The Sommer Frieze

Was out last night and conversation turned to the Yankees. The other party, a Phillies fan, brought up the usual, old and worn out statement that the Yanks should win it every year because of the payroll. (Although, to be fair, he was dead accurate in his knowledge of the Yanks-KC A’s pipeline of the 1950s).

I pointed out that yes, CC, Burnett and Teix were free agent signings, but that much of the team was homegrown.

Cano, Posada, Rivera, Jeter, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Robertson….

But he said something I am scratching my head about. That the reason the homegrown guys are still there is because of Yankees money (never mind that Pettitte, homegrown, left and returned).

The thing is, hasn’t Jeter been worth every penny of the 10-year contract that expires this year? Haven’t Posada, Jeter, Rivera and Pettitte EARNED the money they are getting? Those five rings does say a lot.

Say what you will about the salaries of those players, but they earned it. To criticize the salaries of free agents like CC, Teix and Burnett is one thing, but for the “core four” it is something else (and remember, A-Rod wasn’t a free agent. He was acquired in a trade. Although the Yankees can be held responsible for A-Rod’s current contract, the old one was the Rangers’ fault—not the Yankees).

But then, people see only what they want to see. The free agents on the Yanks right now are Teix, Winn, Nick Johnson, CC, Burnett, Thames. I wouldn’t put Winn, Nick and Thames on the “big contract, Yankees throwing money at them” list.

Home grown are Cervelli, Posada, Pena, Cano, Jeter, Gardner, Joba, Hughes, Robertson, and of course Rivera.

People forget that lots of players came via the trade route: Granderson, A-Rod, Swisher, Vazquez, Marte.

But then, people only believe what they want to believe, and few take the time to check out the facts.        

…and as for the core four? Don’t tell me they didn’t earn and deserve it. 

A sidenote: I should have mentioned that because of the Boss, the number of medals the USA is taking home from the Olympics has gone from six to 36…and counting; yes, there are new “X-games” like sports which help, but the Boss put a lot into our Olympic team and things are quite different and better today than 22 years ago, but that would have opened a whole new can of worms to the Steinbrenner-bashers. 

I should also add that the person already put Mauer in a Yankees uniform. Of course, he doesn’t know about Montero/Romine or other catchers in the Yankees system (he most likely, like many fans, only has knowledge of his own team’s system, if that). He also didn’t want to hear the truth that Carl Pohlad was richer than Steinbrenner but was willing to contract his own team.

Personally, I think Mauer stays in Minnesota. I also see no reason to give Mauer $20M a year when you have two young, good catchers on the come who will be much cheaper. Granted they aren’t Mauer and never may be, but…   

Like I said, hear and believe only what you want to hear and believe…