As soon as the World Series ends we will be mired in the long winter slog of the hot stove league. During that time, AL East fans will again be relegated to speculating how much money the Yankees and Red Sox will spend to get back to the top.
The bidding for Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, and other top-end free agents will get the headlines this winter because that will involve the most zeros. But the Yankees ability to sign a marquee free agent — like CC Sabathia, Mark Texiera, or AJ Burnett — in December isn’t really what gives them a competitive advantage over the Rays. Rather, it is the financial flexibility that allows the Yankees to remedy December roster mistakes by adding payroll during the season.
For the Rays to build a strong 25-man roster, they need to spend all the payroll they have allotted for 2011 this winter. The Rays do not have the luxury of saving some of their payroll dollars to adjust the roster as the season progresses. Thus, when a player acquired in the winter doesn’t pan out (see Burrell, Pat) the Rays either have to fish or cut bait. They cannot add anything more than a player making the Major League minimum if they decide to replace a player. (That is why the Rays had Rocco Baldelli and Desmond Jennings starting in RF in games 1 and 2 of the ALDS). New York, on the other hand, has the ability to add payroll as the season goes on to cover whichever shortcomings arise.
Rob Neyer highlights this point over at The Sweet Spot in evaluating the conundrum Jayson Werth’s free agency has caused the Phillies.
But this all goes back to the Raul Ibanez contract, which we hated. If the Phillies hadn’t signed Ibanez for $31.5 million, they’d have a little more cash available for Werth. If the Phillies hadn’t signed Ibanez, they would have the perfect spot for Domonic Brown.
Instead, if they are able to re-sign Werth they’ll have to either eat some of Ibanez’s salary or make Brown wait another few months for an every-day job.
As usual, the real issue here isn’t money. It’s flexibility. When the Phillies were foolish enough to commit $31.5 million to Ibanez, they were also committing three years and 1,800 plate appearances to him. Which, even though he’s played reasonably well through the first two years and 1,200 plate appearances, just never made much sense.
Basically, Ruben Amaro painted the Phillies into a payroll corner. It should be noted that Philadelphia is not exactly a small market and the Phillies do not exactly have financial problems.
That should underscore the value of Andrew Friedman and Gerry Hunsicker. They have to spend the next few months not only adding the pieces necessary to win a World Series, but also making sure not to over-commit to any of those pieces. Meanwhile, Brian Cashman has the luxury of pursuing many different options because he knows the risk of missing is mitigated by his in-season flexibility.
OK, I realize this is the AL East. Worse than that, it’s Florida. The land of the transplanted Northeasterner. The food was better “Up North”. The Nightlife, the entertainment, shopping, EVERYTHING was better. (Though apparently not enough better to trump the weather.) And, of course, Baseball was better, Heck, they actually HAVE baseball. We’re the land of Spring Training Baseball.
About ten years ago, Bud Selig hammered the fans before Congress. The greedy, lazy Players and the ignorant, unappreciative fans. Any owner who didn’t spend a Pirate Ship’s Booty was cheap. But of course, the fans didn’t want to pay for it.
But I disagree with all of that. Conspicuous player spending does not make a better team. Intelligent Player spending goes much further, IMO.
Scanning the Free Agent Market isn’t scouting or team development.
The Yankees didn’t become a Dynasty by cheery picking every big name player. That is when their Dynasty began its decline. They built their dynasty team of the 90′s the old fashioned way. Through scouting, hard work and non-stop player development. As their % of payroll above league average went up, their dominance of the league went down.
You here little of that here in the Southernmost Burrough. Or the national media.
The Rays should use their available resources to build a bullpen at least as good as this years. Make their decision…Shields or Garza. Finally give up on getting BJ Upton to play with any conviction here or decide to finally build that WoodShed. And decide if this is the year to trade Jason Bartlett. Or will it be next year. But that day is coming. Brignac-Rodriguez covering the middle of the infield, turning double plays is a non-stop highlight reel that can’t be held off much longer. Tell John Jaso…This is your year. You’ve earned it. This is the year you establish that you are a frontline catcher at this level. Don’t blow it. Play the young players. Backing up outstanding young pitching.
And hit next year’s trade deadline with some available cash and the decision…do we have it now? IMO
Brandi,
All fair points. I especially liked this: “Conspicuous player spending does not make a better team. Intelligent Player spending goes much further, IMO.” The Dodgers and Cubs (and even the late 90s Orioles) prove this point.
The point I was trying to make is that the Yankees have enough money to get the best of both worlds. When teams try to buy their way into the show through, as you call it, “conspicuous player spending,” they take on the risk that the players they spent on, like a Barry Zito or a Patt Burrell for example, won’t pan out. The Yankees do not have the same risk because, if Pat Burrell didn’t pan out for them, they have the luxury of paying him to play for someone else while paying someone else to fill his roster spot. We don’t have that luxury. When we released Burrell, we could afford to pay him to play elsewhere, but could not also afford to fill his spot. So, we ended up with Desmond Jennings and Rocco Baldelli starting in rightfield in games 1 and 2 of the ALDS.