Payroll, Manny, and Future Considerations

The guys at River Avenue Blues went ahead and did my job for me again today and broke down the 2009 payroll and beyond. It's a nice and neat look at what the Yankees have commitment-wise well into the future. I definitely recommend taking a look at it if you have any interest whatsoever in figuring out what we've spent and what we can still get.

With that in mind, The New York Times has a key quote from Brian Cashman 1 day removed from Manny being Greedy and turning down, what?!, 25 million dollars from the LA Dodgers. (Doesn't he know Dunn and Hudson will basically give LA the same production at a fraction of the cost?)

Cashman had this to say in regards to the Yankees signing Manny:

“I fully expect to go to spring training with what we’ve got. And that’s a good thing. People expect us to get in on Manny, but it’s not going to happen. We’re in the nonroster invitee mode.”

So unless you expect Manny to go to Tampa as a non-roster invitee of the New York Yankees, competing for a spot on the team with no guarantees and playing purely out of his love for the game and the City of New York.... ah, I'll leave it at that, you get the point -- he's not coming.

Interestingly enough, or not interestingly enough at all, the author of that RAB article referenced above goes way out on a limb and just assumes the Yankees will target Matt Holiday at 5 years $85 mill going into 2010.

Why? I mean Matt Holiday in left just strikes me as another offense-first outfielder who is shuffled to a corner spot because of his bat and the fact that the DH spot will be used by our older players. The author even makes a few key points against his own Holiday projections when he says the Yanks 2010 payroll would be $177.35 for just 11 players and $146 million for nine players in 2011. He then says that things could clear up in 2012, but CC would have to opt out and the Yankees would have to hold options on Cano, Marte, and Swisher, but that’s still $85 million on four players.

Here's what I don't get. You're trying to write an article about payroll flexibility and you muck it all up by adding a guy who inflates the payroll to the same lofty heights we've all come to realize was our downfall circa 2001-2007. Why? Because he's got some neat offensive statistic that no one, outside of roto-geeks and stat nerds, has ever heard of? Why not project a homegrown product like Austin Jackson for 2010? He may not play left, but he helps you prove a point Cash has been trying to make for a year now. Younger, more athletic, payroll flexibility, have you guys even been paying attention?

Looking at Finances

Disclaimer: I never took economics in college. I've never balanced a checkbook. In fact, numbers make my head hurt. I also have a very vague understanding of the rules in regard to baseball teams, their finances, the rules of profit sharing, and the salary tax. While this remedial knowledge is suspect at best, please bear with me and feel free to correct any mistakes, errors, omissions, fabrications, etc. Thank you.

Yesterday's New York Post featured an article on how the Yankees can spend so freely and not feel the pinch in these harsh economic times.

The outrage from team owners, rival GMs, and talking heads in the media has been well represented and discussed widely in the weeks since the Yankees first went out on this big name free agent safari. I will spare you those details here and (hopefully) be ahead of the curve in regards to the next big stink involving the New York Yankees and how much money they spend, or in this case, don't spend.

It's no secret that the Yankees are moving into new digs next year. A lot of questions have come up recently concerning this Stadium and how the Yankees plan to pay for it. Some sweetheart deals between the City and the organization have been discovered, but I think the most important thing to remember is that they will be paying for it. In fact they will be paying at least a hefty $1 billion over the coming years for this Stadium project.

The thing is, due to the rules of baseball, because the Yankees are paying a very large out-of-pocket expense to build their own Stadium, they can deduct at least $85 million dollars from 2009's revenue sharing expense. For the record, in 2008 the Yankees committed $100 million, or 1/3 of its revenue, to MLB's revenue sharing policy. When we put it all together, what this all means is that the rest of baseball will have to split and live on a paltry $15 million dollars in 2009.

It's also important to note that the luxury tax threshold is higher this year and will continue to rise as well. Last year the threshold was $148 million. This year it's $155. I'm pretty sure it maxes out at $174 million over the next few years. What this means is that while the Yankees continue to pay this tax every year they commit top dollar to their players, the amount will continually decrease in the coming years if the Yankees continue to cut payroll.

Basically, if they can avoid signing Andy Pettite and keep this year's payroll in the $190's, then cut 26 million plus in the salaries of Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and possibly Xavier Nady for 2010, they could easily get beneath the luxury tax threshold and keep more money out of their hands of their competition. The $126 million extra the Yankees handed MLB will be considerably less in the coming years.

Take note small market clubs. The free ride you get from Yankee money may be coming to a close. If true, the Cashman quote of:
We have the most money, no secret about that. If we combine that with the best decision-making process on a consistent basis, God help the rest of baseball becomes much more of an ominous threat than a rallying cry.

HOLY #$%*&@!!!!!

Well, so much for my thoughts on why the Yankees won't get Mark Teixeira. Good thing I didn't waste my time trying to rationalize that concept again.

Am I happy? No, not really. I'm just not too psyched about 8 years I guess. He's a great player and fills somewhat of a need (what do we do with Swisher and/or Nady now?) it's just that in the long run I think this deal will hurt us as any and all infield flexibility just flew out the window. How much longer will A-Rod mishandle slow rollers at 3rd. How much longer will Jeter be hurting us at SS with his diminished range and errant throws? How much longer will the Jeter/Cano double-play combo extend innings? Our poor infield defense may have gotten better but it looks to get exponentially worse over the next few years.

In the long run, whatever. He is an outstanding defensive 1B and he has a very impressive offensive resume. Ideally, the 2009 Yankees should be somewhat of a juggernaut. The 2010 and 2011 teams should also figure to go deep into October. It gets murky after that, it really depends on C.C. does with that opt out. I know this much for sure, it's pretty rare when you see a team commit $424 million dollars and 20 years to 3 players in one off season, let alone one decade.

And a big whatever to the money too. Boston apparently wouldn't budge from $168-170 mill over 8 years and we got him for $180. I gotta think that Boston really screwed the pooch by not offering another 1.25 - 1.5 mill per year. That's a less than 8K per game. Looks like those guys needed to "Cowboy Up". Unless of course they never wanted him anyway. That's believable, right?

The thing that's going to get lost in the wash is the simple fact that Teixiera really only wanted to be a Yankee. He met with us first and made sure we made an offer as suitors dropped left and right. Something tells me that will be the most overlooked part of this story.

But who cares, now the Yankees do have that offense everyone felt we needed and now we got someone to protect A-Rod (whatever the hell that means), can we just play the damn games already?

Caution: Hot Stove

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Hot Stove season is in full swing! Let's check in on yesterday's action to see how it all shook out. (I just returned back to work yesterday, so updating my blog may be more erratic than usual. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

There were tons of news items that passed my desk yesterday. Funny thing though, there were just as many retractions to those "news" stories. 'Tis the season for unsubstantiated rumors to get printed. As I said, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Ken "Scoop" Rosentahl was the first to report yesterday that the Yankees were in discussion yesterday for a Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera swap to the LA Dodgers for Matt Kemp and pitching. This rumor sent my little world into a tizzy. Thoughts of pushing Jeter to 2B and getting a no shit defensive SS like Raphael Furcal or even the slightly available Michael Young were soon dashed as the retraction from Dodgers GM Ned Colletti shot down any meetings, discussions, or even sightings of Yankee higher-ups. Nice one, Ken. NO LINK FOR YOU!

And how could they when they were too busy meeting with C.C. Sabathia and giving him a glimpse at big city life. This was primarily an information gathering session as C.C. no doubt was curious as to what 140 million dollars can buy in the Big Apple. Apparently you can buy a lot as this meeting was roughly 2 and a half hours long. The Yankees and Mr. Sabathia met again later that day and notables in attendance were Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi, and Reggie "Mr. October" Jackson. The assumption is that C.C. will ultimately decide his fate sometime soon and either inch closer to putting his name on a Yankee contract or make a lot less money someplace else.

Yesterday, George King reported that Milwaukee was thinking of sweetening the pot and adding more money, another year, and an opt out clause a la A.J. Burnett to land Big C.C. Today though, Mark Feisand has got the inside scoop that the Yankees plan to offer a 2-3 year deal for Ben Sheets. It's going to be hard for C.C. to commit to Milwaukee knowing that his deal pushes any all other talented players Milwaukee has out the door. I don't see C.C. wanting to be the Steve Carlton to the Brewers. Big ups again to the boys at riveraveblues.com for this one, but it's kinda easy to break news when you're in Las Vegas! (Yeah, I'm jealous.)

On the lighter side, Carl Pavano spoke with A.J. Burnett about pitching New York. Surprisingly enough he was trying to sell Burnett on pitching in the Boogie Down Bronx. I can only imagine how this conversation went.

Burnett: Tell me about New York, Carl. Is it where I need to be?
Pavano: Yeah man! It's great! If you get hurt, they just keeping paying you!
Burnett: What about city life? Is it a tough adjustment to the hustle and bustle?
Pavano: What city? Tampa Bay? I love it! Amazing! I spent 3 years there and just hung out and drove my Porsche around. The women are outstanding too. You got a Porsche, A.J.?
Burnett: What? No.
Pavano: Don't get one. They don't handle well in the Tampa rain.

The Yanks do plan to offer up a deal for A.J. today and some think that A.J. could even sign somewhere as early as today. So stay tuned.

And finally, it wouldn't be hot stove season if you didn't have to caution yourself from getting burned. Apparently, Brain Cashman has been in communique with the agents of Andy Pettite through e-mail. He's trying to make the case that a 14-14 record with 4.5 ERA isn't worth 16 mill. I concur. Anyway, the Brothers Hendricks seem to be playing hardball here as rumors are swirling in regards to The Boston Red Sox inquiring about Pettite. Tony Masarotti reports that while it's more a case of the Red Sox just being inquisitive, Pettite's postseason resume speaks for itself and he could be very valuable in the back-end of the rotation for a team with postseason aspirations.

No shit. That's why we want him too. I fucking hate the Red Sox. Unoriginal bastards.

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

Brian Cashman's quest to rebuild the Yankees begins today in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is being speculated that Cashman will meet with C.C. Sabathia in a sit-down meeting either today or tomorrow. The general consensus in Yankee land is that it's only a matter of time, but some nervous-nellies in the media caution against such confidence. Whatever. Wake me up when you've got something besides an opinion.

The random rumor mill is also spinning wildly away. Apparently we're interested in Raul Ibanez now. Great, it makes perfect sense to go after a 36 year old outfielder. Oh, did I mention signing him would cost a draft pick. I'm not even going to link this one. It's ridiculous.

With the Brewers facing the possibility of losing both Sabathia and Ben Sheets this winter, expect to see a renewed interest in Mike Cameron this week. This move was rumored way back when the Yankees first offered Sabathia that 140 million dollar deal, that was 1989, I believe... (Kidding! But the way some Yankee fans and writers are looking at you'd think this was the case. I quote the immortal Axl Rose when I say "All we need is just a little patience".) Anyway, Cameron is apparently a good chum of Sabathia's and may make the move to New York a little more appealing. I'm guessing it's a black thing.

That's all for now. The stupid time difference is going to make this a little difficult. Everyone's still sleeping off the after parties from the big fight last night. Poor Oscar. It's never fun watching an elite athelete come to terms with his career. I digress. Enjoy the NFL today!