Major League Baseball 2010

[naiwf]

This is awesome for baseball. The Yankees will now sell out EVERY game they play this year

[Lowerdeck]

Might as well just give the Yankees the trophy and the rings now.

Is it worth playing for second place?

[Meacon Keaton]

No, Sox fan, that's Tampa's.

[Juce734]

Yankees blew it against my Tigers in 06 when everyone said just give them the rings.

My Tigers are in the running to win the Central. Going into a series against the Twins this weekend. This could be big!

So yeah lets get my Tigers into the playoffs and have them match up against the Yankees in the 2nd round. Could be good. Tigers also have a winning record against teams from the East right now.

[Fait Accompli]

Let the "let's blame the New York Yankees for cashing in on a broken system where if a team wants to bring themselves closer to winning, as others sit on the cash that the big money teams give them in luxury tax, gets vilified" refrain begin once again. Notice how this argument only comes up when the Yankees bring themselves closer to victory despite the fact that they've only won the title twice in 10 years.

[naiwf]

Let the "let's blame the New York Yankees for cashing in on a broken system where if a team wants to bring themselves closer to winning, as others sit on the cash that the big money teams give them in luxury tax, gets vilified" refrain begin once again. Notice how this argument only comes up when the Yankees bring themselves closer to victory despite the fact that they've only won the title twice in 10 years.

Yeah, it's a damn shame that the Yankees have "only" won two of the 4 WS that they've played in during the last 10 years after winning 3 out of 4 titles directly before that. You can't be serious. There are 17 franchises that have won two or fewer championships in their entire existence, including the Cubs who have been around for over a century. The Yankees have 27 championships and still have teams bending over to help them get # 28. They're basically getting one of the 3 or 4 best pitchers in the game for one stud prospect and some junk parts because Seattle won't be able to keep Lee and need to get something for him.

[Lowerdeck]

No, Sox fan, that's Tampa's.

I wasn't even talking about the AL East. I knew when the season started, the Sox were finishing third in the division.

As naiwf said, the Mariners got a date with the health inspector simply because they knew they would not sign Lee. I thought the Yankees farm team was in northeastern Pennsylvania, not Seattle. The best they could get was Jesus Montero for fucks sake?

[HailtotheYo]

Yeah uh, the Yankees have played in 13 other WS outside of the 27 they've won (they've got 40 AL pennants). There's really only one generation that grew up without the Yankees being the Yankees (early 80's to mid 90's).

What I hate about it, is that this is the only way in my lifetime that the Yankees have done it (and even before my lifetime, Reggie Jackson anyone ?). They never produce their own talent. They always buy it. Always. They aren't a complete organization in that regard. I've bitched about it since I was old enough to understand it.

Yeah, you've got a Jeter and Bernie Williams thrown in ... but for every one of those guys that have helped them win you've got a Clemens, Johnson, A-Rod.

THAT is why I shit on them.

[gunnar hendershow]

Most of these teams don't sit on luxury tax. Yankee fans just like to comfort themselves with that instead of being like DMN about the Lakers and admitting that the system is broken, they benefit from it, and many teams get hurt by it. Baseball benefits from one thing though, and it is that the luxury tax has brought some semblance of parity in the last few years. At least for mid-market teams.

[Lowerdeck]

Real Yankees: Jeter, Rivera, Williams, Pettitte. Too many hired guns over there.

To be honest and fair: the Red Sox aren't that much better.

[Fait Accompli]

Most of these teams don't sit on luxury tax. Yankee fans just like to comfort themselves with that instead of being like DMN about the Lakers and admitting that the system is broken, they benefit from it, and many teams get hurt by it. Baseball benefits from one thing though, and it is that the luxury tax has brought some semblance of parity in the last few years. At least for mid-market teams.

Except I said that they were benefiting from the broken system. I know it's broken; I've been saying that for years that they need to fix it and until they do, the same 5-7 teams will be in the running for the 8 postseason spots with one small market ballclub making a small, "miracle" run to the playoffs. Until they fix the salary cap issues, teams like the Yankees will essentially rape and pillage smaller markets for their best players every summer. Is it fair? No, but that's what happens when the players have as much power as they currently do.

[HailtotheYo]

Real Yankees: Jeter, Rivera, Williams, Pettitte. Too many hired guns over there.

To be honest and fair: the Red Sox aren't that much better.

When the Red Sox reach the time in length that the Yankees have for doing it, I'll have them join the party of hating them.

Lynn, Fisk, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Yaz, Conigliaro, Jim Rice ... all organic Red Sox. It's really only been the last 10 years that they've gone to the darkside.

[gunnar hendershow]

Most of these teams don't sit on luxury tax. Yankee fans just like to comfort themselves with that instead of being like DMN about the Lakers and admitting that the system is broken, they benefit from it, and many teams get hurt by it. Baseball benefits from one thing though, and it is that the luxury tax has brought some semblance of parity in the last few years. At least for mid-market teams.

Except I said that they were benefiting from the broken system. I know it's broken; I've been saying that for years that they need to fix it and until they do, the same 5-7 teams will be in the running for the 8 postseason spots with one small market ballclub making a small, "miracle" run to the playoffs. Until they fix the salary cap issues, teams like the Yankees will essentially rape and pillage smaller markets for their best players every summer. Is it fair? No, but that's what happens when the players have as much power as they currently do.

My apologies, yes you did.

[GoGo Yubari]

Fun times over here in Seattle, let me tell you.

[Meacon Keaton]

Real Yankees: Jeter, Rivera, Williams, Pettitte. Too many hired guns over there.

To be honest and fair: the Red Sox aren't that much better.

When the Red Sox reach the time in length that the Yankees have for doing it, I'll have them join the party of hating them.

Lynn, Fisk, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Yaz, Conigliaro, Jim Rice ... all organic Red Sox. It's really only been the last 10 years that they've gone to the darkside.

Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettite... all organic Yankees. And I just skimmed the surface, really. Did the Yanks pay for Babe Ruth almost a century ago? Yes. Did they buy Reggie Jackson in the 70's? Yes. But really, the Yanks spending sprees didn't start until the 90's, when free agency became so ludicrous.

[HailtotheYo]

Absolutely the system is broken. I don't even damn just the Yankees in that either. I bashed the previous ownership of the Devil Rays for literally pocketing the luxury tax and not giving a shit about the team/excuse of a field. I completely agree with Georgie on being livid about paying the luxury tax when that's what was being done with the money.

Those fact though, don't do anything to keep me from hating the Yankees for exploiting it by sitting back and abusing the shit out of it year after year. There are several other teams that could exploit it, but they don't (I'm talking on Yankee levels here). If it were a handful of teams or like half the league I wouldn't care, because at least then you could point to the Yankees making better personel decisions. You can't even do that with them though. If you only have to outbid one team in each case of the best players your after ... yeah it points to the system. The fact that all you do is exploit it, points to you.

[Lowerdeck]

And then the Red Sox only started the spending spree to keep up with the neighbors.

[naiwf]

In the last couple of seasons the Yankees spent OVER $400 million to sign AJ, CC & Tex in a single offseason. They had already re-upped A-Rod for almost $300 million more, and now traded crap for another ace, who they will give at least $100 million to by the end of the season.

I don't give a fuck how much money they pay in luxury tax, no other team in the league is capable of handing out $800 million to $1 BILLION in guaranteed new contracts for FIVE players in 24-36 months.

[Meacon Keaton]

And then the Red Sox only started the spending spree to keep up with the neighbors.

Exactly. They've evolved with the times. The Red Sox, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Angels, they realize you have to spend money now-a-days. With free agency, you're not going to sign a player at eighteen and keep him until he retires like you could in the sixties. There are plenty of teams in professional baseball that could spend the money, but their front office is too chickenshit about the risk of losing money that they don't risk it.

[Lowerdeck]

And then the Red Sox only started the spending spree to keep up with the neighbors.

Exactly. They've evolved with the times. The Red Sox, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Angels, they realize you have to spend money now-a-days. With free agency, you're not going to sign a player at eighteen and keep him until he retires like you could in the sixties. There are plenty of teams in professional baseball that could spend the money, but their front office is too chickenshit about the risk of losing money that they don't risk it.

But we got: Yankees in the league of their own. Then Red Sox, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Cardinals, Cubs, and Angels in tier 2. Big markets, big baseball towns, rabid fan bases (for the most part).

We'll give you Florida for being chickenshit about losing money. Loria's a cheap bastard who really shouldn't own a team.

Places like Pittsburgh and Kansas City don't have the resources those cities do to keep and bring in people. Places like Tampa Bay have the talent, then can't keep it because nobody bothers coming to the ballpark.