Well the Yankees keep spending money as if they have no end to it. During this offseason, the Yankees have committed to spending almost one half of a billion dollars on free agent signings. That is Billion, yes with a "B"!
They signed CC Sabathia to a 7 year, 161 million dollar contract and then later signed AJ Burnett to a 5 year, 82.5 million dollars. And then, out of the blue, they snagged Teixeira away from the Red Sox in a 180 million dollar deal.
Now I know the Yanks are upset at not making the playoffs last year (for the first time in 13 years - ha!) but this spending money and stacking their team with all-stars and hall of famers is getting out of hand. This is the reason everyone hates the Yankees. With these new signings, the Yankees final payroll will be 223 million dollars which is more than double the average teams salary of 96 million. And do you know that the Yankees payroll is more than eight times the salary of the Florida Marlins team of 27 million? The Yanks paid 26.9 million in luxury tax, so the Yanks luxury tax could field the entire Marlins team! Also, did you know that just the Yankee infielders make more than 14 other entire team payrolls?
Now I know the Red Sox throw money around too, but they have to just to compete with the Yanks, but if I were a Royal fan or Marlins fan, something would have to be done with the Yanks. The only hope they would have against a team like this would be for the Yanks to suffer numerous injuries and go through another collapse like they did last year. I really hope they collapse and although I usually don't root for injuries, I will this year. Watching the Yankees collapse is like driving your Honda to work each day and passing the millionaire in his Ferrari which is broken down alongside the road. Lets all hope for a breakdown!
In Red Sox news, we signed Youk to another 4 years and added Smoltz and Baldelli to our lineup. The deadline to sign Tek is coming up - it is not looking good on resigning our captain. Did you see Pedroia at the dinner the other night? They asked Tampa Rays player Fernando Perez what it was like beating the Red Sox in the ALCS last year. Perez told them how great it was and then little Pedroia looked over to him and leaned into the microphone and said, "Yeah, don't get used to it." I tell you, I would take 25 little Pedroia's over the stacked 25 players on the Yankees any time!
I would like to say congrats to Jim Rice for finally making it into the Hall of Fame. Speaking of Jim Rice reminds me of a story from when I was a child living in Florida. My dad had taken me to the store to get a new glove for little league and the first glove we picked out was signed by Reggie Jackson. I told him I didn't want that one because Reggie was a Yankee. So we went through about 20 gloves until I found one that was signed by a Red Sox player. When we get home, my dad got out a pen and wrote in the pocket of the glove under the name, "and Brian Miller". That glove is now in my sons closet and he loves how "old" it is and that it has his Dad's signature on it.
After my dad signed my glove, my dad then got out a new ball and still with pen in hand asked me who my favorite player was. He was going to make me an "autographed" ball. I still remember his face when I told him my favorite player was Carl Yastrzemski. I think he stood there for about a minute, probably thinking, "how in the world do you spell that" and then probably thought "even if I did know how to spell it, how would it all fit on the ball". After about a minute or so and some quick thinking on his part, he asked if there were any other players that I liked. I told him Jim Rice. I am sure after I told him that he took a deep breath and thought, "I can handle that!" So he quickly jotted down "Jim Rice" on the ball and tossed it to me. I loved that ball and I told everyone I had a ball signed by Jim Rice. No one knew it wasn't real, it was just my dad and I's secret. So today, somewhere in a box, I have a ball that is "signed" by a Hall of Famer. One day, when I pass it on to my son, I think I will keep our little secret.
Congrats Jim Rice !!
