Yankees' Values

[LouGehrig]

The "Universe's Team" Puts Revenues Ahead of Wins. The Yankees are the most successful business venture among baseball teams, but generating revenues must be the means to an end.

http://major-league-baseball.suite101.com/article.cfm/yankees_values

[RubeBaker]

Revenues ahead of wins? Is this for real? A team that has won fewer than 90 games since only once since 1996, and over 100 games 4 times in that same time span is really putting revenues ahead of wins? The largest payroll in all of baseball is being tight fisted?

[LouGehrig]

There is more than being tight fisted. The Yankees are NOT tight fisted, but the 21st century Yankees spend what is necessary to create a contending team. They do not take the necessary steps to make it more than a contender.

There are no guarantees. Santana may not have a great season, but their chances, at least today, would seem to be better with Santana than with Hughes and Kennedy.

[Mission 27]

Yea, our chances would be better if we had Babe Ruth too.

Just cause we didn't give up 2 great young arms for a QUICK FIX (making us a contender for now, and 4 years from now we're back to nothing).... honestly, we really do have some of the worst fans in the entire world.

[LouGehrig]

Yea, our chances would be better if we had Babe Ruth too.

Just cause we didn't give up 2 great young arms for a QUICK FIX (making us a contender for now, and 4 years from now we're back to nothing).... honestly, we really do have some of the worst fans in the entire world.

The Yankees are using a different model. The last year at Yankee Stadium and the first season across the street are generating tremendous revenues, as is the merchandising of Yankees products and the YES network.

If this were a few decades ago, or even the early 1990s, you NEVER trade someone like Hughes for Santana, but in 4 years, we could probably get Hughes back, sign other free agent(s), or get whomever we need then. It is a different approach, and that is the point of the article and this response.

[Mission 27]

Try to get Hughes back after 4 years? What happens if he becomes the pitcher Santana is? Then we give our best 3 pitchers for Hughes back? The reason we haven't won a damned thing since 2000 is because we keep going to the 'quick-fix', signing the veterans that you just assume will play well together because they're good players. How do you fail to realize we need the opposite of that? We need to promote these guys from within the ranks, we have all the prospects that we need. Look what the Sox have done - end of story.

[LouGehrig]

I agree with your philosophy, but how did the Red Sox get Beckett? Where is Hanley Ramirez?

It is highly unlikely that Hughes will be as great as Santana has been the last few seasons. No question, he is a gamble, but it is a good one.

[Urbanshocker13]

This article just contradicts the argument that the Yankees can't win a championship by buying it. Wouldn't tradeing away all the young kids for Santana be exactly what the Yanks have been doing since 2000 with no ring to show for it? They are finalaly they are doing the right thing to make a winner and now people are complaining about that.

[stejay]

I think the real value of the Yankees is the Minor league affiliates. They contain the future of the team, and will have more soon. Also, I agree that the buying championships theory is boring.

[Mattingly]

This article just contradicts the argument that the Yankees can't win a championship by buying it. Wouldn't tradeing away all the young kids for Santana be exactly what the Yanks have been doing since 2000 with no ring to show for it? They are finalaly they are doing the right thing to make a winner and now people are complaining about that.

I heard on WFAN over a week ago around midnight, some Mets caller dialed in (I think it was to Joe Benigno) about their "Metropolitans" as the radio personality calls them. The guy said that the Yankees are depending upon Moose (the same day that Moose had a poor day) and a bunch of rooks. Meanwhile, they have Johan Santana, the best pitcher in baseball.

I said to myself that this is absurd, since nothing's guaranteed, but we have a far lower amount to pay those guys than what Santana will well-deservedly earn.

In the past, I could see why fans of any team would complain about the Yanks trading to get guys who are overpriced and past their usefulness. Kevin Brown seems to come to mind, and so does Jeff Weaver, despite his being 26 when we'd gotten him, since those teams couldn't afford their contracts any further, so along come the Yankees with cheaper MLB-ready talent to replenish the other team's youth movement.

I wouldn't say that Santana would've been a broken down player, but when you add $22m+ to Giambi's $21m, Rodriguez' $27.5m, Jeter's $20m or so, then Mo's $15m and Posada's $15m, it's beyond incomprehensible to even consider the contract.

If people don't want younger cheaper players, seeing the labors of their own farm grow into fruition, then what do they want?

If the Yanks would've traded for Santana, then people would've complained about either the "buying a championship" thing or "buying players", despite the fact that it would've been a trade, not an FA acquisition. To me, if people don't want the Yanks to trade for Santana, and they don't want us to keep our young rooks, then I have no idea what they want. Me, I just want to see the boys win ballgames.

[Mattingly]

No matter if they will build a team out of their farm system only, people will keep saying this.

Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Marino Rivera and Andy Pettitte were all from the Yankee farm system, were all on the 2000 WS team and are still all on the 2008 Yankee team. Name another WS team that can say that.

[stejay]

Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Marino Rivera and Andy Pettitte were all from the Yankee farm system, were all on the 2000 WS team and are still all on the 2008 Yankee team. Name another WS team that can say that.

I very much agree with you. I have had enough of people saying that the Yankees but WS, when the majority were farm players.

[Mattingly]

I very much agree with you. I have had enough of people saying that the Yankees but WS, when the majority were farm players.

I'm just glad that the 2001-06 thing of getting a big star every single winter ended. Be it Moose, Giambi, A-Rod, Matsui, Unit, Damon, it got a bit overboard. Other than reacquiring Rodriguez, the Yanks haven't gotten crazy trying to outshine everyone else. After awhile, the payroll balloons, since other than Unit, all the other guys are still with the team.

If other teams can get lots of mileage from their highly-rated farm guys, then I say that guys like Wang, Cano, Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy and Cabrera be given the same opportunity. We've got a mix of young guys and lots of vets, speed, power and pitching.

If this were another team and the payroll were 1/2 of what it is now, I doubt that people would be complaining too much about how the team were built. There are lots of very good pitchers out there, several of whom are aces. However, the team has to, in my opinion, have guys who can run, guys who can do some slugging, guys who can take the extra base, guys who can move the guy on 1B to 3B, guys who can bunt someone over from 2B to 3B.

Me, I only want to see the game played, played well, and root for the boyx to win big from Apr-Sept, then again in October.

[Mariano_Rivera]

The "Universe's Team" Puts Revenues Ahead of Wins. The Yankees are the most successful business venture among baseball teams, but generating revenues must be the means to an end.

http://major-league-baseball.suite10...yankees_values

Are you aware that the Yankees have the highest payroll in baseball?

And that on top of their 200 million dollar payroll they also pay 30 million in luxury taxes? (not sure about that second number)