Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!


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The wife and I just put ShysterBoy and ShysterGirl to bed, there's a generous pour of brown liquor over ice at my side, and I'm about to sit back and watch Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed do their thing. Life isn't perfect, but you take your moments where you can get them, and this is one of them.

Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends. While I haven't met most of you, I feel like every one of you is a friend of mine. Writing this blog brings me more joy than you can possibly imagine, and I'm grateful that you folks continue to come back each day.

Merry Christmas, old Building and Loan.

Craig
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 8:38pm (15) Comments

It’s worth noting . . .


. . .that the Yankees payroll on Opening Day 2008 was $209 million.

It's also worth noting that even with the additions of Teixeira, Sabathia, and Burnett, the Yankees' 2009 payroll obligations -- including signing bonuses -- stand at roughly $201-205 million, give or take.

Yes, that will change some as they fill out the 2009 roster, and yes, the implications of this winter's spending spree are larger than mere current-year obligations, but let's not go crazy talking about salary caps and manifest injustice and all of that jazz. The Yankees have spent extraordinary amounts of money this decade. The result of that has been the ability to bypass the typical success cycle by never truly cratering competitively and always being in the playoff hunt. The result of that has not been the disruption of overall competitive balance or the prevention of success on the part of the other teams such that radical changes are necessary, let alone desirable.

I will grant you that the former point is somewhat disheartening, but it is certainly not devastating. If you don't like Tampa Bay as an example of why the Yankees' spending isn't terrible (i.e. because it took a decade in the wilderness for the Rays to get where they are) I'll give you the Angels. Or the White Sox. Or the Phillies. Or the Twins. Or the Marlins. Or the Cardinals. Or any other team that has found success without spending $200 million.

The same level of success? Well, no. All of those teams have ups and downs, and unlike the Yankees, they do not have seeming carte blanche to acquire or retain any player they want. But baseball's prime directive is not to foster perfect competitive balance nor to ensure that players stay with the teams who developed them. Baseball's prime directive is to be a financially successful and entertaining enterprise, and it has gotten better and better at this even as the Yankees have gone nuclear with their payroll. Some would even argue that there's a causal relationship there. I don't know if that's the case, but it cannot be denied that the Yankees' success and subsequent largess of the past 15 years has correlated remarkably well with the growth of baseball's attendance and revenues.

Maybe that's cold comfort for Blue Jays and Orioles fans, but unless and until the Yankees' spending habits either (a) make a mockery of competitive balance; or (b) send fans away from the game in droves, those habits are not worth worrying about, and I don't see how any of their moves this past month are likely to lead to either of those developments.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:03am (18) Comments

Today at THT


I went to the Columbus Blue Jackets-Los Angeles Kings game last night. As I sat in the stands, I smelled hot dogs and beer and heard organ music and the murmur and occasional roar of a crowd. I closed my eyes once and could almost imagine I was at a ballpark. When I opened them again, however, I was stuck with stupid hockey. Please Spring, hurry up and get here.

  • Professional ethicist and fellow shyster Jack Marshall engages in a detailed examination explaining why -- from an ethical perspective -- no one signed Barry Bonds last year and won't this year. To his professional credit, he never once uses the word "clusterf**k."


  • Tuck! has a cartoon about silly names. Pretty bold stuff from a guy with punctuation in his own.


  • Finally, over at Fantasy Focus, Derek Carty has a mock draft and a breakdown of the Texeira signing. To Derek's professional credit, he never once uses the word "clusterf**k."
    • Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:55am (5) Comments

    Teixeira in Perspective


    Maury Brown has crunched the numbers in the wake of the Teixeira signing and has found all kinds of fun financial factoids. Among them:

    The total base salaries of A-Rod ($32 million), Jeter ($20 million), Teixeira ($20 million), and Sabathia ($14 million) for 2009 will be $82.5 million, or more than the Opening Day payrolls of more than half the league last year (Brewers, Indians, Giants, Reds, Padres, Rockies, Rangers, Orioles, Diamondbacks, Royals, Twins, Nationals, Pirates, Athletics, Rays, and Marlins).

    There are many other dizzying comparisons like that, so by all means, click through. As one of you said in the comments last night: say what you will about this signing, but at least it will be fun to root against the Yankees again next year.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:43am (9) Comments