right now seeing Sabathia on the Yankees. Its wrong!

Well put, Sox fan. Thanks for giving the Yanks their due. I expect your team to contend next year, and some great battles between us as always.

So why don't they win all the time if money buys titles? B\c from what I remember over these past 10 years is that teams other than the yankees have been winning...

Total non sequitur, vinny. Yes, Georgie deserves a lot of credit for building the YES Network and all that. But NO OTHER OWNER IN BASEBALL could do what George did with the YES Network. Many other teams have tried, and it's failed miserably and immediately. There's no other New York.

And this isn't GM vs. Ford. If GM had a unique advantage solely because it was located in New York, there would be nothing to stop Ford from moving to New York and immediately negating that advantage. I don't think most of us want that to happen in MLB (though, as I've said, a *third* team there would be nice).

Analogizing MLB to 30 separate businesses doesn't work, because they all need each other to survive. If GM has a competitive advantage that drives Ford out of business, that's probably good; the more efficient firm benefits while Ford clears way for another, more efficient competitor to come along. MLB obviously doesn't work that way. Also, here we're not talking about one competitor being better or more efficient than the others, we're talking about one being better positioned to take advantage of baseball's system of laws or whatever you want to call it. There's nothing terribly noble or procompetitive about that.

The playing field doesn't need to be exactly even (I think that describes what they've done with football, and it makes it less interesting to follow, since players jump from team to team every year or two), but a system that gives one team an enormous competitive advantage over all of the others, every single year, is certainly less than ideal.

It feeds on itself. The more the Yanks win the more the good players will want to play with them. The money gives the Yankees the ability to absorb their errors. Other teams have to live with them. Can't you already see Mauer for Posada and Tulowitski for Jeter. Just a matter of time.

So why not fold all the useless dead wood in MLB and just let the Yankees, Sox, Mets, and Dodgers play every year... balance out the revenue and let them divide out the players...

The way the Yankees are going it will soon come down to that. Just like the big CEO's that America has started to see as greedy... the people will start hating the prima donna athletes that get payed a fortune to play a game most Amercians play to have fun.

1 in 8 children in the United States go to bed hungry every day. With the economy tanking that figure will likely keep going up while teams like the Yankees keep making the players more and more hated.

Thanks, Jason, but we have one. We might not have 27 of them, but we're perfectly happy with what we've got.

When you are able and willing to pay a lot more than anyone else for baseball talent, it stands to reason that you gain a competitive advantage. Not sure why it's lazy--or sour grapes--to point that out. There are a lot of baseball fans who don't have a problem with how steroids and major salary discrepancies are poisoning the game of baseball. They just shove all of that under the carpet and continue to watch, no objections in evidence. Aren't those the lazy ones?

i'm a met fan, but not because they lost that means that I'm goign to thrash another team. To be honest those guys played good and at all times they said it was the entire team that won not just one person.

Bill - you make some good points. But if being in NY is the big advantage, then why haven't the Mets won more often? Or the Dodgers, Cubs, etc. in other big markets? Yanks management has a lot to do with it. Not solely the money.

Let me preface this by stating that I am a Yankee hater (to the point that my wife and son think I need counseling). But there are two issues here. One is whether the Yankees have an advantage because they spend more money on players than other teams do. And to deny that fact just means that you have your head in the sand. But the other thing, which is what bothers Yankee fans, is people that complain about the Yankees buying a championship. That is just sour grapes. There are plenty of teams that could spend more money on players than they do but they choose to pocket their profits and pocket their share of the luxury tax. That's where the real problem lies.

I actually like the fact that the Yankees spend like drunken sailors. It makes it more enjoyable when they spend all that money on hacks and lose anyway (see 2002 - 2008).

Money doesn't win games??? Players do???? Hey Mick, if that's the case why not swap the Yankees for the Pirates next year and see how they do. I'm sure the "Aura and Mystique" of your magical pinstripes will carry them to another title--grow up--it's all about money!

New York is an expensive place. Everything is over priced here. Try buying bottled watter on the street in time square, they'll charge you at leats 2 bucks. Rent is expensive, I personally pay 2500/mo for a 1 bedroom 700 sq ft apt in Manhattan, and thats supposed to be considered a bargain because I have high cielings.. Starting slaries for college grads are on average 20K more per year for the same job everywhere else in the country.. I'm not a 100% on this but i believe tickets to see teh Yankees play cost more then any where else. Why wouldn't out payroll be the highest?

Instead of hating the Yankees, why don't you direct your anger at your teams owners. Instead of pocketing the money they are earning, put it back into the teams like the Steinbrenners do. Don't tell me that the others owners are doing what the best owner in baseball is doing, they are pocketing it and saying screw our fans, they'll come anyway.

Class AND intelligence! And trust me, as a Yankee fan its tough to admit that about a Sox fan! LOL Seriously, you hit the nail on the head. The Yankees sure have had their share of wasted payroll (Pavano anyone?) just like the Sox and that only proves that you can not simply buy titles. Just ask the NY Rangers.

The spending does not gaurentee a win, but it DOES gaurentee the best chance at that championship. If a team has a 4 game hot streak they CAN beat the yanks, no doubt, but the odds will always favor the team that bought the most talent.

Now wait let me get this right. If Philly would have won the series nothing said HURRAY for Philly but since My all time favorite MLB team wether they win or loose, won there is speculation. WELL THIS IS FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAS A NEGEGATIVE TONE TO TOWARDS THE YANKEES. STAY HOME NOBODY ASK YOU TO JOIN THE CELEBRATIONS THEY PLAY ED LIKE THE CHAMPS THEY ARE SO LET THEM GET PAID LIKE THE CHAMPS THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!! GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Instead of hating the Yankees, why don't you direct your anger at your teams owners. Instead of pocketing the money they are earning, put it back into the teams like the Steinbrenners do. Don't tell me that the others owners are doing what the best owner in baseball is doing, they are pocketing it and saying screw our fans, they'll come anyway.

The original comment was not intented for Jason, i see that he is a Yankees fan. It is directed at all of those Yankees Haters with sour grapes.

MR BILL CRY ALL YOU WANT COMPLAIN ALL YOU WANT BUT THE REALITY IS THE OWNER OF THE YANKS IS NOT AFRID TO SPEND THE MONEY TO BRING A CHAMPION TEAM TO NEW YORK AND IS NOT LIKE OTHERS TEAM THAT THE OWNERS ALL THEY THINK ABOUT IS PROFIT AND THEY DON,t CAREABOUT THE FANS SO I WILL SEND YOU IF YOU WANT A BIG TOWEL SO YOU CAN SPEND THIS WINTER CRYNG
YOURS TRULY A DIE HARD YA KEE FAN

Rockie, you need to learn how to write and speak

The thing that mystifies me is that Yankees fans are proud of the payroll, on balance, rather than embarrassed it takes such a significant economic advantage for the Yankees to win these days. It makes me question the very character of a Yankees fan. Simply put, what's the fun? What's the fun in rooting for Goliath? What sense of accomplishment that is derived from sticking with a team through the good times and the good, through thick and thick, cheering them as they face a distinct lack of adversity? How is satisfying to win a victory mostly derived from an unbalanced playing field?

I can't wrap my head around it. I imagine these folks would also choose to cheer for the father playing one-on-one against his 8 year old and would only enter a boxing ring if they were wearing armor and had a roll of quarters hidden in each glove. If that's the sort of thing that gets one excited, wouldn't it have to be considered a character flaw?

Sure, the Yankees are going to outspend all other teams as long as the rules only them to do so and it continues to be a profitable model. Why wouldn't they? The Yankees shouldn't take any flack for that. It's the Yankees *fans* that should take the flack. Why isn't the Yankees fan more often criticized for lacking the basic moral clarity to care about winning fairly instead of winning at all costs?

BT, you cannot be serious about your free market suggestions. The entire basis for franchises is against the free market principle. Under a free market system any team would be able to move into the Yankees territory and set up a franchise. The entire idea of a franchise system is to defeat the "free market". The franchise system gives the Yankees the exclusive rights to revenue streams in their territory. Even in splitting the territory with the Mets their potential stream of revenue is several times larger (becuase of the population base) than the Twins, Royals, Rockies or most every other team in MLB. Simple economic theory suggests that these other teams cannot compete with these revenue streams. It has nothing to do with WANTING TO COMPETE. If you have no problem with the free market system than I suppose you would have no problem having the Yankees relinquish their franchise territorial rights and allow lets say 3 or 4 MLB teams to enter their territory and share in their revenues streams. I mean you are for the "free market", right?

The Indians would just sell it anyway...

You are clueless.... Small market teams could double payrolls and still not be on the same level, so most gave up. The difference is if some of those markets do spend more they loose money. YES they are billionaires, but did not get there by loosing money (not that I feel sorry for them, but I do see their point) ..... The Yankees could triple their payroll and still make a profit... yes the luxury tax goes to the small market teams, but divide 100 million between 20 teams.... what is that 5 million going to get you?

Obviously they bought the title.
Hate doesn't enter the matter, and no I need to work so I will not be celebrating.
If I want to buy a car that drives faster than my neighbor's honda, I just need to spend more and buy it. Just view the yankees as a faster car than the nieghbors.
I don't think the yankee fans should be so sensitive, they really come across as crybabies. You bought a faster car than your neighbors, enjoy it.

Sir, I can give you exactly 162 reasons why the "buy/bought a World Series title" reasoning is flawed.....it's called the season....This may be a novel concept to all you Yankee haters out there, but once the season/games start, YOU STILL GOTTA BEAT THE TEAM IN FRONT OF YOU. You still gotta play the damn games!!!! The Yankees were the better team ON THE FIELD. Period. Deal with it.

It was, of course, all of the yankees money that must have created an enormous shadow over the northeast and apparently blinded the ability of Ryan Howard to see a baseball.

So looking at the Phillies, they will sign Lee for 20+ million a year if they are smart, buy out some arbitration years for Howard, sign another top shelf starter and maybe a new closer.

WOW! add that all up and their $117 million payroll goes to $150+ pretty quickly. and NO ONE will say a word about how they are trying to buy a championship.

Wrong!!!!your owners are greedy and dont give a shit about you. They can do a better job then they are doing, and it is you who is clueless and nieve.

again clueless.... The yaknkees BOUGHT enough talent from all the other teams to give them a GLARING ADVANTAGE in all 162 games

Of course they bought it, and they paid well for top talent that (mostly) plays like a team most of the time and teamwork wins. They are in a lucrative market, with a world wide recognized name and an owner willing to pay the penalty for going over the spending cap limit. I rooted for the underdog but admired the Yankee's win. I admire both teams for being there.

you have to remenber this is the "evil empire" we are talking about! the only remedy is a salary cap for each team without any "buyoutss.

Absurd reasoning as always. While money can't buy you a title, not having it damn well prevents you from winning it. Being the Yankees means you have a 1/12 shot of winning in any given year. Being the Pirates means you have a 0/32 shot of winning in any given year.

It doesn't matter how smart the bottom half of the league (in payroll) is, their only option is to catch lighting and have a miracle. The Yankees merely need to be competent to have a solid shot at winning.

Huge difference.

The Yankees bought the World Series? Doesn't every MLB player collect a paycheck? In essence, every team is trying to "buy" a title. It just happens that the Yankees do it better than anyone else!

I hate when people say they buy it as there is teams like the Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, & Cardinals who spend money and they didnt make it to the WS. In terms of baseball, $30M-$40M equals maybe 2 probably 1 top notch player due to the salary they make now. It all comes down to producing on the field and the Yankees did that the best. The small market teams just put the money in the owners pockets vs trying to improve. Why are the Twins successful almost every year?? Because they have players who play well together and dont cry about other teams spending so much.

Of course the Yankees bought the championship. That's what pro sports are all about and that's the way it should be. If other owners want championships they need to spend more money, buy the best players and get good managers to blend it all into a winning team. Money alone won't win championships, but it helps to be able to start with the best players. The Yankees are great. More power to them.

Baloney. Before there was YES, there was TBS. It was the other JEALOUS and LAZY owners who went out of their way to weaken them because of the popularity of the Braves. Hell, the Braves were a bunch of no names until Captain Outrageous turned Channel 17 in Atlanta into the powerhouse that it was the height of its popularity. The Braves are now a regional team NOT because no one could do what George could do but because the other owners forced them into removing their broadcasts from TBS. Ted Turner was way ahead of George and any of the other owners and instead of embracing what he did, they went out of their way to jealously guard their territories.

I hate when people say they buy it as there is teams like the Red Sox, Angels, Dodgers, & Cardinals who spend money and they didnt make it to the WS. In terms of baseball, $30M-$40M equals maybe 2 probably 1 top notch player due to the salary they make now. It all comes down to producing on the field and the Yankees did that the best. The small market teams just put the money in the owners pockets vs trying to improve. Why are the Twins successful almost every year?? Because they have players who play well together and dont cry about other teams spending so much.

I grew up in New York, I live out on the west coast now. The Yankees suck, it is so boring that they buy the best talent, is it any wonder they win the World Series? Give me a break...Alex Rodriguez is a totally overpaid player. Yankees bite the big one.
Yawn...

Put an ASTERISK next to the championship banner because arod is a big cheater

Your argument and comparisons are just plain idiotic.

P.S. When did this become about morals?

Stop crying, you whinning little girl.

Bravo Ladyfan

and i'll see your Dice-K and JD Drew and raise you a Kei Igawa AND Carl Pavano!

Money don't buy wins!!

jonny, exactly HOW does one BUY a championship? The analogy of buying a car faster than your neighbor's car is actually pretty stupid; now you're equating a baseball team (human beings, injuries, an unexplained bad season for one or two guys, all those random things that can go wrong) with a machine; a piece of equipment. It doesn't work that way, sir.

Well, everyone knows that steinbrenner paid selig to give the yank-mees a fixed world series so they could start off crooked as usual in their new cheating stadium.
Selig should be receiving a transfer to his bank account from steinbrenner's off shore account either today or tomorrow. You brainless slug yank-mee fans are not fooling anyone except for yourselves. Damon has jumped on the steroid wagon along with matsui and lee texiera's husband horse-face.
One day in the future the steinbrenner/selig world series payoff scandal will come out, just give it time.
Next season, those yank-mees from zoo york will not get a free ride, and will not steal another title like they did this year.

The simple fact of the matter is money cannot buy you victory... BUT it most certainly ups the odds. I actually hate baseball, so I come with no built in pre-dispositions one way or another... but with the amout of money the Yankees are spending they SHOULD win. The fact that they missed the playoffs last year is laughable. To say that going around and buying up as much high profile talent as possible and spending whatever it takes to do so doesn't dramaticlly help a team win is a joke. Add a salary cap to baseball and you'll see just how compedative every team can be all the sudden.

Baseball use to be our national past time. Today it is nothing more than a bunch of overpaid dope heads. I have just one question for the Yankee's and their owner - How much is enough?

whaaa, salaray cap. Whaa, payroll. Whaa, my team lost. Cry all you want, I have A PARADE TO PREPARE FOR!!! Woot!

I personally don't hate the team but having $$$ to buy talent does swing the odds in your favor. Put a cap on salaries on all teams then we will see who the better teams are.

True competition requires starting on a level playing field. The fact that, even with a huge initial advantage in players salaries, the Yankees don't win every year doesn't mean that they don't have an unfair advantage. How is this any different than the old Red Army hockey team in the USSR, where they put all the best players on one team. There is nothing competitive about it.

1. Get a functioning brain.
2. Take an English class.
3. Relax Guy.
4. Think before writing.
5. Spell check.

If all those still fail, put you head on a hot grill and serve your meaty head for dinner.

Either way you bought your team this year, win or lose, you bought them flat out there is no denying it.

BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO PLAY THE GAMES!!!! If what you say is true, please explain the 7 World Series titles won by teams other than the Yankees since 2002. Your argument is purely subjective, at best. You don't like the Yankees. Fine. You're pissed that they won. Ok, whatever. But stop with the buy-a-title stupidity; it doesn't work.

Baseball has been and is still broken.

No joy in mudville...love the Phillies-hate the Yankees(along with Republicans, conservatives,religion and a bunch of other stuff). And yes they do buy titles. So I hate to say this but "Congradulations Yankees-you are one hell of a good baseball team".

Yeah and it feels great, CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calling the arguments idiotic doesn't make them so. Answer the question. What's fun about cheering a team that derives its success from an uneven playing field? How is that *not* like the comparisons I gave? It's a radically different thing to celebrate a victory when the match was even that to celebrate a victory when the game was rigged in your favor, which is what we're really saying when we talk about payrolls three time the sizes of other teams, and, yes, I question the character of the person who'd rather do the latter than the former.

I get it.

I'm an Angels fan.

They Yankees do outspend everyone, and they won the whole she-bang this year.

Does money buy World Series? No.

Does money buy contenders? Yes.

Does spending more than everyone make them the best team? Maybe this year.

I agree w/ the post that said that thinking money has nothing to do with it is putting your head in the sand.

That said, you have to spend money in this league to be a contender, year in, year out. My beloved Angels are the new Braves, always a bridesmaid never a bride of late. At least they're in the wedding party.

Congrats to the Yankees. They did OUTPLAY everyone in the post-season this year, regardless of how or why.

I think the Phillys AND the Angels had chances to win, but both teams didn't execute when it mattered, and the Yankees did. They won. They wanted it more, or at least demonstrated that on the field. The Angels left EVERYONE on base, didn't get clutch hits, and played like @#($)* on defense.

The Phillies looked like they ran out of gas a bit, minus Chase Utley, who was a stud.

Is it sad that I'm really sort of thrilled that Teixeira batted at or below the mendoza line and minus a few homers that didn't mean much was really an afterthought this post-season?

Way to go to Matsui, too, a class act his whole career.

Giving a Yankee props was hard for me.

Go Halos!

I'm glad to see that all of the Yankee fans are sure that it's not all about the money. Logically, I guess that means they would be agreeable to a salary cap?

Wow. Did you drop out of the 3rd grade? Some intelligent comment you left there, buddy.

NO no no Jason. We don't want to redistribute their titles, just their money.

Lets have a zar to controle this

YOURS TRULY A DIE HARD YA KEE FAN

Wow, you think?

If you seriously think that the Yankees care less about profit than the others do or that the others' problem is that they're "afraid" to spend money where the Yankees are not, you just don't have even the most basic understanding of what's going on here. But enjoy your championship anyway!

Yankees won the games fair and square. I'm not a yankees fan, but I hate how the media ALWAYS has to try to find a way to stir up controversy. The yanks won, and they got some clutch performances that allowed them to win (can you say A-ROD??). You can't discredit what the players accomplished. They came together as a team and won games!

How many players have the yankees signed that were offered more money by other teams?

well since you only know what you read in the media rather than thinking for yourself, here is the raw data:

Homegrown Yankee Talent:
Catcher - Posada
Second - Cano
Short - Jeter
Center - Cabrera/Gardner
Pen - Joba, Coke, Hughes, Rivera, Aceves
Starters - Pettite

Free Agents:
Texeira
Arod
Sabbathia
Damon
Burnett

Trade:
Swisher

Looks pretty balanced to me!!!

But then you "yankess buy championship" guys never do your homework.

This arguement is so tired, boring and......I am getting really sleepy, off to nap. Go YANKS!

Yankees players I like. Glad to see their success. They acted like they wanted it this year and not just entitled.

Yankee fans ... a bunch of total a-holes ... glad it took this long for them to celebrate. Sweep by the Tigers a couple years ago was extremely pleasant to watch the fans squirm.

Yankee ownership ... hope they go freak'n bust ... dump this kind of money in anything just to win ... they need to learn a lesson.

Funny thing too; if you look up the net worth of all the MLB owners/ownership groups, you'll find out something very interesting. Does anyone know where the Steinbrenner family ranks in that list of 30? Hint: THEY NOT #1....OR 2...OR 5 even...... Listen up, haters; of the 30 MLB owners/ownership groups, the Steinbrenners rank number 17. The fact is that YOUR team's ownership takes the (somewhere between $17 and $35 million) that they collect from revenue sharing/luxury tax and puts it in their own bank accounts, and gives you a team that loses 95+ games.

Oh COME ON ! Can't we keep politics AT LEAST out of the national pastime ... talk about sour grapes!

yes...we bought three of the 25 players...

Question.............How is this the Yankees fault? Do they have permission to spend as much as they want? Don't all teams have permission to spend what they want? Who makes all of that possible? Isnt the people who buy the tickets, merchandise, etc...?

We created the monster of professional sports.

Of COURSE they bought their championship - 5 contracts in 2 years for $3/4 Billion - that's with a B!!!!

If you are going to mention the homegrown talent, you have to mention the $ required to keep the homegrown talent into their free agent years. If Jeter and Posada were on just about any other team, they'd be long gone by now -- to play for New York on the other half of your list, most likely.

accurate as always

tigers didnt sweep.

You can bet your a$$ no one in K.C. would argue that Glass was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to baseball, in total and in K.C. We got stuck with him, incredibly bad ownership, because legitimate buyers were not willing to buy into major league baseball, in K.C., with the current unequitable situation.

Walmart Dave will never be willing to participate in the remaking of the Royals of Brett, Otis, McRae and others. He should have stuck to a Walmart sponsored Class C softball team.

Kansas City doesn't envy New York for its team, we envy you for your owner. Remember, we used to have Mr. Kauffman, and one of the best teams in baseball.

of course we are not going to let our home grown talent leave!

and the point made by others was that we buy the best players from other teams...cleary a half truth.

why would we allow another team to outbid us for our own good...homegrwon talent?

just a bad way to invest in the business...oh yeah i forgot, most other owners have no interest in the business.

Thank you Jason for your accurate and simplistic truth. The boring redundancy of 'haters' complaining about $$$ spent whether NY wins or loses. If the Yankees 'bought' their championships they would win every year however what the organization does is buy the best players available and subsequently make the best moves both on and off the field staying focused on 162 game season (first) despite unfortunate choices making for bad press, injuries,dicey umpiring and consistently biased reporting.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NY YANKEES FOR THEIR 27TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN YOUR NEW HOME - YOU EARNED IT, NO ONE CAN EVER TAKE THAT AWAY!!

To the looser who says the Yankees don't play fair! booo hoo!

They play by the rules all the owners & players association agreeded to. The Yankees just seem to do it better. If you don't like the fact that the Yankees front office has the deep pockets to pay players, then don't let a person own a team who refuses to pay the price to field that team. The Yankees payed what 80 million in tax this year to the lower end market teams; yet how many of those teams used that money to improve their players, None, a few at most.

You want a cap. Fine put a upper limit in, but then also put a lower limit in & force owners to pay upto at least that level.

You want to cry about the Yankees buying a World Series. I don't see the Yankees dumping payroll each year, like Floridas done twice.

A majority of you could care less what the Yankees spend on salaries, you just don't like the YANKEES! Well, tooo dam bad, we won, you didn't, get over yourselves!

That's just a really poor attempt. How many other teams do you think can say that three of their four best players were acquired as free agents that were at the very top of the market when they acquired them?

Or, look at it this way
Free-agent-eligible: A-Rod, Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeira, Jeter, Posada, Damon, Rivera.

How many teams could afford to keep around all that "homegrown talent" once they got to the point where they could demand several million AND bring in all the new guys at once? Balanced my ***.

OK, I'm done.

Yes, money can buy sports players, but it's the front office that picks the players. Just a ferinstance, the Oakland Raiders spend a lot of money, and look at the mess out there. It's not spending the money, it's spanding the money wisely! It's having a plan, and fitting pieces together on the field. Money - and brains - win championships! Some teams got it, some don't.

Am I the only one in the United States that heard Charlie Manuel congratulate the Yankees and go on to say what a fine group of players and coaches they were and then not one player, manager,or owner of the Yankees said a thing about the Phillies organization in the immediate aftermath shown on television. I am a Yankees fan, but I was shocked by this classless oversight.

I believe it's "play" and "repeating".

As much as I hate the Yankees I have to say they were the better team. Being from South Jersey I have always been a Phillies fan, but this year they simply choked. Piching was not there and they didn't key hits when they needed them. However, Chase Utley played a much better series than anyone out there. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees tried to buy him and maybe Pujols then they would have the best infield in all of baseball for as far back as I can remember. Next year the Yanks go down.

The Yankees aka the money changers again slide the golden slope to victory. When they had the largest payroll and lost I was happy. When they win I am sad for the sport. Loved the games. Love the players. Hate the owners, management and legacy of greed known as Yankee Baseball

Um...the point was that because the Yanks have the money to keep the homegrown talent after other teams would have lost them, you can't use the homegrown talent as a rebuttal to the "Yanks bought the WS" argument. Which is what you tried to do.

Any homegrown talent over the age of 30 needs to be filed on the "Yankees bought 'em" half of your balance list, if you're going to be realistic about it.

this isn't your father's yankees. those dudes were tough. these yankees? Not so much. Did they buy a title? Sure. but as a fan of the team that won it last year, I wish they had spent another 5 mil on a bat off the bench and a solid closer.

Yankees won. We're they supposed too?

some of their fans still point to all their championships like they had something to do with it and like this was owed to them. To you, I say good day.

to the yankee fans that were there in the 80's when the team was slop, I say congrats

To bring this up not even 24 hours after they won the series is sickening. This group of guys fought hard all through the season and continued to do so through the postseason. If previous years have taught you yahoos anything its that you can't buy championships, you need a team - a group of guys to play as one. And the 2009 Yankees did that game in and game out. Show some class and commend these men on a season well done instead of trying to sell all their hardwork short. If you want to complain about the system call Bud Selig instead of treating the Yankee organization as villians.

Money or not, I'm in LA and of course cheered for the Dodgers then the Angels but there is absolutely no denying that watching the Yankees and the Phillies you felt like you were watching great teams, not teams that were eeking bye and that if the stars were aligned just right you might win.

They are both excellent teams filled with a lot of talent and heart. You can see it the way they move, the game is second nature; but between the two, the Yankees were the better team, it is what it is guys.

Yankee fans live in a bubble. Majority of people I know hate the Yankees and what they stand for. MLB needs caps and balance. Funny thing is all those Yankee fans that smugly wear their NY hats around don't even have a clue how stupid they look. Call it sour grapes, whatever, I'd rather root for a convict...

geeze sure felt like a sweep ... hey your right it was not. must still burn bright in your pin striped melon having a team from a place as pitiful as detroit bend the yanks over the rail and give it to them nice and slow. all those stars in the front row seats on thier cell phones, not even watching, looking for a camera shot.

Great article. I love that they one it, I love that they bought it and I really love all the D-bags on here and their crying. Now you can suck it! GO YANKS!!!!

It's only a freakin' game people. Either watch or don't watch. Whether your team won or lost, the end results the same. It doesn't mean a god damned thing. Botards!

Gee, if money doesnt buy titles then why do the Yanks have ten fold as many of them as any other team. SALARY CAP PLEASE!!!!!

Not a one of these fool writers can explain how the highest payroll in baseball only bought a championship this year. The Yankees far outspent the rest of MLB and had a 9 year run between championships. So the business of buying a championship is the most bogus argument in all of sports.

Give me a break, to even bring florida up is a waste, the reason A-rod makes more then the entire Florida roster is one simple thing, all you guys are good at are selling hot dogs, i mean for god sakes have you seen all the orange empty seats when florida plays, Florida couldnt afford to pay high school baseball players with the revenue they make, and lets not forget the championship they bought on wayne's back i was their when they fell apart the next eyar, they just dont have support, opposite to that is the Yankees, where the seats are ALWAYS full and revenue, i would rather be in THAT game then wondering if i can bring a bus load of homeless people to make the seats look full in those other pathetic teams.

buy paying tons-o-cash for the best players they buy competitiveness and a better chance at the title.

Either way, most people outside of NY don't like they Yankees and never will. They are essentially an all-star team that most owners/cities can't afford to compete with - and so Americans intuitively know that there's not a level playing field.

Ok. Just stop. Does anyone on here actually understand that this is a business? The Yankees management and ownership has simply done more to market their team worldwide. I want to follow a team that invests the profits it makes off of us, the fans, back into the very best players it can afford to help us win. Thank god the Yankees organization isn't like many others. I don't want to hear the whining when the owners are making a profit of $30MM a year or more...The Yankees LOST almost $40MM Net in 2008 because they reinvested their profits back into their team. You want a salary cap, fine. I really don't care. But, until then, the whiny bs about the Yankees buying titles is so pathetic and old. It is funny how we hear all year about how Tex and Arod etc aren't worth all the money and how funny it is to see them fail. Guess what, Tex was terrible in the post-season. Arod has been notoriously bad in October. So we finally get a good October out of Arod and all of a sudden we bought the series. Completely ridiculous. I don't mind all the haterade but for crying out loud...get an argument that actually matters.

Thank you to the courteous and classy Yankee fans who responded. You definitely have a point with Pavano and Igawa . . . OUCHIE! The plain truth is, we all love baseball. The fans love it, the players love it, the good managers love it. Let's don't ruin it with whining, arguing and trying to out-insult each other. Sure, some of the Yankee players are not guys I would choose for friends. But that goes for pretty much every team in the league, including mine . . . like I would ever have wanted Mr. Spoiled Brat Manny for a friend? good riddance to bad rubbish. And I'm sure you all can say the same about players on your own teams. The truth is, not one team fielded a group of canonized saints. Enough already with the Monday morning quarterbacking. The season is over. The Yankees won. I wish they hadn't, I wish the Sox had won, but we didn't. Oh well . . .we're adults, we can take it . . and there's always next season. Oh I do want to add one thing though . . if anyone, ANYONE, knows how we can get rid of Buck and whathisname, can you PLEASE tell me? They give new definition to the word "clueless".

Quite a few "small market" teams make themselves small market teams. Let's not forget that Atlanta was no where near a big market team when Ted Turner took them over and then he turned them into a team that people consider a big market team while the White Sox weren't even in the same ballpark for years, despite the fact that they were in a city that was able to afford them the ability to be a big market team. Look at some of the teams that are so-called "small market" teams and then compare them to some teams that are considered "big market" and you'll see that it's a matter of making a commitment to being more than just what you perceive your lot in life is. Without Ted Turner, the Braves are just another "small market" team despite the fact that they're NOT a small market city. You've got to ask yourself why San Diego is considered a small market team but St. Louis isn't.

Stupid question. Of COURSE they bought the World Series. I'm a Red Sox fan. We bought the World Series TWICE since the turn of the century. Hopefully we'll buy some more. There's nothing FAIR about baseball. Everyone knows this...

BASEBALL HAS NO COMPETITION

If you're a sports fan and it's summer time, you either watch baseball, or you watch the paint dry. So whether it's rigged to feed the wealthy or not, sports fans will watch.

Hockey USED to be rigged the same way baseball was. But they had to compete with the fair NFL and the fair-enough NBA. And guess what? They were going bankrupt. You had fans from a handful of rich teams filling the rinks while all the rest were ghost towns. The sport nearly collapsed under the weight of its own stupidity.

But now they're fair. Now they are beginning to compete against basketball and football.

You want things to REALLY change? REALLY. Listen carefully...

Don't talk to the MLB. They won't change. Tell the NHL to move their fair, air-conditioned sport to the summer months. Compete with baseball. MLB will have a stroke. When the only baseball owners that make money wear red sox or blue pinstripes, you better believe MLB will change.

Hey Yankee haters...want some cheese with that whine?

Yes, if you always import/buy the best players from around the world, your odds of winning a world series title will increase...no doubt about it!

One more thing, does everyone here know which team in the MLB has the highest percentage of farmed players? Anyone? It's the Yankees with almost 65% of their roster is farmed. So, can the crap about us buying all our players. We bought a few and farmed far more than most.

And there you have it. The observation is pretty well known and acknowledged. But always a valid statement. Maybe we could start a league based on payroll? Yes, the Yankees are the best team money can buy. Period. Add another 300 Million to next years payroll and I would bet my home and property that we will have the same ending. And yes, there is and was no excuse for them not to win last year. Take a poll across america and see who was rooting for which team. My guess is an overwhelming number of folks were rooting for Phil. Wonder why? I really like the idea of a league based on payroll.

Cry baby

Article is completer BS except for the fact money alone doesn't buy a WS. BUT WITHOUT IT THE YANKEES WOULD NOT HAVE WON THE TITLES THEY HAVE FROM THE 90's

It is BS they have not led the league in payroll .. it is easy to ignore the multi year contracts where the high dollars are pushed out until the ending years.

And instead of looking at a team and say their payroll was higher that year ... simply look at the average payroll compared to the yankees these years ... it is incredibly higher.

And who gives a rats a@@ where these players came from!?!?! The bottom line is they spend more than other teams can to keep them.

Yankees have a great business that allows them to spend. You cannot fault them for this BUT most other teams are not in huge market as they are and have such a great brand due to Ruth. Nor do they have the ability to own their own cable company.

ROI. Return on Investment. Professional sports is nothing more than a business. If the yankees ROI is maximized by winning world series titles, then they have smart management. If they throw money away and make bad investments in players and their ROI shrinks, then that's bad management. The problem is that the Yankees, the only team that can dictate the upper limit of player salaries, make it impossible for other teams to make any kind of player salary decision that will result in a reasonable ROI for their teams when they are competing for top established players. More often than not, top talent wins titles.

And who pays for that? You and me in rediculous ticket, parking and food prices as our teams that haven't thrown in the towel try to compete. Yankee fans, you can stop the craziness by refusing to pay rediculous ticket prices and watching on the tube. Go to a little league, highschool or college game. Show management that you have a life outside of Yankee baseball...sorry players...none of you are worth the millions you are paid.

Baseball was, after all, just a game.

Yankees bought the World Series championship - plain and simple. All of you wanting to deny this because you're either from New York or you just jumped on the winning band wagon - GET REAL.

Baseball needs a cap which includes a floor. Every team should have to invest a minimum amount. I would think $75 mill should be the minimum. The Yankees say they have won since 2000, but because they have the most money to spend they have a a shot to win every year. Most teams can only afford a small window to increase payroll and take a shot at a title.

Best team money can buy, and the best steroids money can buy. The Phillies may have lost, but they fought until the end, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. The Yankees spent all of that money and juiced up all of their players, and they still couldn't walk all over the Phillies, they still had to fight...

Great job Phillies! Next year will be just as great!

cry baby

Cry baby

Wonder why this discussion never comes up about other teams when they win/lose?? Probably because it's true..the end

Every time the Yankees win the World Series, the cretins come out.
Get a life. They won. Your team lost. Get over it.

Ahhhhhhhh YES...
Same old complaints. Money buys Championships!!! Blah Blah Blah!!!
Get over it!!! The Yankees are an AMAZING TEAM!! Nough said!!!

Way to go guys. Great job to Jeter - Mo - Tex - Gardner - Joba - Posada - Damon - ARod - and the rest of this stellar team!!!
I LOVE watching you guys play ball!!!!!
-Texas Gal-

27 for #27

You hit the nail on the head! I am a Royals fan and I do not hate the Yankees. I hate the owners of the small-market teams (like Glass of the Royals) who insist on pocketing the salary cap tax instead of spending it on legitimate free-agents to supplement a solid front office. The problem with the small-market teams is not lack of funds but poor management and scouting/drafting. If the Marlins/Rays/A's/Twins can manage to be competitive most of the time then why can't the Royals/Pirates/Orioles/etc... In other words stop blaming the Yankees for actually wanting and trying to win.

Come on John, really? Is baseball to be the new bastian of socialism? I love how our government tries to implement a health care system to cover everyone and be sure that we are a healthy nation...yet millions go absolutely nuts because they will have to pay for others...guess what? All of those people damn well better support a free market, capitalist version of baseball. Otherwise, you are as hypocritical as they come. Why all this garbage about baseball purity? IT IS A BUSINESS!!!!! For crying out loud I feel like I am going crazy. WHAAAAAAAA my team can't compete. Half the time the owners are at fault. INVEST IN YOUR TEAMS AND SHUTUP!!!!

Hey einstein!
Open your eyes, ever since steinbrenner bought the yank-mees it has been one controversy after another. The man himself admits that sometimes you have to bend the rules to win, and that is from steinbrenner! The yank-mees have the biggest amount of players listed or busted with steroids, steinbrenner buys anything he can (even wins) because people think he is some baseball mafia boss or something.
If MLB would remove the yank-mees from baseball, ban every player on the team from playing in the MLB, and put asteriks on ALL of their records since steinbrenner bought them- then baseball would be America's game again because the biggest issue with baseball would be eliminated.

you are yelling.

David...were you dropped on your head as a child?
Have your nurse push your wheelchair closer to your forehead pointer so you can attempt to peck out something intelligent.

Do you realize what a moron you are?

Keep hating. Whiny kids who want to think up whatever reason they can find to nay say the moment. We will continue to recruit players that will help us win. We love to do it, and we love to win. Keep whining about money and whatever else if it helps you sleep at night. Lets not overlook the fact that everyone got pummeled by them Yanks. Until MLB puts any rules in place, there really is nothing to talk about. Until then, we are doing nothing wrong. Everyone likes to hate the best! Keep up or get out.

If you're not from or originally from the tri state area - you're not a Yankee fan - you just wanted to root against all your friends. All these people in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, wherever, couldn't tell you what position Don Mattingly played or answer who is Mike Pagliarulo.

95% of them think Derek Jeter is a quarterback.

Did the Yankees buy their title? Hmmm......Let me think.........Doesn't all sports teams buy their titles? Some jut spend a little bit more than others to do it! If there is not a salary cap and you have the money to purchase things to improve your business, why wouldn't you? Or would you rather just spend enough to be a mediocre team. I believe the reason for all teams in whatever sport they are in is to compete the best they can to achieve their goals, whih should be winning the Championship! And yes....the YANKEES WIN, theeeeeeeeeeee YANKEES WIN!!!

The issue with baseball isn't the Yanks winning the title (again). NY is just taking advantage of what the league financial structure allows them to do. Until that changes, 90% of World Series titles will go to the big market teams that can afford to buy talent at a price tag the rest of the league can't pay, and continue to subsidize them to be mediocre until their fan base wears out. Within five years, baseball will start shutting down in small and mid-market cities. Maybe Pittsburgh could make a better financial proposition as a AAA minor league team.

What kind of cheese you got?

Bottom line -- those who say that "money can't buy you happiness", whether in sports, finances, real life..............have plenty of it! Kudos to the Yankess for working a system that is flawed and that does not establish a level playing field for all teams. Don't blame the Yankees, blame MLB. Baseball is a BUSINESS designed to make money. So while I may think they are the root of all evil in the universe, and their fans are the loudest, most obnoxious bunch of rude bandwagon jumpers I've ever seen, that's the way the system is designed.

As to the comment that money doesn't win championships, players do, please tell me how to sign the best players without money.

Congrats to all the Yankees fans, but to me, rooting for the Yanks is like rooting for Walmart. It's a pretty sure thing but it takes no heart, soul, or guts, especially if you aren't a NY'er.

Yankee Class?

I know the stats, 27 championships; the most ever. The greatest this or that, almost invariably earned and deserved in grand athletic and coaching style. But not necessarily post-game class.

I watched all of the post-game commentary and congratulations blah blah blah, and not once, including when the Yankee manager spoke, did any Yankee player say anything about the Phillies or even mention the opposition by name of city, team or mascot. And these were last year's champions.

What the Hades! (The NYC fans are usually always awesome; what happened to the players?)

Is this what's become of professional sports?

Oh, well, my hats off (only half though tonight) to best team -- now and in the past -- in baseball!

Dante

Okay everyone. Im sure you all have jobs to do. Tomorrow the Yankees will still be World Champions. Back to work!!

I remember a couple of years ago someone in the NY Rangers office was mad that the Detroit Red Winds spent some money, got some decent older player & won the Stanely Cup. I remember this person (don't remember the name) commenting about how Detroit bought the Stanely Cup & no New York team has ever bought a championship. I had to laugh at that comment, because everyone knows that the Yankees have bought championship (or at least attempted to) for years. I almost always vote for the American League in the World Series, except for the Yankees. I'll never root for them, EVER!!!

Bought and paid for.

I'm not saying what the top-spending teams do is wrong, instead, I'm saying it's quite obvious that, regardless of the outcome, salary constraints are the biggest determinate of success in the league. Sure, there will be anomalies, but statistically and historically, the more you spend the higher the win %.

The Yankees, and others, are simply taking advantage of this advantage. The league, if they were concerned at all with the continued success of baseball, should put in place a minimum and maximum salary cap to level out the advantages and disadvantages that salary provides.

Imagine how differently the outcome of the World Series would have been had the Phillies spent $88 million dollars more this year. $88 mil extra in just one year's roster is quite a bit, and that's the advantage that brought the Yankees their championship.

This is America people and it's a cut throat business. If one team isn't willing to pay someone a certain salary, there is always someone else you will. There is always a bigger dog. That's just the way it is. It is no different than any other business. If you owned a business, wouldn't you want to hog all of the business? Damn right you would. Grasping at straws kids, just grasping.

You are wrong, money certainly does buy titles. How do you think those players all ended up on one team - MONEY.

Bottom line folks MLB is a business. As business people the Yankee Organization is allowed to spend their money however they please. Right or wrong, agree or disagree. Sometimes they spend money and get nothing other times they get results. With a couple of notable exceptions many of these high price players have been on the team for years with no results. This year the team clicked, and they had a great year. You have to give credit where it is due, high paid or not this is their job folks when you excell at your job you want to get paid for it don't you?????

Baseball is more than a payroll.

But the payroll can move the odds in your favor.

Every time a team aquires a player one team gets better and the other worse.

The large payrolls of some teams just mean that they will have a higher concentration of the best players because they can outbid the other teams.

But Money does not buy performance and the field is where the game is decided.

Your anger comes from the fact that you know it's the truth, too funny.

Im already gearing up for #28 next year!

GO YANKEES!!!!!!

Sorry, you are incorrect. Attendance across baseball spiked from 03-07 and then dipped a tiny bit 08-09 (prob due to the economy). If baseball is so bad then why are people going to the games at a higher rate? Besides, using pittsburgh as an example is terrible. They consistenly give away talent instead of trying to build a team. Maybe they can't afford it, but maybe they could, we don't know. But one thing is for sure, if you don't try to keep players, you certainly won't gain a fanbase.

Baseball is a farce of a sport and the Yankees are simply emblematic of one facet of its absurdity. It's arguable that they bought a title but even if you don't believe that, they certainly buy their way into the post-season.

As a Yankees hater I have to say that every day the Yanks win is a sad, sad day for baseball. There are baseball fans and then there are Yankees fans.

However, this argument that they bought the series is outright ridiculous.

For everyone who has a desire for a level playing field for MLB, here is a solution. Right now, enough owners want the status quo, the networks want the status quo, and the players want the status quo, only the non-large market cities suffer.

From now on, watch the post season, and write down every advertiser who buys time and then, start boycotting their products. How long do you think that would go over for MLB if that revenue stream dried up?

We don't need a salary cap, what we want is even ground. Make sure that each stadium has a minimum seating capacity. When the Yankees come to K.C. they should split revenues for all games, same as when K.C. goes to New York. This would be an impetus for all teams to be as competitive as possible. Make a salary minimum, share all broadcast revenue and then see where that takes us. Only allow owners to remain owners as long as their teams participate in one World Series every twenty years or so. This would get rid of people like David Glass and baseball would be the better for it.

Adjust it, as necessary, until there is parity.

Ok...so for everyone paying attention at home, please look at this list of Top 5 2009 payrolls in MLB:

NYY: $201,449,189
NYMets: $149,373,987
Chicago Cubs: $134,809,000
Boston Red Sox: $121,745,999
Detroit Tigers: $115,085,145

There are 2 teams that fall below the $100MM mark and 7 teams that fall below $75MM (over $40MM separates the lowest 5 and the top 5)!!

Oh and by the way, the lowest 5 teams made the most profit in 2008...Hmmmmmm...

27 titles and the next best is 10???.....The Yanks are not THAT much better of an organization then everyone else in MLB. Money buys Championships just not every year. You Yankee fans should know that. Baseball is a game of percentages and so is spending ungodly amounts of money to bring in the best players. You will ultimatly win if you keep outspending everyone. Just not every year. Average 1 title every 3 years....

.333 batting average is pretty good. Even you dumba** Yankee fans can figure that out...

sure jeff.....let's see, CC wins 2 games...was he there last year?...no, $$ brot him to NY....Godzilla hits HR's, 6 rbi's....where did he come from?....$$$ brot him to NY....A-Rod hits in the clutch...hmmm...where did he come from?....oh yeah, $$ brot him to NY....Burnett...could not make $$ with the giants, so he followed it to NY....Teixchera, was he there last year?...no, again $$ brot him to NY....can you name any of the players on the yanqees that were from their farm team?....i doubt you can....so yeah, it's the money...not the system....

Okay all you Yankees haters. What if your very own child becomes a great baseball player and the Yankees offer them millions of dollars? What if they ask your advice?

(be honest childern)

Off coarse they are a better team. That's exactly the argument, they BOUGHT the best team possible. So obviously the anwser is yes, they bought the title. Somehow Yankee fans just can't seem to accept the facts.

The Yankees are the reason I never saw one pitch of the World Series and could really care less about baseball, and you want to say money doesn't matter. Just check the ratings of this World Series and I bet you will see many other americans feel this same way. The only people who cared lived in NY and Phili!

A salary cap in baseball would fix everything. Look at the NFL for example. Why in the NFL with the salary cap there are no teams that are always contenders and others that are always doormats...wait wait...there are...my mistake. Well there certainly aren't teams that have no chance of making the playoffs much less winning a championship halfway into the season...wait, the NFL has that too...hmmmm...Perhaps parity in the NFL is a myth.

The Yankees fought their way to the title like everybody else and won it fair and square. You can "sour grape" all you want if it makes you feel better. Yankees win, bwa ha ha ha ha

The argument that people can't be upset about the Yankees buying a World Series because they didn't complain when they lost last year is about as idiotic an argument one can make, lol. Bottom line is the Yankees bought their top 2 pitchers, their all-star 1st basemen, and another player (forget who) in the off-season by spending money that no other franchise could have afforded. As a result, they won the World Series. That is called buying a World Series, period. Frankly, if I were a Yankees fan I would be happy, cause the Yankees still had to go out and perform, but also very contrite and somewhat embarrased. The Yankees are spending about $85 million on their infield alone, $10 million more than the entire Colorado Rockies payroll. It is like starting an 18 year old in a 14 and under league and being proud because he won the MVP award, lol. Pathetic.....

Congratulations to the Yankees for purchasing their 27th title. Ever compared the Yankees total salary to the total salary of last year's national league all star team? Until this is corrected, MLB is nothing more than a joke.

Why is it that a regular season NFL game gets better ratings? Could it be that every team has a chance, regardless of market size?

US clowns were complaining about the yankees and what they spend last year. We do hate the SYSTEM and the TEAM. Try being a PIRATES fan and tell me that the spending by the yankees doesn't seem like they are buying championships. It's not about willingness to spend it's about size of market. We do not have millions upon millions of citizens to fuel a money machine to spew cash at all of the leagues best players. It's B.S. yankees are an all star team and people who like them can say they like baseball but they do not. They like their team winning so they can feel like a winner too. Anyway baseball might be America's past time but it is currently the present and football is america's present and future. So enjoy while you can baseball will continue to collapse and will fall to the status of hockey. And you yankees can keep buying teams while no one watches. Fix it or continue to lose fans, then teams, then tv time, and then ESPN and FOX sports coverage. Honestly less and less people care to watch this shell of what was BASEBALL. DUe too Purchasing teams and no cap rules.

Gotta love my Yanks. Been a fan since the Mantle and Maris days. Isnt the name of the game win, win,. If Steinbrenner has the money so what. Sour grapes and poor sports you guys.

Say what you will ! There are three types of baseball teams ! 1.) The Have Nots ... 2.) The Haves ... and 3.) The Have More's ... the latter which the Yankees fall into. Take away the $500 million dollar players this year (that no other team would dream of or could dream of paying) and the Yankees dont even win their division. Hell ... they even snub their noses at the luxury and penalty taxes and just pay 'em ! Whats up with that ??? They are a cash cow, money manufacturing machine !!! Would love to see how the leagues play out at a $100 million dollar payroll cap ... PERIOD !!! Exceed that and you dont field a team. Now THAT would be a level playing field !

LEARN HOW TO SPELL & TYPE......

Enough $124 million went to either their own players that came up through the system, their own free agents or trades. I guess the Yankees should have let Jeter or Posada or Rivera walk before they signed anyone else. Now you have $8 million for Damon who is in the last year of his contract so now you are at $132 million ok again not extravagant however if you took A_Rod out of that you are back to $100 million again well within line. Now A-Rod was aquired through a trade for Alfonso Soriano and resigned as a free agent so again should thye have let him walk and if they did who could have afforded him? By the way blame Tom Hicks of the Rangers for running his salary up that high not the Yankees. Now that leave the three remaining free agents Burnett, Sabathia and Texiera $50 million for all three, oh I guess George should invest into his team,and there were other teams bidding for all three. In the end the payroll is no higher then last year when nobody cared what the Yankees payroll was. As they said in Field of Dreams, "If you build it they will come", the Steinbrenner family invested in their team and the fans have come out. Maybe it is time the other owners in baseball invest in their teams and build their wealth instead of putting it in their pockets. The salaries we see today were driven up by the White Sox way back when they signed Albert Belle for inheard of money at that time, The Dodgers who over paid for Kevin Brown forever driving up the cost of pitching and the Rangers for paying A-Rod another record amount even though they couldn't afford to pay it. Stop blaming the Yankes.

It's not about hating the Yankees, but what is disgusting is how Steinbrenner as gone around baseball over the years to buy the best players. THEY SHOULD WIN! Hello! What I do hate is George Steinbrenner, because he's tried for years to get rid of the Oakland A's and Kansas City Royals, two of his biggest pains in his side over the years. MLB has needed salary caps for decades, and that's why the Yankees can get away with stealing away the best players the other owners can afford to keep, and then making the rest of us feel they've accomplished something great. It's disgusting. When I was a boy back in the 50's and 60's baseball was the greatest game there was in my eyes. With all the steriods that have to be used to win a championships, I can't even stand to watch baseball anymore, especically when you see arrogant signs like "Get Over It", or "Who's Your Daddy". Yeah I'm over it.

Oh Tim how wrong you are - the ratings for this WS were off the charts. Fox is giddy right now. As for the ratings outside NY and Philly - what's your point? When the White Sox were in the World Series a couple of years ago the rating outside of Chicago wasn't great.

One thing I can ASSURE you of, this Yankees team has absolutely NO class. Except for Jeter.

Talk about a rag-tag group of mercenary-thug-goons.

Not comparing apples and apples. The Braves would not be where they are without TBS. Minneapolis does not have an equivalent national TV network on which to broadcast Twins games to the rest of the country.

Yanks win fair and square but baseball needs a salary cap If the cap were in place not every team can afford 200 mill+ for a year. you take the yanks and split them amoung all the teams then you do not have one that has all the top tier level of players. It only goes to show that the talent pool is just so big . Matbe we should just give the series to the team with the biggest payroll.
I am sure a lot of teams would love to have some of the players but just cannot afford them

>

Wow, I didn't think the arguments supporting the Yankees could get any dumber, thanks for proving me wrong, lol. That statement has absolutely nothing to do with what people are compllaining about, but thanks for playing.

It must bother you enough (knowing it's the truth that is) or you wouldn't be on here trying to defend the team. The obvious answer is yes, they BOUGHT the title. If your a Yankee's fan why do you care how you got it, you won right.

Here is what i do about Buck and the rest of the clueless national broadcasters...

i turn off the sound on the TV and tune my TV soundsystem to my local yankee broadcasters. The sound is usually off from the picture by a few seconds BUT i do not need to here buck say that a pitch six inches off the plate was a "great pitch".

I'd be interested in seeing how those crying "They bought their title" would act if they were the ones running a team. If you have the money, you try to get the BEST players and assemble the BEST team. You wouldn't be able to keep the bucks coming if you decide to scrimp and assemble a bad team, or a mediocre team. And using the big bucks to assemble the worst team?... Something tells me the whiners would do it just like it's being right now. Every year, every team hopes to assemble the best. Those who can afford it will do so. It's a business, good businesses try to make the decisions that will lead to success, not failure. Maybe the crybabies would prefer it if baseball (and all pro teams) were decided like gym class.

Yeah! At the start of each season let's line up all the players and have them count off. /end sarcasm

If the Yanks win, they 'bought' the championship. If they lose, it's "you can't buy the championship". Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Mariano Rivera, Mark Teixeira, Andy Pettitte and Joe Girardi (in addition to Jeter)show more class on their worst day than most people have on their best.

Free Agents go to the Yankees, First for MONEY, then to Win.

There are many factors that help a team become champions.

Think of it as rolling Dice.

Using various resources availiable to you, you can reduce the number of sides to your dice. This won't neccessarily garantee you a championship because you can still roll wrong but you can put yourself in a position where the probability of success is greater vs. your competititors. Some factors to reduce the probability of failure.

Using steroids will create a 5 sided dice, but then again everyone uses steroids so maybe if your team uses more its makes you alittle better.

Using an unlimited amount of money will probably get you to 3 sided dice.

Though you can still lose as they have done in recent years still in a better position than others in league playing on the same level. I look at most of the other teams in the league as the minor league teams the Yankee's recruit from.

Yankee's are the best*

*Of course if your the only one on your level then you shouldn't lose.

r u serious? your theory is that we should let our players go and because we dont we "bought" a championship??? crazy talk. trust me, the other teams have the money.

I watched most of this series. The fact is those players worked their butts off. They should be commended for the big win, not criticized for making big money doing it.

I'd rather live in NYC and "buy" a championship than deal what we have here in Pittsburgh with the Pirates: one of the most profitable (percentage wise) franchises in the League who won't spend a dime on players and therefore have no chance of developing a winning team any time in the foreseeable future.

you can't get mad at the Yankees' because the name of the game is to win and the yankees' will go out and make sure that they will get the best players so if the others team want to compete they need to release some of that money that they have put away and go after the players this goes for other sports too. because people will pay to see a winner and this is what the yankees try to do every year put a winning product on the field

Who's crying? People are just stating the obvious. If it is 100 degrees outside and I state that if you go outside without a shirt or sunscreen you are going to get burned. It is a fact.

If you spend so much more money then another team you should beat them. That is fact. There are other variables that come into play, but on a whole you should win. The fact the Yankees went so long between winning titles is embarrassing. To say that money did not play a role is ludicrous. When you spend $63 million more then the 2nd highest team, you should when more games. When you spend $93 million more then the team your playing in the World Series you should beat them. Money isn't the only reason, players still need to perform, but to say it isn't a factor is lame. How about if we take a look at the Yankees roster if they spent $111 million like the Phillies -- take away CC ($15.28 mil), Texiera ($20,6 mil), Arod ($33 mil) and Jeter ($21.60 mil) -- total of $90.48 mil, bringing their payroll down to $117.52 million. This is still $6 million more then the Phillies. If you want to make it even, take Cano or Pettitte out of there. Where would the Yankees finish without those 4 or 5.

Those 4 get paid more then 18 teams in the majors!

Not the Yankees fault. It is the system. But you can't deny that money was a huge factor and probably the biggest factor. When you spend so much more then anyone else you should win.

I equate it to going to an auction. Two people bidding on 1 item. You have $50 and the only other person has $25. You should win, unless you screw up royally.

How come no one complains when the Lakers or Celtics, or the Red Wings, or the Cowboys spend $ to "buy championships?" How come no one complains whent the Red Sux spend $. Remember, if it wasn't for the Yankees, the Red Sux would be the Yankees. All this has to do with is that there are millions of "haters" who hate New York. And only because New York is the best city.

you are right it really was tough geting beat by the frugle detroit tigers. didnt they outspend everyone two seasons ago in the offseason? and have nothing to show for it?

right again...

give it another shot and ill shoot it down.

Exactly correct, PROFESSIONAL sports is a business - that's why it's called PROFESSIONAL sports folks.It's about The Money! I learned all about that back in the '50's, growing up in New Jersey, when my baseball Giants took the "bus" to San Francisco. I now live in Western Colorado, but I am still a (football) Giant fan, I cheer for the Rockies (until they are elliminated), and I root for Rutgers (the state univercity of NJ). Funny thing, thanks to the Navy, I ended up in San Francisco during the '60's, watching the SF Giants in Candlestick Park. Yeah, why not, I rooted for the SF Giants. (After all, I got in free - in uniform - for Wednesday day games!) So the (football) Giants lose three games in a row, I do not bang my head on the wall. It's a game, and it's a business. It's a show, a PROFESSIONAL show, and I enjoy it all. I was rooting for the Yanks... because my brother lives in Philadelphia. Yeah, a chance to "twist the knife" in my brother's spleen. (Just for the laughs, I love him.) What was I really rooting for - a great series. I got it! I enjoyed watching it! I give congrats to the Yankees, I give praise for the Phillies, thanks to both teams for a great week of baseball.

While there is the occasional exception (last year's Rays), this year proved that yet again, baseball needs a salary cap. I wonder how the Blue Jays and Orioles feel about being in the same division as the Yankess and Red Sox? They have virtually have no hope of making the playoffs as long as those other teams have their much larger budgets.

I said in the off-season, after the Yankees spent $431 million on three players, that the World Series was just decided. I was right.

Baseball needs a salary cap like the NFL. To not have one, particularly in these dire times, is selfish and irresponsible.

You "hate" Steinbrenner but I would be willing to bet all the money in my pockets against all the money in your pockets that you wish you had an owner you could trust to put his profits back on the field and not just in his saving's account.

The Yankees spend the most because they MAKE THE MOST. They redefined the business model of how a team can make money and to their credit they didn't just do it to line their pockets, they did it to give their baseball people the unlimited resources they needed to put the best product on the field year after year. There are teams around the league who simply take the money given to them by the Yankees in the form of Revenue Sharing to fatten up their own pockets and then complain that fans won't come out and buy tickets to see their team play.

The solution is quite simple - invest in your team and the fans will do the same and then, just like that, you have a competative team.

all this big market vs small market talk is bs. the marlins royals pirates etc get about 30 million a year between the tv contract and the yankees luxury taxes. thats before they sell one ticket, hot dog, jersey, or stadium naming rights. the owners of these teams are spending the extra money on diamonds for their women and yachts, who knows. the steelers are in the same small market as the pirates and seem to spend 90 million every year. same with the "small market" cheifs. if you want competitive balance, go for a salary floor

Yankees put a lot of money back into baseball through salaries (incl. minor league contracts) and luxury tax. The same is true for other teams. Would you rather have owners take moeny out of the game, especially in big market areas.

If anything, expand the luxury tax and find a way to ensure that money is put back into baseball.

Stop complaining that the yankees have the beast TEAM that money can buy. The problem is when owners buy the ebst players, and not have a TEAM. Yankees were certainly guilty of that in past years, but plenty of otehrs (Mets) seem to be going down this path.

Dude, thanks for that youtube link, love 'em or hate 'em that was one funny segment on the Yankees win ;-)

A salary cap in baseball would fix everything. Look at the NFL for example. Why in the NFL with the salary cap there are no teams that are always contenders and others that are always doormats...wait wait...there are...my mistake. Well there certainly aren't teams that have no chance of making the playoffs much less winning a championship halfway into the season...wait, the NFL has that too...hmmmm...Perhaps parity in the NFL is a myth.

Did the Phillies not pay enough and is that why they did not win the title? This is a silly opinion.....

Other than the Red Sox, all the other teams play with a salary cap to balance out the competitive imbalance in the market place. And, people complain about the Red Sox, but not as much as about the Yankees, because their payroll is not is high as the Yankees.

My issue is not with the Payroll, MLB is definately in lack of some structure that allows all teams to fairly compete. What is at fault here is those fans who continue to cheer for players who choose to cheat and think that just saying that their cousin in the Dominican gave them a substance unknowingly gives them forgiveness. I would have prefered a team that has no one on that Steroid list that came out this year win, thus making it able for parents to tell their children that cheating is not a form of getting ahead.

Yankees have Jeter, Posada, Matsui, Cano, Pettitte, Chamberlain, Gardner, Coke, Hughes, and Cabrera who were all either drafted by the yankees or added through Free Agency without ever playing in the Major leagues before. Didn't buy any of them, yet they are all a major part of the team.

Just like Illinois politics and the Chicago Way now operating in Washington: pay to play! That seems to be the way of the Democrat Party and all Liberals. So why not sports? Corruption gets you elected and helps you win!

WTF??? THE YANKEES BUY A PENNANT, ARE YOU SERIOUS, COULDN'T HAPPEN, NOT IN AMERICA, NO WAY, THEY ARE JUST EXREMELY LUCKY THAT ALL OF THE MOST TALENTED PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY IN NEW YORK, THAT'S IT, BOTTOM LINE, HELL MOST OF THEM WOULD PROBABLY DO IT FOR FREE JUST TO PLAY FOR THE GREATEST FANS IN THE WORLD. YEAH RIGHT!!!

I am so glad somebody asked that question. There is no doubt that the Yankess are the best money can buy. The bitter Yankee fans just cant admit it. I am not even sure how you can be fan of this team. It is allmost like cheating. I am not sure which part of this the yankee fans do not undertand: when you spend a lot a money on good players you will win more games. The more money you spend the more you will win. In other words the Yankees spend more money. That is all you guys are, big spenders not winners.

Yeah, but some of those names were probably (speculating - I can't remember that far back) skipped over by some small market teams because the draft bonus demand of the players. That is another issue that MLB has to fix - the best talent doesn't get picked by the team with the No. 1 pick because they are worried about signability. That is not a concern for the Yankees, but it is for many other organizations.

The Yankees have proven in the past that spending the most money won't get them championships. Remember Dave Winfield? This year's team...yes, the best money could buy, had CHEMISTRY. You heard them all talk in their post-game interviews about the team, teammates, great bunch of guys, etc., etc. Anything else negative about this year's champions is sour grapes.

Yes they buy their titles. But so what? It's capitalism baby. They should be expected to win. Let me say this though, what it does do is put perspective on how good/lucky/well managed the smaller market teams who make it there (and sometimes BEAT the Yankees see Florida Marlins)are. I respect the guy driving the porsche, he paid for it, when the guy with the honda beats him, though, it makes me smile.

The BIG difference between the Red Sox and the Yankees spending habits is profound ! While the Yankees are willing to go all out and rediculously overpay EVERYTIME ... the Red Sox, while they probably could ... DO NOT ! The Red Sox could quite easily overpay for these marquis players but WILL NOT. They pay the players relative worth based on history and ability ... and NOT just for the sake of locking them up. History shows that the Red Sox will let a player walk rather than overpay. For these reasons I expect JBay will be gone soon to be followed by Papelbon both who will surely be paid more than they are worth, probably by the Yankees ... stay tuned ... due to the Yankees laughable, home grown talent, farm system ... the Yanks will be on the move this winter !

ABSOLUTELY!

How true it is that $$$ can't buy U a Championship as proven by this team over the last 9? years. I do believe however that U can buy a Championship because you will always lure the best (and greedy) with $$$...

All I know is that over the last 9? years it felt awful damned good to see them lose...

A diehard MN Twins (get players ready for the Big League Payers) baseball team...

I am sure now Joe Maurer will be joining NYC in his free agency (coming soon to a neighborhood near you)

Everyone complains about how much the Yankees spend...yet no one seems to complain when the Yankees are on the road and come to their ballpark and provide the sell outs in all these smaller markets. I never hear the owners of these teams complain during the course of the year.

There is more to baseball life than pinstripes. I prefer the birds on the bat. Baseball fans outside NY are sick of the yankees

While it is not as simple as buying the best players....the answer is still yes.

The revenue that the Yankees (and other large market teams) earn allows them to buy free agents that other teams cannot buy.

The same is true for Philly.

The proof is in the fact that the game one starters for both teams both came from a mid-market team (Cleveland) who simply could not afford to pay their high salaries once they became elite players.

The league, and the televison networks are not unhappy about this though. They make more money when big market teams win the championship. Fair? No. Profitable? Yes.

The NBA is the same way. That's why you will see Lebron James in Madison Square Garden next year....

Whether you believe that the NFL salary cap works or not, there is no denying that teams like the Orioles and Blue Jays have virtually no hope of making the playoffs as long as the Yankees and Red Sox can continue to pay more money for the best players. It's simple mathematics - there are only 2 possibilities of making the playoffs in baseball: win the division or win the wildcard. With the Yankees and Red Sox most likely taking at least one of those positions, the possibilities are slim.

That's not an unworkable suggestion BB . . . but I was thinking more along the lines of a write-in campaign or something similar. . . . there has to be SOME way to get decent broadcasters for nationally televised games. At least get some who aren't BLIND . . . .and make a rule that the broadcasters are NOT allowed to make up new names for pitches just because they couldn't tell what the pitch thrown actually WAS. These guys get so in love with the sound of their own voices that they forget there are actually viewers out there who really DO know baseball. Does anyone remember which announcer it was who actually called one pitch "kind of a sliding cutter, but it had late movement on it" . . . .huh? translation please. Was it a slider, or a cutter, or a two seamer or a four seamer, or a forkball or a knuckleball, or a breaking ball or a curve ball, or a change-up or a straight change, or an Ephus pitch? And for the record, whoever you were, a cutter IS a form of a slider. These announcers should have to go to baseball school before they get to speak. But I digress. The Yankee pitchers threw strikes and their hitter hit the ball. Hence, a championship.

Instead of Obama starting right here and using the Yankees as an example to "redistribute the wealth", I'm sure he will puff out his chest and invite them to the White House for a photo op and a victory brew.

Please stop the whining. Yes, the Yankees make more money than any other franchise, but they spend more than any other franchise. They invest their money back into the product so they can present an exciting product. Major League Baseball benefits from this. Take a look at the numbers sometime and see how much money teams make when the Yankees come to town compared to any other team that comes to town. It's not even close. People come out to the ballpark when the Yanks are in town. The Yankees put fannies in the seats. Fans may come out to boo and hate on the big bad Yankees, but that means they buy tickets and hotdogs and beer and merchandise. On top of that, small market teams certainly don't seem to mind having the Yanks around when it is time to cash those luxury tax checks. Then they choose to stuff that money in their pockets instead of investing in their product...but that's the Yankees fault. The Yankees have invested millions worldwide trying to increase interest in baseball and George Steinbrenner has been one of the most generous and philanthropic sports owners ever. He is in poor health and him having a chance to see his team win again is a good thing. Stop being haters and watch out what you wish for because MLB would be in serious trouble if the Yankees disappeared tomorrow.

The bottom line is the Yankees have history and continue to make history year after year. There is no greater feeling than being a Yankee fan, being a part of the greatest team in baseball. I agree that the payroll of players is insane but who would you rather see the money go to? We continue to show our support because we love great baseball and the Yankees continue to give us what we really love... great baseball. If you've never been to Yankee Stadium, you've got to go, it's a rush!! Maybe then you would get it, get what it's really all about... it's about great baseball and making history and especially being a Yankee fan, that's worth every penny.

It's about money isn't it. It's always about money and the Yankees have it and their World Series title.

Is this "fair", no, but then again life isn't fair, is it? The Yankee fans "won" so they feel good, the rest of us....well we feel a bit sick to our stomach.

I must agree with "BT". All of this talk about buying a title is pure stupidity. When are people going to wake up and stop thinking like Liberal Hippies? The United State of America is a Democratic Nation with a Capitalist Economy, and we're about many things, most importantly Freedom. This IS NOT A SOCIALIST COUNTRY OR SOCIALIST ECONOMY!! If Life isn't fair, you deal with it. If your team loses because they don't have enough money. . you deal with it. If you can't afford the big house or nice car that someone else has. . you deal with it. Salary Caps are like Socialism. NOT EVERYONE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE SAME THINGS AS EVERYONE ELSE in life, and that kind of thinking is dangerous. Liberals are teaching low-class, un-educated people that nothing is their fault, and everyone else should be paying for them.

The facts are: If you are smarter than someone else, you will probably be paid much more because you possess intelligence and abilities others don't have. You'll probably purchase a nicer or larger home, a luxury car such as a Mercedes or BMW, have more money in the bank, and take nice vacations to the islands or Europe, etc. It doesn't mean you are happy. Happiness comes from a lot of different things, not just money.

People who don't win, don't have money, or generally aren't happy need to blame others for their failures, and they then get behind ridiculous causes like "Salary Caps", "Universal Health Care", or my personal pet peeve, raising taxes on the wealthy. Why should anyone (Individual or Company Entity) be forced to pay more taxes simply because they have the intelligence, ability, forsight, or good fortune/luck to earn more money?

Baseball is a business, and it is run accordingly. There are tons of teams who earn excellent profits and don't reinvest into their organizations, and there are lots of teams (including the Yankees over the past 8-9 years) who spend a ton of money and don't win. When you win, you get lots of money from high attendance, souvenirs, rights, advertising, air-time, etc. You invest that money into good players who keep winning and generating more money. What happens to your competition is not your concern. That is how a successful business is run. You execute, reinvest, and keep executing until you kill your competition.

I've also noticed that a lot of the "haters" out there can't spell worth a damn, and have very infantile reactions to things. Their grammar is awful, and maybe they should pay more attention to rules in life and stop trying to be so different and expect everyone to give them everything. I am highly educated, and earn more than most everyone I know, but I don't look down on them. All of my family and friends know that I've invested in myself through education, experience, and tons of hard work.

The Yankees are the best now. They always have been, and they always will be.

Deal with it and move on.

I love the comments by comeonman!!! We love Jetz, Jorge, MO, and big game Andy not to mention Joe Girardi. Sure you love them because they just won, but the years they don't the love is gone!!! That's because when you buy all the right tools you expect the job to be done right, and when it is not there is plenty of hate to be passed around. Baseball should learn from football's salary cap but teams like the "damn yankees" have ruined the game because they shoot fish out of a barrel and then think they have accomplished something. After 9/11 the country learned to love NYC and even the yankees but now that you watch them display there trophies from the barrel and listen to the arrogance of fans that feel the game is still great, we are now justified to hate them again!!!

OK ALL THE SOUR PEOPLE OUT THERE JUST STOP CAUSE WHEN YANKEES DIDNT WIN HAHAH MONEY CANT BUY YOU A WINNING TEAM NOW ITS THE OTHER WAY AROUND JUST LOOK AT THE TEAMS THAT DONT PAY MONEY TO GET PLAYERS WHERE ARE THEY NEVER IN THE PLAYOFFS AND THE TEAMS THAT PUT MONEY GET SOMEWHERE LOOK AT BOSTON THEY WIN THE TITLE NEXT YEAR TRADE 4 PLAYERS OR SO Y CAUSE ITS COSTING THEM TO MUCH MONEY AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW AT HOME LIKE BABY'S WINNING AND COMPLAINING HOW ABOUT ALL YOU OTHER FANS GET 27 TITLES THEN COME AND TALK TO US YANKEES AND YANKEES FANS TILL THEN DO US A FAV PLEASE

SUCK OUR 27TH TITLE CAUSE YOU WILL NOT GET THIS FAR EVER AND IF YOU DO YANKEES WILL BE AT THERE 50TH

I'm a Phillies fan, and even I cannot hate this Yankees team. Look, the better team won--fair and square. The Yanks were well coached and enjoyed clutch hitting and superior pitching.

They deserve to be the Champs.

That's like asking if Obama bought the election, of course!

To the people that call out the rest of the owners as "buying diamonds for their ladies", or "lining their savings accounts" instead of spending money, please stop talking. You guys have absolutely no business sense. Google the balance sheet for MLB and you will find out just how obsurd the money making is for NYY compared to the majority of the rest. The Yankees charge more for tickets than anyone else. The Yankees earn more from concessions than anyone else. The Yankees earn more from paraphernalia sales than anyone else. They operate in a backyard of the rich. They have an established winner which means the fans continue to come out game after game, year after year.

Major League Baseball would operate at a multi-billion dollar loss if every team spent $200 million on payroll. This is a fact. It cannot be refuted. If you aren't a fan of the Yankees, Redsox, Angels, Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Tigers, or Phillies, you can pretty much count on having a loser 9 times out of 10. It's inevitable. Sure, a team like the Devil Rays can occasionally catch fire from the farm system, but just like the Marlins, as soon as those players become stars.............HELLO PAYCHECK...........and off to one of the big market cities.

I despise what baseball has become. I'm glad the NFL dominates baseball financially. I hope we see another strike in baseball sometime soon. They are the greediest set of business people known to man. The player's union is greedy. The owners are greedy.

Long live the NFL.

So far this is still a free capitalist society, and not a socialist regime. Yankees represent the best of capitalism. Yet they still pay a hefty luxury tax and other teams love it when they play at their stadiums - revenues go up. Yes, they are well compensated. But why shouldn't they be? They give their best. Sometimes it's not enough and sometimes it wins a World Series.

But if it goes the way of socialism, we won't allow 9 innings if the losing team is getting decimated early on. It's too much of an embarrassment to the losing team. So much for come from behind wins. But this is what we are teaching our young players.

Thank God for the Steinbrenners and the Yankees!

I am tired of hearing it, the old saying goes...."that is why you play the games", if money buys the Yankees a World Series on paper then lets not play 162 games to decide it and just look at the payroll and give them the Championship every year, would that stop the B!tching, get over it. Yes the Yankees have alot of great tallent but the players are the ones that want to come here and win a Championship, you dont see them signing contracts in Pittsburg, and George should be in the Hall of Fame as an owner, He spends the money to put the best product on the field for his fans, other fans shouldnt hate him they should hate there owners for not giving them the best that he can. George the Great.......27 now going for 28.

Kinda reminds me of the story that I heard back in college when someone gains a complete monopoly on anything; that anything loses any value. And that's exactly what the Yankees are doing to baseball!

All teams buy titles. I wish the Cubs would buy one. Obviously, it isn't just money that buys titles; it's smart spending and drafting. But, yeah, some sort of mortgaging is definitely necessary.

Geez Rob, tell us how you really feel. All good points though, well said!

You get what you pay for.

Yankees hire big time players that provide titles and profits in return.

Cheap owners build up good players that end up Yankees and provide misery and lots of losses for their fans...

since none of you play on a major league team, than it shouldn't matter to you. Most of you act like your life was just changed because the Yankee owners reinvest in their team and make it successful. Players go where the money is until they realize the ring is what completes the career. Tex could have gotten paid the same or more if he really wanted to be in Baltimore, but he also knew that he would never win there. If all the owners would invest their billions of dollars they have into their business instead of just walking around bitching about not being able to compete, it would be different. A cap wouldn't change. Players would still want to play for the Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs, Phils, Dodgers, any team that will take care of them and have the fans come out and support the team. Players are egotistical. Why would they want to play in front of 3000 fans? The Mets give Johan 8 years. The Twins won't. Players don't want to go to Minn. because they didn't give him an extra year or two locking up a HOF pitcher for the rest of his career. Take the tax the Yankees are paying your team and sign a BIG time player. The others will come if they can get a ring.

Said like a true socialist! It is the freedom of the Yankee brass to spend there money anyway they want. They already pay luxury taxes on there players and do revenue sharing. If the organization wants to spend THERE $$$ on retaining and getting players; then so be it!!!

Free Agency
The Yanks spend way, way more then anyone else. They grabbed the top 3 free agents on the market. Could the Pirates, Brewers, or Royals have obtained those free agents? No. The price is too high because the Yanks could pay each of those players practically whatever they want. With a salary cap, other teams would have a chance because the market for players wouldn't have such a high price tag.

Foreign players
They can pay any amount for a foreign player and can employee a lot more scouts because they can afford it.

Draft
Can the Yanks draft anyone they want? Yes. Can the Pirates, Brewers, and Royals draft anyone. No. They have to worry about paying a 1st round player (who has never player a profession game) more money then 1/2 of the starters on their current team.

The Yankees abuse the system more then anyone else that is why they are so hated. Its not a fair system. The NFL, NBA, and NHL all have systems that try to make things fair. MLB isn't even close or even trying because the Yankee ownership kept whining in the contract talk meetings and peddled their influence to other big market owners. Overall, MLB is putting out a poor product when compared to the other major sports.

So, yes, the Yanks bought a championship. Whoop dee doo! They won with all the best players they bought from other teams.

Well put Rob - I agree completely.

I am so tired of all the BS about the Yankees buying their title!! If that were so how do you explain the years they didn't win? Funny how nothing is ever said during those years!

That's the way it is in New York . . . Bloomberg buys a mayor's job and the yankees buy the title!!!

Why don't you ask MLB (or FOX) if they like the Yankees "buying" their way to a title?

The TV ratings were up 36% from last year. Same NL team, but swap out the Rays for the Yankees and CHA-CHING!

This question of if the Yankees bought their title makes me angry. I am a huge Philly fan and you know what? The Yankee's won. Period. Philly didn't get it done this year. NY did. Congratulations and enjoy-we got next year!!!

Do you really want me to answer that. When you no salary cap you can pay what ever you want. I think that it really is not fair that when you have all this money it seams to me that they don't play for the love of the game but for there love of money. The Philadephia Phillies some of them would play for nothing because they still and always love the game. To me the PHILLIES ARE THE REAL CHAMPS NOT THE YANKS.

WHY IS EVERYTHING ABOUT MONEY ITS NOT THE MONEY THAT IS OUT ON THE FEILD BUSTING THE @$$ OUT THERE ALL SEASON LONG THE MONEY IS NOT WHATS GETTING INJURED THROWING STRIKS OR EVEN RUNNING THE BASES THE PLAYERS ARE ITS JUST LIKE A REG JOB FOR THEM I ADMIT MOST PLAYERS ARE ONLY ABOUT THE MONEY AND NOT ABOUT THE LOVE OF THE GAME NO MORE WHICH IS SAD BUT YOU KNOW WHAT HONESTLY WHO CARES JUST WATCH THE GAME AND ENJOY DAME ALL THE CRY BABIES AND EVERYTHING JUST KNOW THE BEST TEAM ACTUALLY WON IF YOU WATCHED THE GAME YOU COULD SEE THE PROOF

The Yankees win the World Series, yet they still Suck Ass!

Let me see if I understand the argument. The Yankees' owners are critized because they plow back into the team the money the fans spend to support the team. My God your right, they are spending their way to the yop! Who runs a business by reinvesting the money they make in abusiness back into that same business? That's idiotic! Better to rape and plunder and leave the fans who spend the money to buy the tickets,etc. with a team that sticks. Isn't that the American way after all?

The Yankee franchise began with nothing like all other franchises. Their owner invested his money wisely and made a profit..then reinvested the money into the team. Instead of lining his personal pockets exclusively, he used sound business practices and kept building that product to the current worth and value. I wonder if other successful owners did the same, would we condemn them or praise them? The Yankees earned their revenues, why do we crucify them for returning it to the team? YES, it is BIG money, yes it is an unfair balance. What I do not understand is the REFUSAL to acknowledge that EVERY OTHER TEAM has the same opportunity with their profits and revenue. Those damn Yankees, how dare they be SUCCESSFUL! Geez.

Money buys AJ Burnett, CC and Texiera.

For those of you that think it's "fair" that the Yankees can spend more money than the rest simply because they make more is short sighted. Stop skewing the conversation by using terms like "capitalistic society" and "socialism". This is a competitive sport where teams and players are meant to be on equal footing based on how well they choose their managers/players/staff. Baseball allows for an inequitable way for teams to do this.
The Yankees aren't buying championships, as made obvious by the last 8 years, but they do buy better opportunities to win a championship, just like the Redsox/Angels/Phillies, etc.

Before April 1st there are about 10 teams that are already eliminated from the playoffs. Either contract the league and consolidate the talent, or change the rules to allow for parity and equal team potential.

So, by your own capitalistic arguments, we should not reign in the Yankees/Red Sox/etc with a salary cap. While we're at it, let's let Microsoft do whatever they want. Let's roll back the anti-monopoly laws and let AT&T own our phone system, Exxon/Mobil our oil supply, and on and on. If it weren't for our government reigning in companies with anti-trust laws, IBM would still own the computer market, and we probably wouldn't have the computers we're all typing on now.

The system isn't perfect, but it's better than what baseball has in place, which is nothing.

I think to make it more fair, all the teams should pool their money together and everyone should get an even share to buy players. Or better yet, the US Government should buy the MLB and then they could control the teams assuring everyone is getting whats coming to them.

Wow, this is one long and funny thread. Basically, seems like this can all be boiled down into about 4 basic arguments:

1) Yankees operate under the same system as everyone else, so they don't have any advantage. - Come on folks, seriously? As an impartial observer (my Rockies lost round 1) I can state with certainty that while the RULES are the same for everybody the Yankees are spending at a rate that simply is out of the reach for most teams.

2) Yankees didn't win for 8 years so their payroll doesn't change anything - Again, really? Sure, they didn't win the WS every year, but they did make the playoffs 9 times and had a legit shot every year. This year they went out and spend an obscene amount of money, and won the WS. Good for them, but let's keep it real, they bought this one folks.

3) Yankees have a bunch of players who came up through their system so they didn't buy anything - Please, they didn't lose any of their star "homegrown" players to other teams like the Indians did with CC and Cliff Lee, plus they spent about $100 million MORE on the rest of the team, lol.

4) America has the best military because we spend more $$, no one complains about that so no one should about the Yankees - Sorry, this one was just for fun as I couln't believe someone was dumb enough to make this argument.

Sorry but what do you think that WTBS was before Ted Turner, a great and powerful TV station or the reality of the situation, a UHF independent that would be, at best, the CW of its day. He put them on satellite and turned them and the Braves into the powerhouse that they were at the height of their popularity (though, TBS continues to be a popular channel). The owners have had their chances to do the same thing but instead of emulating Ted, they've done what they can to shut him down.

Congratulations yankees and yankees fans... You have the best world series champion a $200,000,000 payroll can buy. Enjoy... Until there are salary caps and revenue sharing in major league baseball, it will continue to be a big farce... while much of the rest of the country who avidly follow and support smaller market teams will become more and more disillusioned with what was once America's favorite pastime... Why do the Yankees need a good farm system when they have the Texas Rangers as their farm team???? Major league baseball has become a tremendous joke!! LOL - Laughs are on the yankee fans for being duped into thinking their team is so great...

Salary cap is not the answer. Does that mean that because someone or some company brings in more money they can't spend it? No , it doesn't. The Yankees have income from various sorts of merchandising,promotions and the loyal fans who attend their games...they choose to reinvest in their team and now you think they should be capped because???? Your team hasn't had they same opportunities or because your team chose to invest differently? Money isn't what won this game. Don't forget you still have to get out there and play. And where were you in the years the Yankees didn't win?? I didn't hear you complianing about slary caps then...don't be a poor sport..it's part of life. Sometimes you lose...move on!!

it seems that everyone is over looking one obvious question. if "your" team had the resources that the yankees do, would you not want your front office to proceed in the exact same manner that the yankees' front office has in the past decade or so?

yes, but the other part is the fans of the sometime winners they are not as passionate as the big market team fans, the passion is what drives the bus not the money, the Yankees had some lean years in the 80's and the fans still came out because they are more passionate. the other fans are fair weather fans if the team is doing good they go if not they have other things. as a Yankee fan if they are not doing good it hurts because we care that much. so take your Google search and your black rim glasses and shove it. it is about the passion of the fans that really matters and catches the eye of the owners. Look at Hisenga the owner of the Marlins what did he do after they won, had a fire sale because the fans are fair weather fans.

Hey Tommy, you sound like a bitter guy. Haven't you learned that money goes to money? Those that have it are going to keep it, and aren't going to give it to people like you because you are lazy and stupid.

The rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer. That is the way of Capitalism, and those at the top don't care what you think because you don't matter to them. They aren't bothered by you, so why are you so bothered by us?

I came from a modest family and earned my way. Even when I made $80 a week working at a supermarket, I didn't complain. I was being paid for what I was doing. Want more money. . go earn it. Want a better team, start winning and investing the money in. Things don't happen overnight.

Besides, you can whine all you want... the Yankees just spanked the Phillies because they executed much much better. They hit in the clutch, didn't make errors, pitched well, and capitalized on the multitude of rookie level mistakes that they Phillies made. The Phillies are a flash in the pan.

New York City is the best place on earth. It's where the winners and the money is.

You are a joke.

I agree with mostly every thing that Bernie stated above.

People are griping because the Yankees work within Baseball's guidelines. Well Coached? That is a whole other debate that I wont get into at this time....

METS: Johan Santana.... (Why isnt the Twins fan complaining about this one like he did when he referenced the Mauer as a Yankee catcher?)

Phillies: (Cliff Lee....Ditto with the Indians fan... Yes it was a trade, however they had to reach a deal.)

Boston: *Paying 50 Million dollars just to be able to talk to a pitcher's agent who never pitched an inning of baseball in the bigs....* Not to mention signing Manny,Schilling,Ortiz,Damon,Pedro,and a host of other Free agents.

Money doesnt necessarily mean entitlement to a championship, and for too many years, the Yankees have received a bum rap for working within MLB Guidelines....

The rest of the fans out there....Get on your team's owners for not placing a viable product on the field that you basically pay to watch. Tell your team's owner to invest instead of pocket.

I'd like to see a trade deadline of, let's see, how about the All Star game ? Then there could be no crying. Whatever the line up is at that point would play at least half the season together and should be considered a "team" no matter what the payroll is. If other teams don't like it, get of your wallets. The only other way would be salary caps and that will go over like cow pies at Thanksgiving !

Congrats to the Yankees! It was a great series with two extremely talented teams. I have a heavy heart after watching my beloved Phils lose last night. But, I have to say that I think Jeters and Damon are two determined individuals that know and love the game of baseball. Till next year. The Phils will be back.

Did anyone ask this question when Philadelphia won last year? Any team that wins the series has to purchase free agent talent to bolster their ranks. They'd be foolish not to. So...why is this even a question?

Is that a little 'roid rage talking?

Money buys titles more often than not. When the titles don't come to a team with a massive and disproportionate payroll it is because its highly-paid players have choked or were overvalued and overpaid. Until there is revenue sharing in baseball there will be 28, 29, 30, 31...

Kris, I don't think anyone says they wouldn't spend the money if they could, I think the majority are saying enjoy the championship but keep it real, you spent almost $100 million more than the team you beat. Your infield alone cost more than the entire Rockies payroll. Stop patting yourself on the back as if you are just a bunch of gutsy blue-colar "classy" lugs who beat the world on heart and guts, lol. You bought the best team money can buy, and you won. Congrats. Now, if baseball is going to actually include ALL other 31 teams then a salary cap is needed.

Of course they bought the Championship. The Major Market teams,NY,LA and Chicago don't play with the same constraints that the rest of the teams do. When they want a player there is no thought as to what they might have to give up to get that player. Just get that player. Because of where they are located they have more money to spend. Just look at local TV contracts and the money stream that comes in from them. It is not a level playing field and the wonderful exception is when a team like Florida or Milwaukee can somehow get in the mix.

Baseball needs a salary cap.....period. When that happens the Yankees and their fans will have to put their money where their mouth is.
I am sick and tired of baseball and the disparity between teams. It isn't fair to the fans.

Oh classy Kevin - very classy. I am sure that comment was VERY helpful to the discussion.

At the end of the day, money IS business, and MLB is no different than any other business. Those that knows how to invest will reap the reward on the long term. Should I explain how Warren Buffet made his billions with very little where someone who won the millions in lottery goes broke in no time? You give me someone who complains about someone being rich through cheating others than getting richer at the expensive of that wealth, and I give you someone is a born loser. Suck it up, Yanks are #1.

The Yankees are the most winning franchise of all-time. They have plenty of bandwagon fans. Their product is sold nation wide. The MLB has it setup now that these other "fairweather teams" don't have the opportunity to create a winning tradition because they don't have the fan base to establish enough cash to sustain it. The NFL has teams that earn more money than others. Some teams are better run than others. (see the Patriots) But each team has the same opportunity to buy talent and assemble a cast of players that can lead to victory. As I said before, MLB has 10 teams eliminated from the playoffs before opening day every single year. BORING...

Did the Yankees violate any league rules by spending more money on payroll than the other teams, if not, then shut the hell up about "buying" the world series. Go out and match their salaries and maybe your teams could be more competitive.

It is ridiculous to try to reason that the Yankees didn't in some way buy the title. They went out and bought the best players they could get, and spent way more than any other team to get these players. Now of course they still had to win the games on the field, but when you have a team full of all-stars you would expect that they would have the best chance to win the title, wouldn't you?

In what other sport would the fans accept the system that baseball uses? If the Lakers were allowed to spend vastly more than any other NBA team and went out and signed Lebron James, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul to go with Kobe, would the fans of the other NBA teams continue to watch? What if the Dallas Cowboys could sign Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitgerald, Tony Gonzalez and all of the best defensive players? Wouldn't fans of all the other teams rightfully say this is b.s.? Why do baseball fans put up with this?

The Yankees missed the post season ONCE since the '94 strike occurred. Let's see the Yankees do that with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. Does anyone think the Reds, Royals, Orioles, Indians, Mariners, Nationals, Pirates, Blue Jays, or Padres can make the postseason that often? I don't blame the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs, and Mets for spending so much to be contenders. I blame baseball, and it's lack of a Salary Cap and Salary Floor.

Why don't you start investing money in things that don't make a return on investment and see how fast you make it to the poor house.

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE IN YANKEE STADIUM: $72.97

AVERAGE TICKET PRICE IN ARIZONA: $14.31

Some regions can't afford tickets as they do in big cities. This is immediately inequitable and unfair. All you Yankee lovers are blind to the business of baseball. The Yankees sell out every game at $72.97 per ticket. The Diamondbacks fill a quarter of their stadium at $14.31 per ticket despite being a successful team in the past decade.

Absolutely they bought the title. They have bought all the titles in the past, too. Steinbrener and his bottomless wallet can buy all the talent in the world to keep the Yankees winning world series. It goes to tell you that in baseball, money and steroids can go a long ways.

The baseball system is flawed. If unchanged, the Yankees and some other big market teams will continue to buy "mercenaries" and win pennants, while other small market teams serve as a major league farm system developing talent and losing them in free agency. Yankees are paying more for six hired guns(Sabathia, Burnett, Texiera, Rodriquez, Matsui, Damon) than many team's entire player payroll. Cable revenues need to be shared so there is more competitive balance, as well as setting up salary caps and floors.

Twins Fan:

There may only be 3.5 million people in the Minneapolis metro area, and there may be 22 million in the New York metro area, but your conclusion is skewed. There are two teams in New York, so, assuming all baseball teams do an equal job of competing for fans, the Yankees should only be working from a base of 11 million. You want to cut that base down further, expand the majors to include new teams in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey. Suddenly, the Yankees would have a fan base of just over 4 million.

2009 payroll is 201 million, last year it was 207 or 208 million. Not a big difference Calcaterra

Joe Buck: Survival of the fittest. The Yankees are winners. Period. Salary caps are not needed. Who cares about the teams who always lose? If their fans were such great fans and "enjoy the game" so much because their players "have heart", they would still go to games and pay money that helps keep things going. Maybe they should just stop being teams because their fans don't believe in them.

New York is full of energy, pride, and confidence. Stop hating. Just be glad all is right in the Universe because the title is back where it belongs. New York is the capital of the world, and the Yankees are the masters of baseball. Simple facts.

The Yankees have won several World Championships a decade since their first in 1923, with the exception of the 1980s. The same teams have always been crappy, whether the Yankees, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Red Sox, etc. had money or not.

Some are just better than others. There are "Have's" and "Have Nots" in this world. The Yankees are just "Have's".

Now shut up.

Yankees spent the most money last year too and that didn't ensure them a playoff spot. Mets outspent every team in the National League and didn't make the playoffs.

The Twins had a lower payroll than the White Sox and Tigers and made the playoffs....

So no, I don't agree that the Blue Jays or Orioles have no chance to make the playoffs - the Rays proved that last year. Does money help - of course - but how you invest that money helps more.

Get over it. Every owner in baseball (and every other professional sport) pays their managers, and players. It is called professional for a reason. The Yankees pay their Luxury Tax every year, and go on with it. The fact that MLB keeps that money is up to them to decide. Just like the Yankees and every other team will start paying in part of their revenue to be divided out. Doesn't anyone see that it isn't always money that brings a player to the Yankees...it is wearing the pin stripes and playing in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have had the highest payroll team for YEARS - but it was 9 years between World Series wins. If it really was that the teams who spend more win more than explain the Phillies last year - or why the Yankees didn't play the Mets, Cubs, Dodgers or Braves (the National League Teams with the highest salary totals). There have and always will be Yankee haters, and thats fine - but give those men the credit they deserve - salary aside they WERE the BEST TEAM in baseball this season.

Whether the Yankees won by overspending to bring in the highly-coveted free agents, or whether they won it on talent and heart, or whether the Phillies didn't play up to their potential and made the Yankees look better than they are in the proces - none of these are the concern here. The concern should be allowing this issue to distract sports fans around the world from paying attention to the disgust they should feel towards the Dallas Cowboys.

Well, if you have all those players and all that money to spend, anything short of the World Series title should be considered a disappointing season.

Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for Goldman Sachs. Sure, they're smart to get the best talent and they pay well, but give me the heart and soul of the Phillies any day.

Put up with what? It took a decade for them to win it. I bet if you asked anyone if there team went out and spent the money the Yankees did they would not have any problems. And how is this a Yankee issue? They abide by all the MLB rules. They pay there player luxury tax and revenue sharing. The players Assoc. does not want a salary cap and neither do the owners! If you don't like it then don't watch or go to a game! Its a free country!!

Of course they did--the Yankees always get the best free agents every off season. If they have a bad draft/injury or bad FA signing--no big deal, just go spend more.

They have unlimited resources--so can afford to gamble/make mistakes and just buy there way out.

However, this is not Yankees fault, they are playing by MLB rules. It is MLB, that really does not care about 1/2 of teams in league that is the problem. That is why NFL kills MLB, NFL is truly national and all teams have a chance, MLB is a large regional market game that eliminates far too many teams every April

Rob,

What's the difference between going into a season knowing that the Pittsburgh Pirates or Washington Nationals aren't going to win a title or going into a season knowing that the Oakland Raiders and KC Chiefs aren't going to win a title?

Teams aren't doomed soley by a lack of financial equitty in baseball they are also doomed by bad decision making. The Nationals spent money - they just spent it foolishly (Adam Dunn, Dimitri Young, Ronnie Belliard). A salary cap won't prevent that, it will just make those bad decisions harder to correct and thus set teams back even more - just as in the NFL a bad first round pick can ruin an organization because of the salary cap implications of that pick.

Rob,

What's the difference between going into a season knowing that the Pittsburgh Pirates or Washington Nationals aren't going to win a title or going into a season knowing that the Oakland Raiders and KC Chiefs aren't going to win a title?

Teams aren't doomed soley by a lack of financial equitty in baseball they are also doomed by bad decision making. The Nationals spent money - they just spent it foolishly (Adam Dunn, Dimitri Young, Ronnie Belliard). A salary cap won't prevent that, it will just make those bad decisions harder to correct and thus set teams back even more - just as in the NFL a bad first round pick can ruin an organization because of the salary cap implications of that pick.

Let's see, I hope they deal Matsui to Seattle next year and pick up Joey Mauer from the Twins...that should give them 105-110 regular season wins and back-to-back titles.

Whether it's money or something else, I and a lot of other people I know are sick to death of the Yankees playing in and winning the World Series. They've won 28 titles - nearly 3 times as many as the next ranking team (St. Louis with 10). They have won over 25% of all World Series. Meanwhile, there are 29 other teams out there, at least 15 of which have been in it since before the 1960s. Quite a few of those teams have won only 2 or 3 Series. No one said baseball is fair or is supposed to be, but clearly something is going on, and has been going on for a long time. And many of us former baseball fans are sick of it. Between the steroids (CHEATING) and the same damned team coming up on top so much of the time, we've given up on MLB for good. You can find me watching football or sitting at my local Legion ballpark, but NOT watching MLB!!

In the past 14 years, the Yankees made the playoffs every year but once - last year. Other than the Red Sox, count the number of times the other teams in their division made the playoffs during that time. Last year's Rays made it to the Series for 3 reasons: a very good farm system, the Yankees didn't make it, and they caught fire at the right time. Other than that, they are one of the only exceptions to this argument.

That's 27 titles (unless you're counting next year's).
What's your poing, Eliza?

The fact is, every year, the Yankees have a more than decent shot at the World Series. Same with the Red Sox. But for most of the teams in MLB, that's not the case. the Yankees and Red Sox start the year way ahead of every other team. I think this current system will hurt professional baseball in the long run. Most baseball fans like a team other than the 'best team money can buy'. Nobody I know, watched a game of this years WS. 27 World Championships? This gets so old. But, I have no confidence in Bud to improve things.

That's 27 titles, Eliza, unless you're counting next year's.
So, what's your point??

You need chemistry, as well as skill/talent, to win a championship. If the game was played on paper, the Yanks would hoist the trophy every year.

It just so turned out that, this season, the Yanks had both of the key ingredients.

It is pretty hard to be passionate forever. I used to be about the Cubs, but am running out of steam. You can only stand behind a perpetual loser for so long before you get discouraged and quit spending your money to go to the ballpark. Yankee fans stayed "passionate" because the Club spent enough money to keep the POSSIBILITY of winning a reality. I saw Illinois on fire when the Cubbies finally made it to the playoffs in the mid-80's. But fire only burns for so long without fuel.

In that same 14 year time frame the Braves, with one of the lower team salaries in baseball, also enjoyed a similar streak of making the playoffs. That, despite two teams (the Mets and Phillies) both having vastly higher payrolls than Atlanta did.

The Twins have been in the playoffs more regularly than either the Tigers or White Sox despite both of those teams having higher payrolls.

Strictly in terms of championships won this decade, baseball has had more competitive balance than either the NFL (with the Patriots dominating) or the NBA.

It gets old, if you're not a Yankee fan, Gianni...if you are a Yankee fan, every Championship is like the first one. I'll never get tired watching them win..never!

I recall the great teams of the 70's and 80's, namely Cincinnati, K.C. and Pittsburgh come to mind.....These are textbook examples of teams which have great baseball cities with great traditions, but due to today's economics, have virtually NO chance of competing for a title. While spending the most (Yankees) does not guarantee a title, not having ANY resources to compete virtually guarantees NO chance of even competing for, much less winning a title.

To not acknowledge this fact is just plain ignorant.

There's always some far right extremist conservative idiot that has to put politics in it. Fine, you're confusing anger with losing. Obama won because conservatives CANNOT govern. PERIOD. Learn to run a country and maybe you'll get elected again. In the mean time. THE YANKEES WIN!!!!!!

Here's a great quote from ESPN's Jerry Crasnick:

"Look, the Yankees have to fork over a lot of money through revenue sharing and the luxury tax system. I think that's been pretty good for competitive balance. The smaller market clubs with smart management (Twins, Marlins, etc), are able to compete, and some others (who shall remain nameless) continue to have problems."

Then please explain last year's A.L. Champion, last year's series winner, Arizona in '01 and Florida winning a series.
Again, money does not a ball game win...players win games.

Of course the Yankees bought it. By consistently outspending almost every other team on talent, the Yankees guarantee themselves to finish at or near the top every year. Odds are they will win a greater number of championships as long as they keep getting fair return on that talent.

By not having a salary cap or revenue sharing, MLB is probably the most American of sports - all business. And the Yankees exploit their market advantage better than anyone else.

YES!!!!!!!

Fred -

MLB does have revenue sharing. The Yankees give MLB nearly 100 million each year in revenue sharing dollars.

The Yankees 5 postion infielders (including catcher) earned $94.325 million this season. That's more than 18 teams paid their ENTIRE ROSTER.

And Yankee fans, don't try to tell me every team can spend their money like the Yankees, because they can't.

Average ticket price in Yankee Stadium: $72.97
Average ticket price in Arizona: $14.31

Even if both teams sold out every game and had the same stadium capacity, the Yankees would earn 409% more money just off of ticket sales. However, lets compare attendance between these two teams:

Arizona 2009 attendance: 2,128,765
Yankee 2009 attendance: 3,719,358

Now, obviously the more expensive tickets are likely to be sold for Arizona games. Usually the cheap seats are the empty ones. So I'll increase their average ticket price by double.

2,128,765 x ($14.31*2) = $60,925,254.30
3,719,358 x $72.97 = $271,401,553.26

That's a difference of $210,476,298.96 on attendance ALONE. Obviously more concessions are sold, more paraphrenalia is sold, and the Yankees have richer TV deals, radio deals, and advertising deals.

Now try to tell me how the poorest 20 teams in baseball are supposed to survive in that type of a business model?

"You can call us anything you want," said Brian Cashman, the general manager who annually concocts the rich stew of talent. "You're also going to have to call us world champions."

"You can call us anything you want," said Brian Cashman, the general manager who annually concocts the rich stew of talent. "You're also going to have to call us world champions."

Where is John? I marked his words all week, but the Phillies did not win in seven. I feel betrayed.

Baseball needs 2 things..........instant reply and a salary cap.....

It is Time......

They have tried to buy it for the last 25 years. Just because they poorly managed it the last eight years doesn't mean a thing. The system is unfair to small market teams--no matter how loud the mouthy Yankee fan thinks otherwise. Clearly, IF the Yankees had the same payroll issues as the Brewers, we would be talking about some other team winning the Series. It doesn't take any amount of higher logic to deduce that...

Who Cares ??? How much is a ticket for a decent seat at
the new stadium ? also how much is a beer and hot dog
with a bag of peanuts ?? 500bucks ?? just wondering

Hey look at this article! Wow how unique these comments are! I'm sure that following the 27 titles the Yankees have won, no one has ever claimed that they bought their victory every single time.

I mean let's be honest here too, what kind ethics are behind a ball club that pays high dollar salaries to the best players it can buy? Where would the sport be if that was the case?

Yankees...

David, George wasn't trying to get rid of the A's and Royals. THe A's under Charles Finley were sold off until MLB stepped in. The current A's are run by Billy Bean and he is not a pawn of the Yankees and as far as the Royals, who have the Yankees stolen away from them, Damon? he went by way of a trade to Oakland and then the Red Sox.

The question of the Yankees revenues and its effect on the winning their world series is academic.
It is here to stay and nothing you can do about it. It is part of the game and has been for years, even with the Revenue tax. Why should teams that run their organization at a high level give money to teams that cannot even organize a softball game.? Those who wish to roll out sour grapes -can do so. It does not matter. You sound small and petty and to be frank- nobody cares about your opinion anyway.

Typo, sorry...

My point is that MLB is losing fans because of corruption and inequity, and that perhaps the powers that be should pay attention (although I realize that the multi-gazillion-dollar MLB empire and its fan base isn't about to crumble). There should be some equity in the system. Maybe salary caps, or something.

Everyone complains that it's a free-market system and carries on about capitalism, but isn't sports about making rules that everyone abides by so that everyone has at least the same chance at the start? When I play Monopoly with my family, we all start with the same amount of money. Whoever wins does so out of a combination of luck and wits - how they manage that pot of money that we all started with. It wouldn't be right if I got to keep pulling free money from the bank just because I'm sitting next to it, and my son had to start out with less because he happens to be sitting over in the southwest corner of the table, would it? Someone always winds up making more money and winning, but then we clear the board and start over each game (i.e. season) fairly, all on the same footing.

In my son's soccer league, we all pay into a pot of money and the league buys shirts, balls, goal nets, etc. for everyone and distributes them equally. The coaches "draft" the kids they want, and some teams wind up better than others, but at least they all start out the season with a fair chance. Isn't that where our major league sports started way back when?

MLB needs to find a way to level the playing field a bit better. Or perhaps players could consider sticking with a team out of loyalty and team spirit (remember the old days?) instead of jumping ship for the highest dollar. Remember Kent Hrbek?

Or maybe it's just too hard to do any of that in this day and age, where everyting is always about money.

No salary cap means the rich teams always have a chance to win the title, not win but have a chance. Small market teams cannot compete with big cities, they just act as farm teams & maybe they get lucky one year & make the playoffs (TBay,Minnesota)Franchises like Cincy, KC, Pittsburgh, never will have a chance to win it because they are small cities. If any luck they may get into the first round of the playoffs in the next 10 years and then wait another 15. Good sports model, it will never compete with the NFL (unless the NFL screw up & get rid of the cap)
Congrats Yanks, you grossly outspend everyone and have 1 title in the past 7 or 8 years.

It wasn't the Yankees that drove up salaries, blame Jerry Reisendorf, Frank McCourt and Tom Hicks they gave out stupid money forever raising the cost of talent and blame Arizona for paying Jay Bell stupid money for so so declining talent forever raising the cost of ok players. THe Yankees didn't always draw but George did invest in his team and has reaped the rewards. Don't cry about the Yankees cry about the owners who won't spend wisely.

There is only one realistic option to level the playing field.

WA WA WA HA HA HA 27 RINGS

How is it that ordinary Americans turn into socialists the minute that you ask them about the New York Yankees?

It doesn't matter. The boat Jumpin' NY fans will act as if they are life long fans if the Mets had won it all anyway. Just like Jets fans came out of the woodwork for the Gmen when they won it...

You left out a very important number:

Yankee contribution to Revenue Sharing and Luxury Tax: $120 million
Contribution to Revenue Sharing and Luxury Tax by the rest of baseball: $0

I'm not saying that the Marlins can support a $200 mil payroll but when they're getting nearly $30 mil from the Yankees they should be able to throw more than another $7 mil into the pot.

Of course!!!!!!! What a joke!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually Charles Finley was Right !
he tried to sell his players because he knew Free Agency
Players were going to demand a high salary , look at all the
Great Players that have Come and Gone ,and never made the huge
amount of money these players make now, also they never
used steroids etc

Eliza where are they losing fans, ratings for this World Series were among the best.

Danny fans like you are the reason people hate the Yankees and the arrogance. No you can not buy a title ask the Texas Rangers owner about that!

Yeah, the Yankees have an All-Star line-up. So what? Isn't the job of the manager to put the best team together that he can, train them, and then win games? I'm not a Yankees fan, but they should be congratulated for their amazing effort this season. Money doesn't win games, players do. And those players have to perform....it doesn't just happened because they have high salaries. The Yankees work hard and have a cohesive team that performs well together. The Yankees don't need to make any apologies for doing what they are supposed to do.

First is money, second is money, third is money, and then come smarts, chemistry and luck. But without money, money, money, there is little chance for smaller market teams any more.
Let's start with getting rid of the unbalanced schedule, and add some meaningful revnue sharing. Or many of us are going to drfift away from MLB.

The Yankees have the longest and greatest history of any ball club......because of this they have accumualted money, fans and haters......it's the American way..........I for one would have liked to be at Yankee Stadium last night. Classic game.

The Yankees Rule! Stupid asses above.

Sports - the disease of competition, created by the vicious to keep the ignorant, fat, dumb and happy. It was true 2000 years ago and it's still true today!

We cripple our young to teach them to play!
The players use drugs to make them GREATER!
The fans fight or kill each other over who's team is better!
People go broke betting who will win!
All hidden behind the face of entertainment and fun!

THE NEW YORK YANKEE's - this week's GLADIATORS!

$30 million doesn't even buy your 3rd baseman for one season...

Saying spending millions more than anyone else doesn't help you win a championship is like saying having much more 5 star recruits don't help you win a national title in collegiate sports. Sure it doesn't technically win it for you, but you sure do have a clear advantage over anyone else you play!

I'm just waiting for the Yankees to get Cliff Lee and Albert Pujols this offseason by throwing them another half billion, so then the Yankees can go undefeated...

Congratulations to the Yankees and its fans. As a diehard Philly fan, I want to thank the NY fans for how my son and I were treated in the Bronx during game 2. Outside of a couple knucleheads (and there are plenty in philly), they were respectful, knowlegable, and a pleasure to watch a game with. Money can buy alot of things, but you can't buy heart. The best team won, and we are looking forward to MLB in 2010.

Yankees? I thought they were over with after the Civil War! Overrated bunch of overpaid jerks. It's just that the rest of the teams suck worse. What's with baseball in November anyway? Cut the number of games so it ends in mid-October!

There is only one realistic option to level the playing field. Return to the days when baseabll only let the 16 best teams play for the title. Lets face it teams and cities like Baltimore Pittsburge and Kanas city are minor league in every sense of the word. Simply because you were major league at some point in time does not nmean you are grandfathered forever.English soccer splits the league into a major and minor division.A reguler schedule of NY,, Boston and LA would be more entertaining and allow the smaller market teams to be a big fish in a little pond.If you win you get to move up and play with the big boys.More competitive and I wont have to listent o small market teams beg for money.

The Yankee haters bloviate the same doctrine as Berry Obama, Marxism
communism and attempts to punish successful businesses. Baseball is
an American sport based on free enterprise, not who can spend the
least to scrape by. Maybe Obama will try to punish the Yankees for
being so successful and prosperous. If I were them, Id make the
commie potus come to Yankee Stadium and not go the WH, which is the
latest headquarters for Seiu, Acorn and corruption Chicago style.

What I don't understand is the blind belief that money has nothing to do with the Yankee's success...that's beyond ignorant. Citing all the years in which the Yankees didn't win the series is even more so. In the countless years that the Yankees fell short, do anyone bother to mention how short? After all, the Yankees have appeared in 40 World Series! So not only do they have the most wins by a ridiculous margin, but they've lost more than any other team has won! To make the point even more obvious, they have been in the series 5 of the last 10 years...of those they won 3...their payroll over those years was the highest in professional baseball every year. To suggest that money didn't give them the opportunity to stack the team with whatever talent they wanted is just insulting.

Yankees suck! Jeter Swallows A-roid.
The yankees are a bunch of cheating juicers. A-roid needs to get banned from baseball along with all the other cheats. We all know texiera does roids as well. And jeter is going to test positive for em from sucking of A-roid.
I hope the yankees plane crashes and they all die.

The Yankees have the means to attract good players because they can afford to pay them big bucks. Every other team in the league wishes they could do the same things.

We all expect the Yankees to win because of their economic prowess. It makes it all that much sweeter when they don't win.

No whining from me about the Yankees big pocket book, and I'm a die hard Philly fan. (Just wait until next year. LOL)

I dislike the Yankees too, but you sir, are an idiot.

Hmm, you left out Obama's "home town" of Chicago...well the Cubs that is. I'm sure they would get the biggest share, or at least the most famous, popular ones. Let's see...then the Steelers will have to share their Super Bowl rings with Buffalo? Or Seattle? Wwait.. Miami and Oakland...yea, Oakland deserves one...

Did the Yankees buy their title? Ponder the following question and you have your answer : Would the Yankees have won the series this year if they hadn't signed Texiera, CC and AJ in the offseason? Of course not! The fact they hadn't won since 2001 despite their best e$$orts (08:A-Rod resigns; 07:Pettitte; 06:Damon; 05:Big Unit; 04:A-Rod and Sheffield; 03:Matsui; 02:Wells and Giambi; 01:Mussina; etc.) doesn't negate the fact they purchased the title.

There will always be a big difference between major market teams and the rest of the league. I don't hear about how Boston bought their way into the Wild Card. Yet Boston bought a pitcher for money the Yankees wouldn't go near. Nobody had a problem until they win the series, and nobody has a problem with any other team, so it must be time to break up the Yankees again.

Sour grapes is exactly what it is. Oh and By the way, just how much were the Phils paying Joe West to call Balls & Strikes. Pedro was getting a foot off the plate and Petit couldn't get a called strike down the middle. Why don't we hear about that?

Congratulations to the Yankees on the 27th World Series win, their 40th Pennant, setting new records and to Matsui for a well deserved MVP! To me all the Yanks are MVP. They excel not because of the cost, but despite it. You don't see too many over-inflated egos. Winning takes teamwork not money.

Winners win, losers cry.

Lets look at what happened in the Series:

Teixeira was basically a no show
Sabathia wasn't that great
AROD was part time
Burnett didn't do to badly
Petit was sterline
Rivera was awesome
Matsui walked on water

The new guys may have helped them get ot the Series but they weren't responsible for the crown. The Yanks just outplayed everyone. It's been a few years since they've been on the winners circle. The door was open for the Phils but they could put it together. It was a great win for the Yanks and baseball. Stop crying because the Yanks put the plays together.

Well, not too many people in this little town watched once they heard the Yankees were in it. But we're too small to count.

I don't know much about ratings but is that in absolute numbers, or as a percentage of the total US population? I'd bet a smaller percentage of US households watched this Series than would watch if, say, the Cubs were in it, or the Tigers or something. Can you imagine what it would do for a economically crumbling city like Detroit to have their team even have a hope of winning?

I agree Jason. Don't hate the team, they finally performed up to their multi-million dollar contracts. The money the Yankees spent is ridiculous, but if money can buy me Beyonce and she performs up the potential then it's money well spent. Same concept with A-rod, CC, and the rest of the overpaid Yankees. The only problem I have with these overpaid babies is that if you pay them millions a year and they don't perform, why doesn't the owner get the money back? Next year, the Yankees have to win it again, they paid for it, right? If they don't, Jeter, A-Rod, Tex, and CC have to give their salaries to the fans who have to sit and watch underachievers.

They at least owe that to you!

BTW, MSNBC, When are we going to get a real network to carry the World Series? Fox is a joke. Except for McCarver, their "announcers" and "ANALysts" cheerleaded the entire series for Philly.

We need NBC to carry it again. How about it??

Eliza, I'm on your side of the argument, but do your homework before mentioning "facts". Detroit has a very high payroll and have for the past 3 seasons.

The fact that the Yankees have not won the series every year only highlights the relative incompetence of their managers and the lack of effort on the field. Given that they basically play with an all-star team every year there is no excuse for the Yanks to not have won 70 or 80 titles by now. The amazing thing is that they ever lose. I guess now Girardi is a genius? Please. A five year old could have coached this team to the championship.

oh my God. If they bought the championship this year how come not the past nine years. I am sick to death of hearing about how the yankess bought the championship. They won fair and square for god's sake. They were the better team and that's that. People are just jealous because the Yankees are better than their team. If other teams were to spend some decent money and not be tightwads then maybe they would too.

is that why the kansas city royals are contenders year after year... come on

How about you little girls learn to play a real sport, like Football.

Yes, that is the way baseball is now...The title goes to the highest bidder....

OF COURSE they bought their title! Duh! How could there possible be any question about THAT?

Outside of New York, the Yankees are one big joke. Nobody repescts them.

Obviously. To spend a half a billion dollars on free agents prior to the start of the year seems to make it painfully and predictably clear. The Yankees are a powerful reason to stop watching baseball until the owners level the playing field. Football is clearly the better league in this respect.

To get that, you have to be smart, you have to execute and you have to be a bit lucky too.

Sorry, no, you do not. Yankees were neither. They were just rich.

...and further, Detroit, with a very high payroll ($115million...#5 in MLB) had their division won and would have given their suffering city a much needed boost with a postseaon appearance. But, the collapsed in the last week and then lost a one game playoff to the twins with the 25th highest payroll of $65 million.

Detroit is without question the more talented team and very possible would have given the yanks a tougher time with Verlander and edwin jackson.

They had the chance...they just blew it.

You can't buy a title, but you CAN but a ticket to the playoffs every year, which the Yankees have done with relative ease.

It is not fair, and eventually it will be the downfall of the game.

The Yankees are the laughingstock of baseball today.

None of the other teams that won the WS between 2001 & 2008 had $30 mil 3rd basemen.

There are big market teams that don't spend their money well: The Mets spent more than any other team in the NL - didn't do them much good. The Cubs spent a ton and they stunk.

Then you have small market teams that spent money, they just spent it poorly: The Royals made terrible decisions trading for Mike Jacobs and giving big contracts to Jose Guillen and Willie Bloomquist. The Nationals made terrible decisions giving contracts to Adam Dunn, Dimitri Young, Austin Kearns.

Crying about money is often a crutch for teams that have inept front offices.

as new yorkers we pride ourselves on that...so thank you!

Who cares? This debate is like arguing with a gambler about blackjack. The odds are stacked in the house's favor (the Yankees), but the cards decide the outcome.
The funny thing is that Yankees fans continue to cheer for the house.

There is no championship more meaningless in the sports world than a Yankee championship. This because there is no sport other than major league baseball where the financial resources of the teams are so out of balance. Do you think it is a coincidence that the Yankees win more games than the Indians, Royals, Pirates, Reds, Padres, etc., etc. every single year. I guarantee you, next year will be the same. When the Yankees win a championship with a payroll equal to the major league average, that's when they will deserve congratulations.

Can we get a salary cap now?

To me, a life long fan, I think the Yankee model represents how all company's should be run...Who wouldn't want to work for a company that pay their employees exceedingly well, have the highest expectations, turn a profit and surpass their customer expectations more than any other company...

Good!

and do you know where we will be while the rest of baseball laughs?

in the canyon of heroes basking in our well earned victory.

Before you use the word "socialism," please demonstrate that you actually know what it means.

sure lets do that.

that way, baseball players can be like football players...broke after their careers are over due to a socialist price/wage control.

do you know who likes salary caps? cheap sh*t owners who will have legal support for their greed.

Hey dipshit. The Yankees have more revenue because they have a greater population base from which to draw from, not because they work harder or are smarter.

The greater NY metropolitan area is 20 million people; there are two pro baseball teams. The greater Kansaas City metropolitan area is 2 million. Get it?

Are you kidding. Of course they bought this title. Very little home grown or cultivated product ..they're nothing but a bunch of all stars that have been trained, brought of age and have proven themselves with some other ball club just to have the Yankees throw insane amounts of money at them to play for them. I have no respect for the Yankees as a baseball franchise and organization. If they weren't in the NY market they would probably be battling it out with the Nationals. They're a joke. The Phillies are the exact opposite kind of team and I hated to see them lose.

Stars were aligned for the Yankees this year? Please. The stars were bought and paid for this year.

Empty seats at any stadium during a world series is speaks volumes. If more companies were run like the Yankess Obama would be in trouble.

This is simple. Money is to a baseball team what steroids are to a baseball player. They both are performance enhancing substances with no guarantee of success, but unfair nevertheless. In fact, the money is more unfair because all players could use steroids but not all teams can find and spend the money. You can rationalize this all you want but that's how it is and fans know it. And forget about the Kansas City Royals argument. Put that team in the AL East and see what happens.

They Yankees booght their title plain and simple. Teams from smaller markets are nothing more than farm teams for the 2-3 top teams which purchase rather than develop talent. This is akin to going into a trophy shop and buying a trophy.

My fear is the NFL going down the same path as Jerry Jones wants to do. If that happens, they will lose this fan just as I walked away from baseball.

actually dipsh*t...the population number is MUCH higher. why? because mr steinbrenner had the foresite to launch the yankee owned yes network which had the effect of both bringing the team to a much wider audience and tapping into a previously unexplored source of revenue.

of course, other teams are now copying.

since you mention KC, this is a wondefful franchise that went toe to toe with the yanks for a long time when they had owners who cared. The midwest markets, are tailor made for a regional sports network beacuse of large population very decentralized.

no sir...it WAS because Steinbrenner was smarter and had greater vision.

but keep repeating the fairy tale if it makes you feel better.

bb your right, lets have a pity party for professional athletes who can't manage their money wisely. PacMac, let it rain!

Amen, it is a meaningless championship. Sure you've spent lots and gotten no where but it was because you spent frivolously and wildly.

The "championship" is just a dart board for the Yanks, just a matter of time before they threw the right darts - when you've got $200m darts to throw at the board.

Yanks haven't won before DESPITE their spending, what other teams wouldn't do for just ONE of the free agents they pick up every damn season. They also suck up the talent pool, hello? Bueller?

New York can celebrate all they want, the rest of see it as the ultimate corporate victory and nothing more.

You bought it, others have to work for it, just be happy with that.

Yes, the Yankees bought their championship. This line of reasoning is not tired and lazy, because it's the truth. And the truth is never tired and lazy. The Yankees greed and lust to dominate baseball at the expense of any kind of competative balance has almost taken the magic out of the game.

Sabathia, Burnett and Texiera were arguably the top three free agents last year, and the Yankees ponied up $400 million to get them all. You're going to tell me they didn't buy the championship? Please! THAT reasoning is tired and lazy.

Yes, the Yankees are only doing what the system allows. But remember; it's the big market teams like the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, etc. that ultimately yield the power and make the rules. And because the Steinbrenners of the world have outspent everyone and driven up salaries to ridiculous levels, the player's union will never go for a salary cap.

Baseball is stuck in cycle it can never get out of, thanks to the greed exhibited by the Yankees. Teams like the Royals, Brewers and A's, for example, will likely always be on the outside looking in. Even if they do have a magical run, it won't last longer than a year or two. That's becasue the Yankees (or Sox, Cubs, whomever) will come along and snatch up those teams' best players (read: CC Sabathia from the Brewers) by offering more money than these small market teams could ever afford to. And all that means is that we'll have to continue to see the Yankees every 3rd night on ESPN and every other Saturday on FOX.

Enjoy the World Series title, Yankees. It's the best money can buy!

ok ...one more time for those who can't read. The Yankee roster is more than 60% home grown talent. but, i assume you know that since you would never spout drivel that wasnt't well though-out or researched. The core of this yankee team is homegrown supplemented by trade and free agency.

even if it is a tired statement about 'buying a title', that doesn't make it any less true. Just take away enough players to get down to the next team salary and I'm quite sure there is no title.

Yankee fans don't want their title devalued by genral opinion. They will cite the lack of a title in recent years where they spent a lot as some sort of defense to this one. What they are failing or refusing to acknowledge is that the only thing that changed is they actually bought enough of the right players this year. They simply had more pieces than the others.

Put an asterisk next to #27

Tommy - You continue to prove the fact that Yankees fans are either too stupid to have an intelligent conversation with, or too hypocritical. Like someone said in this thread, if the Lakers went out and got Lebron James, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul to go with Kobe, or the Dallas Cowboys signed Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitgerald, and the best defensive players you would be right here "whining" with the rest of us that something needed to change. LOL, you crack me up!!

Or the Twins who have to use guile and farm systems and fundamentals to compete every year - until the Yanks or Mets take our best players.

Not like Pgh has done well lately, but there are only 5 teams that have more WS championships than Pittsburgh...but I wouldn't mind getting a few more for free.

Of course they bought the title. Steinny and his Yankees are the most overpaid players in the league and give baseball a bad name. Just look at the boys record with drugs and you get your answer. Roger, NoRod, Pettite, and Giambi led a era of drug abuse into the game ... Then george bails them our by adding millions of bucks to get more free agents by overpaying their already enormous salaries!!!

It is good to note that since 2000 the yankee's bloated salary has only financed one WS win. It is the teams that have to compete against George's money like the Red Sox, Rays, Blue jays, and the other local teams like the Mets and Atlanta that are the real heroes!

They compete with lesser salary and still give a run to baseballs good name.

When a small market team comes to NY they should DEMAND half of the cable TV revenue for that series. If, and when the Yanks/Mets refuse, don't show up, forfeit. The small market team was going to lose anyway.

And to react to those who say there is a salary cap, look what the Yankees have to pay in penalties when their payroll is so high, no, that's not a salary cap, that's a slap on the wrist.

Sorry, but rooting for the Yanks to win a title is like rooting for the 1980 Soviet Hockey team. What fun is it for the team that on paper should win, win? It's a perk of living in NYC, you have the largest core of people to pay for this stadium, team, $500 tickets, etc. But in football, your decision making has to be awful for you to stay down longer than 5 years. But in baseball, the Royals/Pirates/Marlins can make all the right decisions for a short period, but they still are likely not going to compete. There's no crying in baseball. But there is indifference to it. That's how I feel, I've lost any opportunity for my childhood team to do what it used to do on a regular basis. So why bother following it? To quote "12 Angry Men", "you root for them? That's like hitting yourself on the head with a crowbar every morning." So no more headaches, juror #7, I don't care anymore.

Yeah you're right it's not only money...don't forget the drugs(steroids) that helped A Rod and A Pettite!

I can not believe how many yankee fans, young or old that comment on this article like they deserve something. I don't get the argument in general here. Even if I was a Yankee fan, I would at least have the balls to admit that the reason they make the playoffs almost every year and have a shot at every pennant would be because of the extreme payroll. The fact that you can try to make a point out of owners pocketing money over spending it, give me a break. I can guarentee the owner of the Yanks is enjoying a hefty profit. He spends more because he has more. Thats the difference, the only reason you fight this argument so much is because you are afraid of a salary cap because then you couldn't in one year decide to spend 421 million dollars on 3 players to take you to the series. The Brewers offered C.C. everything they could afford, but how can you expect him to walk away from 60 million dollars more the yanks offered him. I am not saying you can't enjoy your team, but it would be alot more honest of a game and in my opinion make it more competitive and fun to watch if it wasn't about the big teams doubling and tripling the pay of other teams, I'm not going to lie, i think at least 5 players on the yanks make more individually than some teams pay there whole starting roster in a season. That is just bold faced truths that can't be argued... a cap is necessary and if it wasn't for the yankee fans are afraid there team would be mediocre, you'd see it too. Yeah you lost miserably last year so you can't say money buys titles, but you and i sure as hell know that when you have the best of the best, your chances significantly goes up... if Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaq, and fill in two more of the greats of all time were the front five in the NBA would that be entertaining, yeah if you are a fan of going to watch harlem globe trotters against no namers, but in the idea of competitive sports, No, that would be completely shitty to have to endure and that argument could be made in all sports, if you own all the greatest players you are bound to succeed and 29 other teams' fans aren't going to be happy because its hard to compete with money they don't have to spend...

Yankee fans should be happy and live with it - you bought it. Other teams have to use their brains and farm systems and fundamentals to compete.

You just needed to spend to get the right mix. It's hollow, everyone else thinks so, maybe you'll change your ways now.

NOBODY CARES ABOUT A BOUGHT CHAMPIONSHIP.

The game of baseball needs to change. You really can't blame the team because they are able to spend the $. But you do have a choice. That is I no longer watch or attend any sports. Have'nt since the 87 baseball strike.

The corporate companies should quit buying season tickets and this would force the teams to change the way people can see or afford to attend a game.

Yes cat you forgot to mention the drugs that helped along with the money...a no lose situation. A Rod and Pettite among other admitted steroid users.

Those who think money doesn't provide more opportunity never heard of private school...or the Yankees. Those who think NY championships are well earned have A-Fraud to remind baseball fans otherwise. Let the Yankees and their delusional fans have their party this year, because when they lose games to the Kansas City types it brings smiles to all those who live in reality.

oh...dont worry about us we will!!!

just a few things of interest to you people. one poster mentioned that the brewers could not compete for sabbathia. well they have the 9th highest attendance in baseball at over 3 million. Maybe that ownership sould, perhaps, commit to winning instead of trying to fry cc's arm the last month pof last season.

how about the lowly twins with no money? the 14th highest attendance at 2.5 million. Thier owner is a known penny pincher.

how about the defending american league champion Rays? surely they MUST pull in the crowds and the money. Nope! 23rd highest attendance at 1.8 million and they were the defending champions.

dont give me any crap about "no chance to win so we dont go to the games"!

bottom line is, we love the yankees, we spend money to see the games and on merchandise (lots of it). we have out own TV station and, therefore, our owner makes a ton of money we he, to express his gratitude, puts the best possible team on the field every year.

yes we will enjoy our title thank you...

The Yankees get BOTH of the big free agent pitchers last year and you don't think money is a factor?.....the Yankees won fair and square. But that's why the minority students at ivy league schools have lower test scores and are all on scholarships. The playing field's not even....the same opportunities weren't there. But that's life.

Put a salary cap on baseball and see how long it take them to buy another title. Did they buy the World Series? As some one else said. Duh!!! What a waste of an article.

this is capitalism at its best, long live serfdom and the yanks

Of course they bought their title, they once again signed the bggest free agents during the offseason for huge dollars. The Yankees payroll nearly doubled all other teams in baseball. They had a payroll almost 100 million larger than the Phillies. The Yankees are the easiest team to become a fan of because of those reasons.

Like Doug Stanhope said, being a Yankee fan and rooting for the Yankees is like going to a Casino and rooting for the house.

Once again it's October (sorry, November) and the Yankees are World Champions. It's like poetry - a fitting end to the season. It's also that time of year when Yankee-haters whine and rationalize about how the Bombers bought another championship. It's obvious they don't understand that money doesn't win championships (although it helps), performance on the field wins them. Why is it that you never heard from the cry-babies when Texas signed A-Rod for a quarter of a billion dollars 10-12 years ago or when the Red Sox spent 50 million just for the rights to talk to Dice-K. Like it or not, we live with a free-agency market and the Yankees are just better than anyone else at playing it.

The Yankees finally bought a World Series in the 21st century. At least we don't have to year anymore about the 26 rings they won when most of their fans weren't even alive.

yes the yankees dont rely on fundamentals. i guess it was all of our money getting in ryan howards eyes so he kept swinging over outside curveballs. or the gling off of our gold plated urinals causing the poor angels to commit three agregious baserunning mistakes which helped to turn that series.

or maybe, johny damon's gold chain distracted brad lidge from his responsibility to cover 3rd base during the overshift on Texeira.

the fact is that we won these series becasue we made less mistakes than our oppostion.

can you say S-O-U-R G-R-A-P-E-S
if all it takes is money then why haven't the Yankees won in 9 years?
The Red Sox don't spend money? The Mets don't spend money? It's OK for any other team to win a title but the minute the Yankees do it then it's only because they bought it. You people are so full of it. If you hate the Yankees then hate all you want, that's your right. The bottom line is the Yankees are champions again and all your hate and endless whining cannot change that. Your team didn't win and there ain't a f**king thing you and your hate can do about it.

actually. i'm 47 and 6 of the 27 are during my lifetime.

i just really f'n hate the yankees. bought series or not; steroids or not...i just can't stand the jerks or their a-hole fans! i can't stop myself! i want them all to drop dead!

You are not a die hard Philly fan, nice try though....

I am not a Yankees fan but they definitely didn't buy their title. Think about the last 9 years and the million upon millions they have spent and didn't win a title. Think about the teams that have won the world series with payrolls nowhere near the payroll of the Yankees. Yes they have a lot of talent but that's not to say they are not beatable.

You have to admit that there are a lot of bandwagon Yankee fans, just like there are a lot of pink hat Red Sox fans who bail when their team is not doing well.

Tell me who has a payroll like the Stinkees! Come on dude get your facts right. The Evil Empire buys people to win a championship and the other teams cannot financially compete with that. A-Rod is still a loser Roid-Head

Tell me who has a payroll like the Stinkees! Come on dude get your facts right. The Evil Empire buys people to win a championship and the other teams cannot financially compete with that. A-Rod is still a loser Roid-Head

$425,000,000 is the going price for a world series these days. Will you accept cash or check? (That was strange writing out four hundred and twenty five million). Think about it $425,000,000, Think about it $425,000,000, Think about it $425,000,000, Think about it $425,000,000, Think about it $425,000,000,

Rosewood,

The Yankees finally spent their money properly on pitching (Sabathia and Burnett). After spending over $460 million on Sabathia, Burnett and Tiexieria last offseason, most people would agree that the Yankees bought their latest World Series.

Yankee fans don't really need to respond any more. The contributions of people like blerg do more for showing the ignorance of Yankee-haters than anything we can say.

Money and drugs(steroids) bought the title...also take your caps lock off and quit yelling like a typical New Yorker

It doesn't take $$$ for the Yankees as it does Mythlogy- Ask Baltimore one question- "Mark Teixeira?" They couldn't even get home-boy to come home, when the Yankees came a-callin'. He wanted to go play in the Biggest House, for the Biggest Team. Isn't that what all of them really want???

The yankmees are the soulless sons of Satan. The are evil. They are every threat to humanity that has ever existed. They must be destroyed.

Hey Harvey, please provide us with one name of a Yankee's "homegrown" talent that achieved all-star level status and went to another team because the Yankees were out bid........waiting........waiting.......still waiting......The point everyone is making, that you simply refuse to acknowledge, is the Yankees keep all their best talent and also sign EVERY ONE ELSE'S since they can afford to field a $208 MILLION DOLLAR PAYROLL. Teams like Cleveland, who had both Sabathi and Lee at one point, end up losing their star talent cause they can't pay the salaries players are receiving thanks to teams like the Yankees inflating them to outrageous levels. Get it now??

FOR MANY YEARS WORLDWIDE THOSE PLAYOFF PROFESSIONAL GAMES ARE ALWAYS FIXED.

HIGH SCHOOL YEAR ROUND SPORTS ARE ALWAYS THE LAST CLEAN GAMES.

Of course the Yankees bought the championship. That is the way things are set up. What is amazing is how often it doesn't work, not how often it does.

your are totally right. in fact, there are two types of yankee fans. First - The ones like myself who sat in an empty stadium from 1982-1995, who appreciate every post season appearance and savor every championship and who pray daily at the alter of Thurman Munson and who cheer ourselves raw at every game. Second - the group that showed up from 1996-2000 and who feel it is the yankee birthright to win a championship very year and who politely do the "golf clap" at games as they look in disgust at us bleacher creatures.

We know who the real fans are.

ask teams like Pittsburgh & KC what they think.
ask if the P or KC fans watched the series.
who really cares to watch a sport when there is an imbalance of power

Let's compare war with baseball. I like you.

I vaguely recall steroid allegations about Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz who both happened to play on Boston Red Sox teams that won championships (and who wouldn't have won without their contributions). Hmmm. 86 years no championship, players on steroids and 2 championships. Think about it. Think about it. Think about it. Think about it. Think about it. Think about it. Think about it.

Of course, money substantially increases the odds that a team will play in the post season and this, of course, increases a team's chance to play for the WS championship. The percentage of the Yankees' players' salaries to the overall revenue of the Yanks (including the YES network) is much smaller than the same for most other teams, because the other teams have a much, much smaller revenue base and more important, a much smaller potential revenue base. Only a few teams can match the potential advertising and TV revenues of the Yanks. This imbalance may kill baseball in many cities. Three things are needed to restore a competitive balance to MLB.

The first two are two amendments to the players agreement, even at the risk of another strike. First, a player should't become eligible for free agency until after eight full seasons of playing in MLB and not just being on the 40-man active roster. A full season would be defined as the 162-game regular season. So a player wouldn't become eligible for FAgcy until after 1,296 games in MLB. Time on either the 15- or 60-day DL wouldn't count towards the number of games needed to become a FA.

Second, no team may sign more than one class A FA during a season.

Third, the commissioner's office needs to void more trades such as ARod to the Yanks or Santana to the Mets.

I'd be willing to watch replacement players for as long as it takes to break the players' union's resistance to these changes.

Look, replace CC, AJ, and Teixeira with Hughes, Joba, and Shelly Duncan and what have you? A team that's not much better than the rest of the teams in the league.

Teams such as the Royals, Twins, Indians, Pirates, and etc. simply do not have enough of a revenue base to compete with the Yanks sources of revenue. What could've been the Royals starting OF? Try Damon, Beltran, and Ibanez. What of the Indians? Yes, they didn't win it all when they had Lee, CC, and V. Martinez, but with them, they had a much better chance to win. One reason that they didn't win it when they had these three players was that Haffner was injured for the most part of two seasons, but they were much more competitive.

A loaded lineup also improves/inflates the stats for other players. Chant all you want about Rivera, Pettitt, Jeter, and Posada, but if the three hitters played in other than a star-studded lineup, their stats wouldn't be what they are today. So, of course, players want to sign with a team that can afford to load up its lineup. The fact is, the Yanks could replace Posada and Pettitt with many other no-names and still have the same result. This even may apply to Jeter. The Yanks didn't win 2000-2008, because FAs didn't perform and the stats for these hitters weren't as good as they were in years when the Yanks had horses in the lineup.

As for the Yankees' championships of the 50' and early 60's, I suggest that you read Jeff Katz's book "Kansas City A's and the Wrong Half of the Yankees."

Also, ask yourselves: Do you really believe that these FAs love NYC, the Yankee history, and the Yankee fans? If you do, I've a truckload of bridge I know you'd buy from me.

Oh, BB...if only you'd tell the whole story. Yes, it's true; the Brewers did have 3 million in attendance last year. And the Twins had 2.5 million. But, of course, you leave out the other facts.

Neither of these teams (or the Rays, for that matter) have their own TV network. The Yankees did that not so they could reward you fans with a well-bought team. They did it so they could hold cable systems (and subscribers) hostage for more money. That can happen in a metro of 11 million, but it can't happen in areas with 1-2 million.

You also know full well that there was NO way the Brewers could ante up the additional $60 million that the Yankees offered Sabathia. So don't make it sound like the Brewers lost a bidding war to a Yankee team that was just more shrewd.

The Twins, the Rays, the Royals, the A's and the Marlins, for example, don't own their own stadiums. They have leases, and cuts into their revenue streams. Georgie and his minions bilked the city out of millions to invest in a stadium from which he gets all the money. From parking to the $12 beers to the empty $2500 seats, it all goes to the Yankees bottom line.

You say you love the Yankees and spend money to see the games. Sure, now. Since 1996. When I lived in NY in the ealry-mid 1990s, the Yankess weren't very good. I went to several games on Saturday or Sunday afternoons when the Yankees didn't draw more than 25,000. It wasn't until they won the World Series that suddenly everyone became a Yankees fan! There is definitely a hard core group of people that love the Yankees, and I'm not doubting you're one of them. But to gush over the Yankees and tell us how great and loyal their fans are is laughable. New Yorkers are no different than fans of most pro sports teams: things are good, they show up. Things go south, they disappear.

I'm sorry to say, BB, but I'm not impressed with a team winning a World Series when it spends $200 million in salaries. You spend that much, you should win. I (and millions more) will really be impressed if they can win with a salary cap of $50-$70 million, instead of just outspending everyone else.

the point made in the other post was that we dont grow talent...that is false. Of course we are not going to be outbid for our own people if we choose to keep them...what bonehead business man would allow that to happen?

In terms of cleveland, they had one of the highest payrolls and most talented teams just a few years ago. they blew the playoff to the red sox and then, despite their talent, had a very disapointing two years. so, rather than restock or refocus, they fired the manager and held a fire sale.

of course i get it...no one else wnats to win.

The only reason that the Rays were in the World Series last year was young, cheap talent attained from gaining high draft picks (including #1) over the course of several years due to the team's last place finish in the league. The stock of those players has gone up and eventually the Rays won't be able to afford them, as they will become free agents and demand more money. The fact of the matter is that baseball needs a salary cap so all teams are on an equal playing field. This will create more exciting games and competition in ALL cities EVERY YEAR. Perhaps this is a better way to put butts in seats, rather than just suggesting the need to build new stadiums, as Bud Selig (MORON) has proposed. It is undeniable that the Yankees have a clear edge due to their ginormous payroll. It is impossible for other teams to compete. Frankly, it makes my favorite spectator sport much less interesting because of the uneven playing field. BASEBALL NEEDS A SALARY CAP NOW!

-Posted by a Rays Season Ticket Holder

I hear ya. Try rooting for the Yankees in the late 60s and doing it in Massachusetts. But every team has those kind of fans - look at the Red Sox. People who didn't know how many innings there are in a game became die-hard Boston fans in 2004. The only thing I disagree with you on is I do think it's the Yankees birthright to win every year.

The Yankees don't have more money because of "economic prowess." They have more money because their home is in the largest market, and baseball has a franchise system that prevents other teams (other than the Mets) from using New York as their home. This lets the Yankees keep all of the TV revenues that they generate in the New York market. This revenue is considerably greater than any team's except possibly the Mets. In contrast, in the NFL, all TV revenues are pooled and then distributed equally to each team. The result is much more balance, much more year to year uncertainty, and no team accumulating 27 championships. The Yankees use their extra money to forceably acquire top players from other teams--teams that do not want to give up those players. Then these top players win their division 8 out of 9 years and, in some years, the World Series as well. And then they want us to admire their achievements.

all fair points but, what about tampa? if the city isnt going to support the team then they shouldn't have one. how can the defending AL champs not draw people???

how can a team that draws 3 million people a year (which ten years ago would have placed them in the top FIVE) not have enough base for a channel and to have only the 15th highest payroll?

in an earlier post i mentioned the lean years of 1982-95. it was in part for this reason that george did not want to rely on the stadium as the sole revenue source. I also dispute that it is not within the reach of smaller population centers to have a, shared if necessary, regional sports network.

lets also not forget that when george bought the team in 1973, they were ten years past the most recent great teams, no attendance, a crumbling stadium and no talent to speak of.

Three years later they were in the world series.

give credit where credit is due.

No, I don't think they did. At the end of the day players need to come together and actually win games. Yes, it's nice to be able to buy many top-shelf players. But numerous high payroll teams have imploded or otherwise not succeeded in the past. Still don't like the Yankees though.

There's sure parity in the NFL. Let's see - 6 teams have won 1 or fewer games and 2 teams are still undefeated. That revenue sharing is sure working. Oh wait, maybe the teams with 1 win just don't have the talent.

wow!!! and you LIVED!!

you are a true diehard!

This gets old very quickly. Go take your box of tissues and wait for Spring to get here. Maybe you haters can come up with some new excuses for your sorry teams! Baseball is alive and well in the Bronx! GREAT JOB YANKEES!!

To BT, whose comment ended with this gem - "Go live in a Marxist Country where all is even and fair.. Where the people who work hard have the same status in life as those who sit on their ass! good Luck with that.":

Wow - that had to be the absolute stupidest, most pointless comment ever.

You can't buy skill and you can't buy teamwork.
These two great teams worked hard all year, came together and played their best and the best team won.

First, congrats to the Yankees on a job well done. I mean that.
So...naturally, by default, since Yankee fans say money has nothing to do with the Yankees winning, then the logical conclusion is that they would all agree to a salary cap beginning next year, right? And if not, what on earth wouls they be so afraid of? AWWW that they would no longer have an edge on everyone else so the market for good players would actually be fair...awwww...
I would say that that would make it "a whole new ball game, folks".

Please....."set a standard that only New Yorkers understand" ........I'm gonna barf......New Yorkers have been reading and absorbing that woeful attitude that they, and only they, count for anything.

MVP for this year's playoffs? Only the best wishes for Matsui...but like I'm reading in a number of the responses on this page........it sure helps to sign the TOP THREE FREE AGENTS IN THE MARKET.....

Check out the NL all-time Champs, the Cardinals. They also keep showing superiority year in and year out, without OUTSPENDING everyone else. Oh, and next year Yankees fans, enjoy Matt Holliday.....just don't leave him in the game in the late innings where a routine line drive might be hit right at him.........

And people living in NY wonder why the rest of the nation can't stand them? Just a distaste for a non-even playing field.....we all love sports, we just want to see a level playing field when the competition starts.

Isn't that what teams do - buy talent?

....and I hate the Yankees, too!

Bunch of immature, arrogant blow hards!

I am not the world's biggest Yankee fan, but the classier Yankee fans who have made comments here (like TomD, way up there), and this is a *surprise* to me, make me like the Yankees more. How rare a discussion board ever changes a mind in my experience.

So, yes. Money helps a lot & even the biggest idiot in the world (perhaps, especially the biggest idiots) know that. But, so does a dedicated savvy owner - Steinbrenner wants to win for the city & the team. So does the team, it's management & chemistry - Girardi, Matsui, Cano & Jeter have played their hearts out forever (sorry, I personally loathe Posada) & so does talent & making good 'luck' or persevering over bad & the Yankees clearly, soundly beat every team that challenged them, including my own.

For all you 'keep the changers' & obvious tea-baggers railing for salary caps & 'fairness', how hypocritical can you get? Maybe YOU should buy yourself an education.

Maybe one of these posts mentions this, but you can't really use the business analogy. The Yankees need other MLB teams to play in order to exist. Corporation A doesn't need Corporation B.

You're right, it is a stupid comment. The MLB teams are in a symbiotic, parasitic relationship. They all need each other. But if most teams don't have a snowball's chance in h*ll, they won't get attendance. This hurts all teams. Do you really want to see MLB down to about ten teams? The NYY, NYM, Bosox, LAA, LAD, CWS, CC, Phils, Atlanta, and maybe the Giants? While I don't favor a salary cap, I'll re-post my suggestions from a prior post of a few minute ago.

Three things are needed to restore a competitive balance to MLB.

The first two are two amendments to the players agreement, even at the risk of another strike. First, a player should't become eligible for free agency until after eight full seasons of playing in MLB and not just being on the 40-man active roster. A full season would be defined as the 162-game regular season. So a player wouldn't become eligible for FAgcy until after 1,296 games in MLB. Time on either the 15- or 60-day DL wouldn't count towards the number of games needed to become a FA.

Second, no team may sign more than one class A FA during a season.

Third, the commissioner's office needs to void more trades such as ARod to the Yanks or Santana to the Mets.

I'd be willing to watch replacement players for as long as it takes to break the players' union's resistance to these changes.

last time I checked this was still America -- capitalist country -- baseball is a business just like IMB Yahoo.....stop the crying non yankee fans and build an empire similar to the yankees and you too can win 100+ games and 27 world series......

Sorry BB, but that is BS. I read the post you were responding to and he never said the Yankees have no homegrown talent, he said the Yankees BOUGHT their title, which they did.

The Yankees don't have to worry about losing any of THEIR homegrown talent because no one can out bid them, where-as every other team does. And they didn't "supplement" that core with a couple trades or FA's, they went out and bought the best core talent from OTHER teams and kept the best from their core, thus a $208 million dollar payroll.

Stop trying to paint the Yankees as a group of homegrouwn talent that had a piece or two added, they added 3 all-stars alone just this past off-season, lol.

For the record, I HATE the Yankees. Grew up a Dodger fan, the hatred is in-bred. Still...they certainly don't get much for their money. They spend like there's no tomorrow for what...8 years, they win a title, and everyone yells they bought the damn thing. Not much return for their money. What about all those years (Giambi, etc) where they spent like crazy and got zip? No arguments then. "Ha ha, Yankees wasted their huge payroll!" was the predominant theme. Spending almost $2B on 8 years of futility? I'm not going to worry. The Economy and Wall Street? That's something we should be worried about.

The question is "Why don't the Yankees win the series every year?" They clearly have the most money to spend. I'd say it shows a failure on their part to make the best decisions concerning the abilities of their players to form a team. Their world series victories are hardly some wonderful accomplishment. Sort of wrecks it for the rest of the teams.

HI YANKEES YOU ROCK CALL ME AT 1718-25T4-9849 THANKS AND ROCK ON!

The Rays (and the Marlins here in South Florida) are both competative teams, and you're right in that they don't draw well. The problem they encounter is that a large percentage of the people here in Florida are originally from somewhere else.

Take you for example. If you were to relocate to Miami, would you suddenly become a Marlins fan? Probably not. Now, if you did live in Miami and had a chance to go to a live Marlins game or stay home and watch the Yankees on ESPN or DirecTV or whatever, would you do that instead? Likely you would. The Marlins draw well against the Cubs, the Mets and other teams with a long established history, because fans of those teams now live in this area. Similarly, the Rays do great when the Yankees or the Sox are in town.

But the problem is larger than just fans from other teams living in this area. It's a money and star power problem. The Marlins, the Rays, the Royals, whomever don't have the money to compete in signing big-name free agents. And you know as well as I do that big names draw people. I guarantee you that if the any of these small market teams could afford a Sabathia or Jeter or whomever, they would draw fans, even ones of other teams.

But they can't, and they never will. Teams like the Yankees exert a tremendous amount of influence over MLB's purse strings. And as long as they're not willing to spread the wealth and level the proverbial playing field, the game will lose its luster. And small market teams will continue to languish.

hey the yankees did not buy the world series they earned it
their is an old saying if you want to play you gotta pay so all you nay sayers and yankee haters get the hell off your high horse and get a reality check

their is this really sharp guy on wall street who knows the stock market inside and out when to sell when to buy and everything else in between some wall street firms want his services but they can't afford to pay him so a firm who has a ton of money offers him a salary and guess what, do you get my drift,

they earned it fair and square SEE YAA

Yea, sure, real savvy. Let's see: How long did it take the Yankee brain trust to decide if the team should sign the top three FAs for the 2009 season? I can see the complicated linear regressions the team performed to make the decision - not. Or maybe the brain trust thought something such as: "Well, if these guys perform in '09 as they did in the past and don't get injured, then they might improve the team." Sheesh, savvy my foot.

The Yanks are a fantasy league team. My nephew could've put together the '09 team given the Yanks sources of revenue.

Of course, the Yankess buy their championships. I remember as a kid, the KC Athletics were a yankee farm team. And, of course, buying the best talent doesn't insure a championship, but it insures you'll be in competition each year. Boston is a close second. All other teams, combined, rise up occasionally, and then you see their best players going to the Yankees.

Those that hate the Yankees for paying for quality players are also champions of America's next greatest past time: Mediocrity. The Yankees negotiate hard, they pay well, and they expect a lot from the their players. Why hate their success and hope they come down to every other team's level? As baseball fans, shouldn't we hope that all teams aspire to be as good as the Yankees? That comes down to players and management. Why did Texeira go with the Yankees over the Angels? Maybe it was money. Maybe he was sold on the fact that the Yankees would take it all and he would be a part of it. Now that's sales!

Winners win. The rest make excuses. Congrats Yankees.

Yankees do not deserve to be called a Baseball team. You build a team, not buy one. They built nothing and bought everything. 27 - 1 for theft

Rob, I wasn't saying anything specific about a given years' payroll. Just a general statement about Detroit having only won 3 (I think?) series and all of those a long time ago, and what it would mean to the city (not the wealthy team owners) if they were to become a real powerhouse for at least a while.

Meanwhile, as another example, if you are an up-and-coming star, and you were being wooed by both the Yankees and the Tigers, say, for the same salary, which would you pick? Probably the Yankees, because they have a bigger winning history, far more publicity, and therefore a greater chance of getting you fame and glory (and eventually a bigger paycheck) if you do well. The way things are now, however, you are also likely to be offered more to play for the Yankees.

Them as has, gets. Them as don't, don't get. The money is the catalyst that buys everything else which, all rolled together, becomes a formidable force. Somehow this playing field needs to be leveled a little bit to make it more fun for all of us who don't live in New York!

But I am cynical about that ever happening. Baseball is less about sport than about Big Business, and in that world, it isn't really about the fans beyond how much they can and will shell out for seats, cable/satellite subscriptions, jerseys, beer, and whatever else the Big Guys can think of to sell us. The players may have passion for the game, but there's some greed in those ranks, too. And the rest are between a rock and a hard place - who wouldn't want to showcase their talent in the best possible venue with the best possible teammates? How do you compete when everyone else is taking steroids, if you don't? The whole situation is a little off kilter.

Pretty easy to win!!!!!!! When you can buy three of the Reds team with the salery the Yankees have. It's pretty sad that one has 70 million salery and the Yankee$ have a cool 210 million that team should win every year. We could win if we had the money to buy all the best pitchers in the game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LTREDSFAN

Wow BMcC, this message board turned you from a normal Yankees fan into an even bigger Yankees fan?? And people say miracles never happen.....this must be one powerful discussion to make such an impact on you

I understand what you're saying in a basic sense, but it just doesn't apply when guys are making these kind of salaries and the amount they get taxed. For example - CC Sabathia turned down an $18 mil/year offer from the Indians in spring training 08, then turned around and signed a $23 mil/year deal with the Yankees. Lets say he's taxed 40% of that - with the Indians he would have earned 10.8 mil, with the Yankees he's getting 13.8 mil. If I'm earning 50K a year and I'm offered a 100K job, that's a considerable RELATIVE jump for me. For CC - is the difference between 10 and 13 million really that much? Either way I look at it - that's more money than I could possibly spend.

Of course the Yankees buy their championships, always have. I remember as a kid when the Kansas City Athletics were a yankee farm team. Of course, buying the best players doesn't insure a championship, but it does insure you're in the chase every year. Boston's a close second. All other teams, combined, rise up occasionally......And then you see their best players playing for the Yankees. Only thing worse than the Yankees is a Yankee Fan.

Jay, you are not a diehard Phillies fan, but nice try......

It is ludicrous to not believe that the money that the Yankees are able to spend gives them a huge leg up on the competition. It is not the only factor but certainly the largest factor of why they win. That aside though, the Yankee players always seem to play with class and a great respect for the game. For that, I can't hate the players, but I can hate the team collectively which incorporates owners who are just nasty and have no respect for the game and also a managing partner who without class says that "now all is right with the world, the Yankees are World Champions". In ten years when baseball is inconsequential because of the system I wonder what the Championships will mean then. Baseball must somehow attemtpt to level the playing field more or the game across the country will become more and more insignificant and you will have a maximum of ten to twelve teams that are relevant. Lastly to end on a positive note, congrats to the yankee players you play with grace.

Can someone please explain to me what a "level playing field" is? You can look at football, basketball or baseball for any year of your choosing (before or after free agency, before or after salary caps) and you'll find inequity. Just as an example, the Boston Celtics in 1977-78 were 32-50, in 1978-79 were 29-53 and in 1979-80 were 61-21. Did they not spend money the first 2 years? No the answer is on-court talent. In the 3rd year they got Bird.
There is no such thing as parity, not in the pros, not in college, not in high school and not in little league. And it's not just because of money. The last I knew no one was buying the services of the best 10 yr old shortstop.

I MESSED UP IS 1718-2564-9849 THANKS AND CALL ME IM HOT!

Yea, right, $3M is pocket change to CC. Players want to play for a team that loads its lineup, because it'll help their stats, too. Jeter wouldn't have the stats he does in a Pirates lineup, or even a Mariners lineuup, for that matter.

Also, as has been pointed out by several commentators today, the chance for endorsement revenue is much greater for a player in NYC.

You are a good example of an ignorant Yankee fan! Punch you in the face? Give me a break! Grow up!

The Yankees definately bought a championship. If myself and a friend decide to go buy two new cars and have a race I have eneough money to buy a corvette and my friend has eneough money to buy a cobalt. I'm going to win the race. I may occassionally lose if i have car trouble or some unforeseen problem but more times than not I should win. I don't blame the Yankees but baseball needs to address this issue. the Yankees, Redsox and other rich teams are going to dominate baseball if something doesnt change.

It's a mystery to me how all these media cry-babies make so much of this. First of all -- as pointed out amply here -- what about all the years when they DON'T win? DUH!!!!!!! Did they buy a winning team in those years or only in the few years when they win? Secondly, if the other teams want to win, let them buy themselves a winning team too! This is a business people. The best competitors win. That's how it works. As long as they follow the rules that exist, who can complain? Losers -- that's who!

ROTFL kelsos, thanks:

"The Yankees negotiate hard, they pay well, and they expect a lot from the their players. "

Negotiate hard, did you actually type that? They offered Sabathia $60 MILLION more than Milwaukee, wow that is great skillful negotiation. To follow your logic, the theory behind great negotiation is to start counting out money and ask the FA to say "when". Going to have to remember that the next time I go to buy a TV. ROTFL!!!

Are you serious? They negotiate hard? Oh, yeah. Here's an excerpt from Texiera's negotiating session:

Texiera: The Angels are offering me $--.
Brian Cashman: We'll give you $130 million!
Texiera: I was gonna say $110 million.
Cashman: Did I say $130? I meant $140!!! Pleeeeease sign with us!
Texiera: Wow. Sure. I'll take that $--
Cashman: Stop! You're killing me! $150, and that's our final offer!
Texiera: Can I borrow a pen???

Don't kid yourself. Texiera signed with the Yankees for the money, and nothing more philanthropic than that. If you'll remember correctly, they did play Angels in the ALCS. Seems to me that if Texiera's motivation was truly to win and not the money, he'd have taken a bit less and stayed with the Angels.

why dont you grow up. most teams dont have the money the yankees have and never will and occasionally those teams will win because they have good managers and good players but thats not the reality of it very often. red sox are always in contention and i am a red sox fan. i still believe there ought to be a salary cap.

How can anyone dispute this title was actually "purchased"? There are 3 first-ballot Hall of Famers (Jeter, A-Rod & Mariano), two more if they continue their current performance (Texaira & CC), one possible Japanese HAFamer (Matsui) and at least 10 All-Stars. Jeter is the ONLY homegrown talent. This is Selig's legacy, like it or not...agree with it or not.

Davis, that's the stupidest comment I've heard. Oakland's been building teams for years, how many titles do they have?

Fact is, you wanna win, you better spend some dough. NY spends, but they buy smart. And that builds a great team. Why they hell didn't they go after Manny when they could? Because he sucks, and they knew it. They buy quality, and quality makes a team, and quality teams win.

You, on the other hand, see everything in black and white and believe being average is awesome.

Yes they paid for their win and the rest of us(I'm a Mets fan) are envious...envious that they didn't have the injuries that can occur and that their scouts choose the right people. Until the Union and the Commissioner can agree on issues that will cap salaries, team revenues, and cap team expenditures, tickets will be for the rich and rich teams will usually win...
NYC is a great place for them to play and even if all players received a limited pay they would receive perks from living in the Big Apple...Life isn't fair...

That is the only way the Indians will win a series. The Yankees use our team as their farm system. So, as far as I am concerned today is a sad day for baseball. Small market teams have no possibility of competing with teams like the Yankees we just don't have the money to compete.
I want to be happy for CC that he won his world series title but I just can't be because the Yankees are exploiting a hole that baseball needs to fixed.
In all honesty the Yankees aren't the only doing this...the Red Sox are doing it and the White Sox are trying.
Baseball needs a strict salary cap NOW.

No, money can't buy a title. However, the odds of winning with a disproportionate payroll to the degree that the Yankees have changes the odds from 1:30 to something like 1:4. Actually, they have 4 titles in the last 12 years, so that's more like 1:3. And, one could argue that in 2001 when the streak ended that there was a devastating, external factor that played into it. Baseball needs a cap system with a minimum and maximum range. Then you'll have a dynamic where elite players can choose to come together for a title by accepting a little less money, or go for the biggest possible contract and play for the highest bidder but then they'll have to carry more of the responsibility for results on their own shoulders because their team won't be stacked with All-Star talent.

Last time I checked they didn't violate any league rules putting their team together.

No

1)The game is still played on the field, and there are no rules that say any other team can't pay whatever players they want on the team.

2) The Yankees had the highest payroll from 2001-2008 as well, but didn't win any championships.

3)A couple plays go the other way and the Phils could have easily won.

Can you give directions to the world you live in. When looking at home-grown talent you conveniently forgot Pettitte, Rivera, Posada, Cano, Gardner, Hughes, Chamberlain, Cervelli. How many teams do you know that consist of only players who came up through the system?

"the best team money can buy" argument is crap. you pay money for every team. i'm a philly fan and i understand that philly is basically the SECOND best team money can buy. don't bash the yankees cause their management charges your first born son for seats and every other schlub from the bronx to berlin has a goddamn yankees hat. they played well. it was an awesome series. end of story. can't wait for the rematch next year!

I love how much you yankee fans can turn a blind eye... its not about the fact you haven't one in a whopping nine years lol, that point is mute and kinda funny in the respect that it doesn't do anything besides state that money isn't absolutely everything. The real point is the fact that money does buy the greatest players. Sure they might not mesh as a team thus you lose a few years in a row, but overall if you have a monopoly on the best talent yes your chances of winning go up significantly. especially when your money is 100 million dollars more than your opponents, which i might add is nearly double lol :) i love your dedication to your team, however the fact you don't see anything wrong in this picture is well typical of a new yorker, too stubborn to see anyone elses opinion. I mean a salary cap would level the playing field, and though that can be scary to those teams that have tons of money, it is something practiced in football and makes the game fun to watch and competitive. My favorite point though is the fact that someone responded to my comment about the brewers and the fact that their fan attendance is high and should have money. The true money isn't in attendance and everyone knows that... the true money is in t.v. rights and endorsements and merchandise and nobody can compete with the Yanks on that... penny pincher like points are mute when you know that every team would have to sell the farm to make one years worth of a payroll at that high of a stake. While the yankees are good at winning pennants, when was the last time that you actually grew that player from the beginning into being an amazing starter on your team. The Brewers are my team and I admire them, my year is filled with disappointment, but its not at management, they are paying all they can and a heck of alot more than they used to. I love the fact that my players are groomed and made from the minors to the big league. The only heartbreak i really face is when they become an awesome player and some big payroll team eats them up... all your good yankee players were just bought, ours are raised, and maybe thats a losing way to look at this, but i have pride for what my team can accomplish without having to just find the most developed players in each position and wave them 20 million more a year than the next team to get them to come play for your pinstriped team.... you may have the most championships, but your championships of old held merit, lots more than this one does

Hey Raj, just in case you haven't taken notice MLB is a BUSINESS, OWNED by business owners who spend money on a product to make the product better so it will generate revenue by putting butts in the seats and rallying corporate sponsors. New York Yankees, Inc. is a thriving business that, while it spends a lot of money, generates a lot of revenue through it's success. Every fan should be so lucky as to have owners of his team be as eager to spend to be successful.

Of course the Yankees bought it. Hate the system? Sure I do. Hate the Yankees? Sure do, have even before they began to buy the wins. Respect them? Nope, not at all. Did years ago, but not anymore. Still admire Jeter though. He didn't cheat to win (see AROD, Petitte) and he's a true Yankee and baseball player.

Baseball needs a salary cap!!! PERIOD!!!

Next year the Steinbrenners can write a check, the commissioner passes them the World Series trophy and we all save a lot of time and anguish watching "our teams" struggle to make the playoffs.

Hi Danny, Can I punch you in the face? For defending a team that's monopolizing the biggest metro area in the country and with their newfound billion dollar budget goes out and buys last year's all star team to play for them and ruin baseball for everybody? It would be sweet.

i THINK it's very clear to see that the yankees bought the title. spending $260 million a year on a baseball team is ridiculous.Buying every great player that is on the market like they did last year shows that they couldn't do it any other way.Baseball needs to put a cap period on all baseball teams no matter how much money they have to spend. other sports do it and it's about time that baseball does the same. These baseball players like sabathia just hold out as they know the yankees will outbuy any team. I'm sure things would be quite different if they didn't own the yes network and had an open wallet.As a baseball fan for 34 years this yankees title was pathetic and truly shows all the fans that YES you can by a title..

welcome to NASCAR baseball fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jimmie Johnson is the Yankee of stock car!!!!!! it is all about MONEY!!!!!!!!

What did the Yankees say- this one's special because we haven't won for nine years? Wow, nine years must be like torture... as opposed to the HUNDRED YEARS the Cubs have been waiting. Where is the PARITY in this league?!

People are still discussing this? Bunch of cry-babies! If your team could...they would. But since they don't/can't you blame the yankees. Bitch all you want at the system/yankees/payroll/steroids...whatever, sounds like a bunch of sore losers to me. GO YANKS!

So you want to watch capitalism work? Watch what happens if the Yankees continue to dominate. Fans of the other teams will walk. It's just not that interesting to root for your team, which might have a star or two, then watch that star leave for the Yankees, Red Sox or one of the other rich teams. Then you have to watch your team struggle for 3 years while it's rebuilding. And, of course, what's being developed are more stars for the Yankees and such. I can't be bothered anymore. And that's capitalism. I don't want to buy products that have a history of not working well. I don't buy cars that don't work, if can help it.

Weird! It's a game or it's capitalism, whatever suits your argument at this moment.