I disagree with Pos' assertion that "other owners could [not] do what the Yankees do if they just had a little more gumption.". Seattle is a great example of a team that could. They're owned by Nintendo, a giant corporation. But their business model is to field a deccent team with a few Japanese stars and make a little money on both sides of the ocean. It isn't even close to the Yankee owners' commitment to winning. The Ms could have a comparable revenue stream to the Yanks in 10 years if they spent like the Yanks do. If they had done so at the turn of the century when the Ms were at their peak, there would be a much smaller income discrepancy now.

The world seems out of balance when the Pos isn't riffing Jete. Nor did he mention Teixeira, who made him incensed when he heard that Tex was an MVP candidate this summer.

The consensus among the pundits is that Gutierrez and Crawford were dissed. Having watched both, I can only say that they are both stand-outs in their relative positions. But, one knows how flawed these awards are. Nothing new.

Pos certainly knows how to rile Yankee fans. At leas he took the time to clarify his position; which, incidentally seems to echo most mainstream sportswriters. He just uses more words mixed with snark.

[1] I agree. The M's owner's strategy is to put a decent enough team on the field to make money and if they're in the mix, gravy.

That said, they are trending upwards and they have Wakamatsu and King Felix is to partially thank for that.

[1] [2] This fellow has calculated how much of a team's revenues they put back into payroll. Its a fascinating chart, and the one that includes just the 2009 playoff teams is even more fascinating. He makes some excellent points.

Obviously major league player payroll is not the only cost teams have, but its the biggest. I would like to see the chart revised to show monies paid in signing bonuses to draftees and international signings, but outside of the Marlins, I'm not sure it'd really affect the numbers all that much.

I'll also add that (before his passing) Carl Pohlad (Twins) was one of the world's richest billionaires (more money than the Steinbrenners) and David Glass (Royals), due to Wal-Mart, is another one of the world's richest billionaires (again, more money than the Steinbrenners). Glass, at least, puts almost half his revenue back into major league payroll, and I know the Royals have paid a lot of money out in signing bonuses lately.

Boston sports radio is reporting that according to Japanese sources, the Red Sox are preparing a "multi-year offer" for Hideki Matsui.

WTF??

[4] See, facts like those show Pos' argument is utter BS. It is time to call these sportswriters on this crap. They want to be respected as professionals, they had better start doing professional-level investigation and analyses of these issues and expecting an ignorant public to fawn all over their Yankee-bashing. Pathetic.

[5] According to Japanese sources? That doesn't exactly sound very reliable. Who at WEEI speaks Japanese?

The whole payroll issue is so poorly framed, it almost becomes comical. For starters, while it is clear that the Yankees do have a revenue advantage, that doesn't answer the question of (1) how did they get that advantage (the Mets make much less in the same market) and (2) is it a bad thing. Considering that the Yankees have always had an economic advantage and baseball has never been more popular as it is now, I am not sure how one would argue that the Yankees money is a bad thing. If it wasn't bad then, how could it be bad now? And if the game is more popular than ever, why is the current system bad?

Even more comical is that the most commonly proposed "remedy" is a salary cap. Even the NFL is having second thoughts about its salary cap because the players are winding up with too much of the economic pie. Furthermore, there really is no evidence to suggest that the salary cap has fostered parity in the NFL. When it was conceived, the salary cap was not instituted as a means of improving competition, but instead was used as a method of controlling costs. The myth of it being a competitive measure was swallowed up by the media, and as the old line goes, when the myth becomes fact, print the myth.

The irony with the NFL salary cap is that is so full of loopholes that there is no reason why it should be expected to work. We constantly see capologists bend the limits (how do the Red Skins manage to afford big name free agents every season)...at both extremes. I recently read a report detailing how teams circumvent the the salary floor. Basically, they include unattainable incentives, which count against the cap, so they can wind up pocketing the money at the end of the year. Using that method, a team's actual payroll can wind up being well below the salary floor.

As I've argued for a long time (here and elsewhere), MLB's economic model is the one that works. So, I am not surprised that not only is MLB poised to leap past the NFL in terms of revenue, but now we are hearing grumblings from the NFL about possible abandoning the cap.

The Mariners and Griffey reached a 1-year deal, so that removes one potential suitor from Matsui's list.

[7] It wasn't WEEI, actually. But they aren't reporting it as known fact, just as Japanese sources reporting.

Re [6], sorry I was frothing at the mouth too much to have that last sentence make sense. But, seriously, enough of this crap.

Here is the NPB report on the Matsui/Sox situation.

Boston is reportedly considering Matsui as an alternative to Jason Bay. According to an insider quoted in Nikkan Sports, the BoSox are preparing a multi-year offer for Matsui to be the team’s regular left fielder.

[9] 98.5?

Someone should tell them that the Red Sox already have a DH under contract for next year, some fellow named Ortiz I believe . . .

Like Theo & Co would give Matsui a multi-year deal for any real amount of money. Right.

[7] Your economic analysis of the NFL's salary "cap" is spot on, william - but the reason its going to disappear (maybe) is because of labor woes. The NFL thinks the players are ending up with too much of the revenue, but the NFLPA thinks the opposite. Of course no one will show "us" the books to let us confirm one way or the other. Because they couldn't come to a collective bargaining agreement, presuming they still don't, 2010 will be an uncapped year. And so may 2011 and so forth.

[11] That's even more laughable than when I thought they wanted him to DH!

Yes, Theo is really going to sign a going-to-be-36-year-old with horrible knees to a multi-year contract to be the regular LF for the Sox.

[12] Yes, the new guys. They're aware that the Sox have that DH guy, and I've been enjoying hearing them compare Matsui to Ortiz. (There is a minority sentiment to the effect that Ortiz is actually a better hitter now than Matsui, because Godzilla's totals were so inflated by the band box...)

It smells like an attempt to drive up the price, and maybe at the same time trim Jason Bay's demands.

[14] Yes, it's obviously negotiation posturing. They can drive up the value for Matsui all they want so long as we make them pay if they want a shot at Lackey.

[14] And just yesterday I thought that 98.5 was increasing the knowledgeable discussions of sports in the Boston area, instead of being an 'EEI clone. Sheesh.

I am sure the source is real, but the question is how reliable is it? Instead of being grounded in fact, I just think it's a member of the Japanese media dreaming about having Matsui and Dice-K on the same team.

Well, Nikkan Sports is a serious outlet. I can't read the page, though. Maybe Mr. OK Jazz will wake up in time to help us out this evening.

Matsui to patrol the Green Monster? I don't think so. If he runs the bases too many days in a row, he cripples himself.

Although, I remember that Francona used to consider Matsui the biggest threat on the Yankees. Of course, that was back in 2004.

Seems like posturing to me.

I tried having Google translate that page. It appears to quote Red Sox officials on last season: "We are disappointed over the results. Bare-knuckles must be reinforced." I hope Cashman is pulling off his glove, too.

The article adds,

Left 36 home runs and 119 RBIs two teams in the Bay of coronary transfer is concentrated in the FA, the gaping vacant. Ortiz, designated hitter this season and is in very bad condition of the way.

Jason Bay has a new nickname!

[11]

Unfortunately for the Sox, those years aren't 2004-5/

[18] It's a serious outlet, but why would that stop a sportswriter from speculating? When it comes to Matsui, the Japanese media doesn't seem to objective or cautious.

[22] It's not presented as speculation. Nikkan quotes "sources" as saying that the Sox are preparing a multi-year contract offer.
NESN has picked up the story.

[4] Very interesting staatistics. It doesn't make sense that writers today, like Pos, who frequently rely on stats to bolster their argument, conveniently avoid stats when it negates his point of view. In other word, it's all bull.

Bryan Gumbel in Real Sports eloquently lauded the Yanks and explained why they were crucial for baseball. In fact, he went on to say that it's because of the Yanks' wide appeal that baseball is still America's pastime. I will look for the link.

Matsui isn't going to the Red Sox.
Now serious question: would the Red Sox get draft picks if the Yankees hired Varitek to do odd jobs like cleaning out the centaur's stall?
If his official title is something like Centaur-boy he could still wear that pwecious C on his shirt, and for that privilege the Yanks wouldnt have to pay him. .

Jon Heyman tweets: #yankees plan to inquire about roy halladay. new #jays gm alex anthopoulos said hes open to dealing in division.

====================

hmmmmmm .....

[23] I understand that, but I am saying that I suspect the "sources" are in fact members of the Japanese media pining for a Matsui and Dice K pairing. It wouldn't be the first time that a sportswriter's source turned out to be himself. The only other explanation is Theo has gone insane and actually envisions Matsui limping around LF.

[24] I saw his say that and it speaks to my point in [7]. Before we try to fix the issue of the Yankees revenue advantage, we first need to demonstrate that it is a problem for the sport. In all the whining and hand wringing, no one has done that.

[25] I wonder if Arod is ever tempted to call up Varitek and discuss old times.

I thought #25 was going to be the funniest thing I read all day, until I saw this in today's NYT:

"'Chronological age does not have anything to do with a player of [Damon's] genetics,' Boras said."

LMAO.

[29] good question. I wonder if Boras hasn't set up a pow-wow by now.

[31] They had it all set up, but Alex balked when he heard Varitek would be wearing his mask.

It's funny how things change...at the time of the fight, Varitek was the rough and tumble captain and Arod was the high paid interloper. Now, Arod is just one of the boys (and with a shiny ring), while Varitek is being kicked out on his behind.

[30] Boras was already spewing that crap during the Angels' series. Getting the party started as it were. What a chuckle! Not to take anything away from Damon, but how does one prove that Damon is genetically superior? A virility test?

[4] interesting, but like william alludes to in [7], the more interesting question is how much money the yankees put into getting to this point. the payroll has been around $200 million for a few years, and the revenue has obviously increased. so i assume that in order to get to this huge revenue, the yankees had to spend an even bigger percentage of past revenues on the team. but even before that, when the yankee payrolls were only at the top of the sport and some years not even the highest, the yankees put together one of the best teams in baseball history for 4-6 years. it seems to me that that, above all else, enabled the yankees to make so much money and then spend it.

[34] All I know is that someone who is genetically superior would not throw like a 7-year old girl.

[35] Exactly.

[36] LMAO

[36] I have a hard time arguing with that!

[30] I wonder if Damon's genetic age is related to his "real" age. I'm pretty sure that Johnny hasn't been going to bed early, avoiding alcohol, and eating perfectly healthy over his MLB career!

Boras is something else. I wonder if anyone, even the most foolish GMs, falls for his baloney. Even they might not - one need not have a brain to know to not trust Scott Boras.

If I was meeting with Scott Boras over a player, and he made that kind of ludicrous claim, I'd say, "Now now Scott, in 2008 you said Oliver Perez was one of the top 5 lefty starting pitchers in MLB, and that he compared favorably to Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax at the same age, and that he'd turn the corner like they did. You sure you want to start talking about Damon's genetics?"

Robbie Cano and Zack McAllister to the Jays for Roy Halladay. Cano agrees to play short.

Funny, huh?

[38] Boras is only one of many idiots in baseball whose ridiculous statements are not used nearly enough to impeach their later outlandish claims. I wish people like Cashman would say stuff like that in public.

Boras as his purpose in the Yankee grand scheme. I just wish they used him half as much as he name-dropped them to pad his (and his clients) pockets. This statement probably has nothing to do with the released list with Damon as a Type-A (so go ahead Scotty, sell, sell SELL!) and Matsui unbelievably left off.

[39] Be careful a.O., or before we know it, NPB will cite a "source" as "saying" that the Yanks "are considering trading" Cano and a minor league pitcher for Halladay, with Cano offering to switch to SS to accommodate Aaron Hill. Then the Post will pick it up and it'll be downhill from there.

;)

[42] Redsox.com has it now.