NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Yankees are at $400 million and counting this offseason, heading toward guaranteeing more than a half a billion dollars if they are able to secure the rights to Johan Santana.
And that raises one question: How much would the Yankees be spending right now if they were not so dedicated to greater financial prudence and building from within?
Oh yeah, that is right, those are just words the Yankees say. These are the Yankees, they know only one way: Throw their wallet at a problem and, if the problem persists, find another wallet.
In this era when the Yankees want to get younger and cheaper – they tell us that is their mandate – they give the largest contract ever, stretched over 10 years, to 32-year-old Alex Rodriguez. They give the largest per-annum catcher contract ever, stretched over four years, to 36-year-old Jorge Posada. They give the largest per-annum closer contract ever, spread over three years, to 38-year-old Mariano Rivera. And if they can get the Twins to take just 21-year-old Phil Hughes and 23-year-old Melky Cabrera, the Yanks will lavish the largest pitching contract ever – and the second largest multi-year, per-annum contract of any type behind Rodriguez – on Santana, 29 in March.
“What is frightening is that they are just about to go into a new stadium (in 2009), charge outrages prices and have even more revenue,” an executive from an AL competitor said. “So is $200 million (for a payroll) just a step on the way to much higher? To me this is just a harbinger of the future.”
The Yankees will say that’s not the case. They will say $64 million is coming off their payroll with the contracts of Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Bobby Abreu, Carl Pavano and Kyle Farnsworth expiring after this season. But so what? There will be plenty of shiny toys for Hank Steinbrenner to lust after in the July trade market and next offseason when he hears the Red Sox are after free agents such as C.C. Sabathia or Mark Teixeira.
And we are not out of this offseason yet. They say that if Cabrera is dealt, Johnny Damon will be shifted back to center field. Yeah, right. They once said they were comfortable going with Bubba Crosby in center, and signed Damon for $52 million. They said they were done with Rodriguez when he opted out, and all but assured him $300 million when it is hard to find any team that would have bid within $100 million of that.
So now when they say they will not include Ian Kennedy in a deal for Santana, well, count me as skeptical. Heck, it would not surprise me to hear that to replace Cabrera, they are willing to give Andruw Jones an outrageous one-year contract so he could rebuild his value for next year’s free-agent market.
This is the real Moneyball, Yankees Moneyball. And it is actually not that hard to justify the expenditure, because no team makes more than the Yanks. You can draw a direct line showing how the accumulation of stars has enabled the Yanks to start the YES Network and draw four million fans, which builds the coffers to spend even more.
But the problem is that the gorging has a price beyond the dollar signs. Would anyone be surprised if sometime over the life of their contracts, Posada and Rivera become like Giambi and Mussina are now, players with expensive contracts the Yanks are praying will run out? Having the money meant the Yanks never could find out if Posada and Rivera were bluffing, if they really would have left had the Yanks sat on two-year contracts with an option. They will never stand firm on Rodriguez at something like eight years and $200 million, and see if there really was someone willing to go even that far.
They have the money, so they will always go more years and more dollars, at a time when the Red Sox have Curt Schil ling and Mike Low ell returning on dis counts. They will prorate $28 million for Roger Clemens because, well, they can. They never really will commit fully to a plan in which they lean toward young players and stop giving contracts to players almost certain to turn old during the life of the deal.
Hank Steinbrenner has taken the baton from his father, George, in every way. When in doubt, play Moneyball.