Teixeira to Yankees
23 December 2008
The Bombers have now spent nearly $425 million on player salaries this off-season. They own the four highest-paid players in the game: ARod, Jeter, Teixeira and Sabathia. Apparently the feds sent the entire $700 billion bailout to the Steinbrenners.
As a newly minted Rays fan and top-caliber analyst, I declare this to be teh suck.
UPDATE: As Seth astutely notes, this story is always timely. (Featuring classic quotes from Murray Chass and Benito Santiago!)
UPDATE II: You know, I don’t think the Yankees have done enough to make people hate them yet. There are two free-agents-to-be who are about to hit the market. If the Yanks really want to cement their status as The Evil Empire, they should go after these guys.
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Tex, Tex, Tex!! It’s going to be a good Xmas for sure now. I’m glad the Yanks have gone out and signed what they need, at least is justifies their absurd ticket prices now.
And as said on the Bronx Banter..at least they put their profits back into the team by trying to win. No Carl “Mr. Burns” Pohlad nonsense with the Stein Bros! Sure, the Rays won with a small payroll and that was an awesome story..the Yankees will never go that route, so making wise free-agent signings while keeping their young prosepcts..well, let the rest of the majors kiss our 26 Championships-and-counting asses!
That is a terrifying picture of Bush and Cheney.
Thank you! First image that comes up when you Google “Evil/leather fetishes/ruinous political policy”.
I like how the mainstream media has already handed the pennant to the Yankees. And how the Boston media is tearing their hair out because the Red Sox didn’t get the big-ticket free agents, meaning they’ll have to settle for second place behind the rich and mighty team from New Year.
I could have sworn there was some other team in that division that’s pretty good. Guess not.
The Boston media and it’s mothership byatch (ES#N) are hysterical. The Yankees bid on tex comes out to about 1.5million more per year..it’s not like they were blown out of the water. If the Sox had signed Tex the national media would have been praising them for a quality signing, high OBP guy, etc etc.. Max Kellerman nailed it on his radio show/podcast yesterday, check it out.
But yeah, the Rays are still damn good! Their rotation including Price is very scary..but where’s the O?? If they sign Dunn or Abreu that would really help them..
If there is anything I’ve learned in the past few years as a Cubs fan, it’s that overpaying for free agents in an attempt to buy a World Series does not always work out as planned. Throw in a couple injuries (isn’t Sabbathia overdue to miss a few starts?), some “but I should be the hero!!!” hidden bitterness between players in the clubhouse, and relying on the individual rather than the team… yeah, I am not ready to hand the Yankees the title quite so soon.
Yeah, I’m not really buying those counterarguments, Dan. The Yankees have specifically put themselves in a situation where they can readily overcome injuries–if Sabathia goes down for a few weeks, they have Hughes, if Teixeira goes down for a month, they can shift Swisher to 1B and unclog the corner OF/DH logjam, etc. Also, baseball is specifically a game of individual achievements. It sounds nice to say that team play is what matters, but it just isn’t true. There are no O-linemen blocking for you and no power forwards setting screens. You hit, pitch and catch, and success or failure hinges on the individual’s talents.
With that said, the Rays and Red Sox are both very good. A couple more moves by each team (James, the Rays are a lock to sign a hitter along the lines of the guys you mentioned–my guess is Burrell or Bradley) and on pure talent, the three teams will be virtually deadlocked.
If the Yankees have a weakness, it’s team defense. Even with Teixeira, they’re horrible in the field as currently constituted.
Yes, the defense is shocking..but if things break right they have 3 high-K starters (CC, AJ, Joba) that will help a bit..still hoping they get Cameron to patrol CF.
Oh, great point about the difference between baseball and hoops or football. A line-up that consisted solely of selfish stat-padders like Bonds and A-Rod would win 140 games! “Chemistry” is such nonsense..win some games, then you can have beers together. Best team of all time, 77 Yankees, how was their chemistry??