Commentary: Baseball doesn't need salary cap to keep Yankees from dominating

By John McGrath | The News Tribune • Published December 26, 2008

Comments (0)

Thanks to a salary cap, NBA fans have been spared the nuisance of contemplating blockbuster trades, as deals including veterans are basically contract dumps designed to clear cap space. A word has been invented to describe the general managers most adept at monitoring the bottom line: capologists, meaning those who are experts in capology.

I don't know about you, but when I'm shooting the breeze with friends, I'd much rather talk about capologists performing capology than almost anything else in sports. Oh, for the chance to go to college all over again and choose a major in fiscal education.

Unfortunately, baseball remains in the Stone Age, tethered to a free market that gives the Yankees and Red Sox access to an unlimited payroll, while forcing such mid-market franchises as Tampa Bay to build rosters through wise draft choices, shrewd trades and a policy regarding free agents more as versatile bench players than a miracle cures.

Impeded by this inherently unfair system, prevented from throwing silly money at superstars, all Tampa Bay did last season was finish first in baseball's toughest division, before beating the White Sox and the Red Sox in the playoffs.

While the Rays were advancing to the World Series with a $44 million payroll, the Yankees invested $218.3 million to finish third. I suppose a case could be made that the system isn't broken, and that baseball teams built by superior scouting departments are a better bargain than baseball teams built by unlimited bank accounts.

But then the Yankees hauled in Teixeira for $180 million, and changed baseball as we know it. A switch hitter with power, a two-time Gold Glove recipient, Teixeira, won't turn 30 until April, already has been selected for as many All-Star Games (one) as Mariners second baseman Jose Lopez.

And though Teixeira has never finished among the top five in an MVP vote, though he's never won a batting championship or led the league in either homers or RBI, though he's never played on a team that advanced to the second round of the playoffs, he's transformed the 2009 Yankees into the most fearsome, intimidating, awe-inspiring collection of talent since, well, the 2008 Yankees.

With an offense by bolstered by Teixeira's bat, Sabathia could win 20 games for the first time, and Burnett could win more than 12 games for second time. They're loaded, they're scary, and they've got the blueprint for postseason success.

In case it's been misplaced, the Yankees always can consult those teams that've won the World Series since they did: the 2001 Diamondbacks, the '02 Angels, '03 Marlins, the '04 and '07 Red Sox, the '05 White Sox, the '06 Cardinals and the '08 Phillies.

Think about this. The Yankees haven't been acknowledged as the best team in baseball in eight years, and now they're invincible just because they signed first baseman who's played in one All-Star Game?

Yep.

Besides, at $180 million, it's a steal. There's no telling how much Mark Teixeira would've cost had he been named to the All-Star team, like, twice.

<< Previous page