The Goal: $250 Million Dollar Payroll - (10/21/04)

THE GOAL: $250 MILLION DOLLAR PAYROLL As expected, many sad and depressed Yankee fans are rattling off things like, "26 championships", or "39 pennants", or "the Yankee legacy". The Crack Committee expected these tired and worn out lines about teams from the 20's through 50's. But to me, I can really only count the Yankee titles starting from the 1960's. Why? The reason is simple, but 2-fold.

Point No. 1: The Draft : The MLB Amateur Draft started in 1965. The first pick was Rick Monday, by the Kansas City A's. Honestly, think about it, any great amatuer player in the country was signed by the Yankees, the team with the most money. If there was no draft today, 80% of the top amateur talent would be in the Yankee system. In the 20's, 30's, and 40's, the first, second, and third place teams were able to get MORE talent. The last place team got the crumbs that were laying around, which is like free agency today......Yankee sign the three top guys, and the rest of us, pick from the crumbs.Click here: Baseball Draft History - Baseball Cube

Point No. 2: Free Agency : We all know that Carlos Beltran's locker is already set up at the stadium, and I ask, is it really fair that the Astro fans have say goodbye to Beltran? The town loves this guy, and all this town is to him, is Columbus. The rest of Major League Baseball is the Yankees' minor leagues. Nobody can outbid them. The goal of the young player today is: put in your six years, become an eligible free agent, and start lobbying George. Or if you are inpatient, start telling the press in your city that you are unhappy, plan on leaving, list 3 teams you will go to, with the Bronx on top, and get dealt there. The Yankees will send there usual 2 to 3 mediocre AAA players that they trumped up, and the Royals or Pirates will take what they can get. Its a vicious cycle that will not end as long as the YES network and no salary caps is MLB policy. Does this mean we give up? No way, we keep fighting. We hope that the next $15-$17 million guy they sign doesn't work out. In the last four years, they obtained: Mike Mussina (the Orioles developed him for George), Jason Giambi (Oakland groomed him), Gary Sheffield (always loved the Bronx), Alex Rodriguez (the Yankees were the only team that could take him on at $25 mil), Kevin Brown (when another team can't afford someone, call George). Not only do they go apple picking from the rest of us, they resign everyone. Many Yankee fans feel that the line,"We have homegrown talent" trumps the $190 million dollar payroll line. It doesn't. They don't lose anyone. Andy Pettite, before that Jeff Nelson, and before that John Wetteland. That's it. You never see a Yankee testing the market. Therefore, your homegrown remains YOUR homegrown talent. Our homegrown talent leaves. Last night's parade on that mound was Brown 15, Vasquez 10, Loaiza 2, Gordon 7, Rivera 11. $45 million in last night's meltdown, do you see the problem?

Crack Committee Tidbits: When you're in your local deli, or bowling alley, or supermarket and you overhear the "October" Yankee fan complaining about Sheffield, or Matsui or Tony Clark. (please note that Yankee fans forget Tony Clark's ground rule double in Game 5 that was inches away from ending it) If you can't help it, just ask the guy to name one of the two other teams that Jon Leiber pitched for. (This one is great, THEY CAN'T DO IT, but a side note: if they say "Columbus", give them a half of point for the comedy)Another good question is: ask them to name the teams they beat, in the 4 WS titles since 96. (This one is great, THEY CAN'T DO IT, another side note: Think of me when they say, "Oh yeah, San Diego")

JB (Crack Committee member since 1972)