Baseball: yankees payroll to top $200 million

to my mind this is obscene this is why baseball will not survive without a salary cap

Yankees to break $200 million barrier; in New York, that's chump change

By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer
December 31, 2004
NEW YORK (AP) -- There appear to be few, if any, limits to what the Yankees can afford, the reason they can add Randy Johnson and perhaps Carlos Beltran to their firmament of stars. Then again, money is no object when you play in a city where apartments sell for $44 million, nursery schools can command $24,000, and dinner for two at a top restaurant can cost $1,000.

New York's acquisition of Randy Johnson from Arizona, which is likely to be completed next week, will boost the Yankees' payroll to about $205 million, easily topping the major league record of $187.9 million they set in 2004.

The Yankees, with a bottomless pit of cash and, some would say, arrogance, must pay a $25 million luxury tax for last season -- about $600,000 more than Tampa Bay's entire payroll.


Owner George Steinbrenner certainly doesn't mind spending as long as the World Series flag flies above his ballpark. Problem is, it hasn't since 2000. But that hasn't stopped him.

``When you accept big money from Mr. Steinbrenner,'' first baseman Tino Martinez said, ``you have to win.''

Martinez, who helped the Yankees win four World Series titles and five American League pennants from 1996-01, rejoined the team Friday as a backup to Jason Giambi. He knows how Yankees fans view last season's team, which was an inning away from sweeping Boston in the AL championship series only to become the first major league team to squander a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.

``They came up short, they failed,'' Martinez said bluntly. ``They have to win a world championship. That's what they're there for.''

New York and Arizona finalized paperwork Friday for the Johnson trade and plan to submit it Monday to commissioner Bud Selig for approval. The Yankees are sending the Diamondbacks pitcher Javier Vazquez, prospects Brad Halsey and Dioner Navarro and $9 million. As part of the deal, they want a 72-hour window to discuss a contract extension for Johnson, a 41-year-old left-hander who has won five Cy Young Awards.

The Yankees' economics are far different from those of every other major league team. Their box seats near the infield will go for $90 a game next year.

Of course, that's peanuts and Cracker Jacks for the city's well-heeled baseball fans. For many New Yorkers, money really is no obstacle.

For example, this week at Zabar's, a famous West Side food emporium, there was an express line just for caviar. At Citarella, another mecca for gourmands, white truffles were going for $199 an ounce.

Fans of cabaret singer Bobby Short pay a $95 cover charge before he ever tickles the ivories or a single drink is poured at Cafe Carlyle.

Those numbers are infinitesimal when compared to Manhattan's booming real-estate prices. According to Halstead's third-quarter survey, the average sale price of a small two-bedroom apartment was $963,127 in the third quarter. The average for a large two-bedroom was $1,277,401.

Perhaps the most incredible example of all: News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is in the process of buying a three-floor Fifth Avenue apartment from the late Laurance S. Rockefeller's estate and will pay $44 million in cash -- no mortgages allowed. That tops the record $42.25 million businessman David Martinez paid when he bought two condominium units to combine them into one at the Time Warner Center.

The Yankees had revenues of roughly $315 million in 2004, taking in about $130 million from ticket sales alone. Boston, which had the No. 2 payroll at $130 million, estimated its revenue at $220 million.

Yankees manager Joe Torre, as well as Yankees fans, know that after he plucks these stars from other teams, Steinbrenner readies himself for the new season by thinking about 162 wins, 0 losses, and postseason sweeps all the way through the World Series.

Anything less is a failure.

``When you work for George Steinbrenner,'' Torre said, ``whether you're the favorite or you're not the favorite, you're expected to win.''

No matter the price

Have they the biggest payroll?

the yankees have the biggest payroll by far, followed by the red sox

if you can afford it spend it, no use in saving it

Originally posted by Ben
if you can afford it spend it, no use in saving it

But spending it wisely would be a better thing, something the Yankees havn't been doing. Maybe if they did they would have won the world series...

The NYY budget is monstrous with Boston not far behind. Ming does not like this "purchasing" of a championship. Red Sox fans should temper their euphoria over the breaking of the Curse, with the fact that they bought it off. Ming would have liked the Sox to reverse the same the old fashioned way: to earn it.

With all the Bosox belly-aching about the Yankees limitless spending, compared to almost every other team, they are just as guilty.

Maybe when a few more of the weaker franchises start folding up their tents, MLB will try to get serious about profitsharing. Unless one is in a major market city, one's team really doesn't have much of a prayer. The most notable exception to that being unless you have real genius like in Oakland.

A good indication that a salary cap is needed in MLB

And a wakeup call for the NHLPA to see that 'just' a luxury tax will not stop the big spenders. The Rangers would still have the highest payroll and not a good team.

As much as I hate salary caps, they are going to be needed in the NHL, and unless we want the smaller market teams to fail, they are going to be needed in the MLB as well.

The Yankees paid more in luxury tax this year than the Tampa Bay Devil Rays entire payroll. That is just wrong.

...and yet, I hear some who aruge that the Yankees are good for baseball...

And, Gibbs Person, whom would that be? Ming has never heard that said.

Imagine living in KC, Milwaukee or Tampa Bay and knowing your team can make a run at the playoffs. Ming would like to see the joy that is spead around the NFL, likewise spread around MLB. Just look at the final week of regulation and how many teams were still in the running. With all of its flaws, parity and profitsharing is the way to go.

When, and if, hockey comes back, will anyone attend? It seems that this, a niche sport to begin with, is fast disappearing.

What a shame with so many storied franchises and history. Not knowing much about this sport, it looks to Ming like they expanded way too fast into a number of shaky markets. That plus no salary cap doomed the NHL.