Jesus Fucking Christ, I hate the Yankees.

[CubFaninHydePark]

Hey, what ever happened to Morph's high school buddy from the shoutbox?

Didn't morph meet him at a boy scout retreat?

Promise Keeper's Convention.

They gave their word to stop at third.

So is the Cubs' roster full of promise keepers?

[Kermit, B.]

So glad for Yankee fans. They waited SOOOOOO long for this!

Indeed.

It was good of this guy to explain that Wrigman Bartley was a made-up name, lest anyone mistake his dry wit for non-satirical reporting.

Wow, that was all kinds of bad.

Certainly did wonders for my self-esteem though.

Why?

[Internet Apex]

So glad for Yankee fans. They waited SOOOOOO long for this!

Indeed.

It was good of this guy to explain that Wrigman Bartley was a made-up name, lest anyone mistake his dry wit for non-satirical reporting.

Wow, that was all kinds of bad.

Certainly did wonders for my self-esteem though.

Why?

He read it on the treadmill.

[Quality Start Machine]

So glad for Yankee fans. They waited SOOOOOO long for this!

Indeed.

It was good of this guy to explain that Wrigman Bartley was a made-up name, lest anyone mistake his dry wit for non-satirical reporting.

Wow, that was all kinds of bad.

Certainly did wonders for my self-esteem though.

Why?

Finding someone who does worse satire than me was an arduous task, but I was happy to complete it.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

So glad for Yankee fans. They waited SOOOOOO long for this!

Indeed.

It was good of this guy to explain that Wrigman Bartley was a made-up name, lest anyone mistake his dry wit for non-satirical reporting.

Wow, that was all kinds of bad.

Certainly did wonders for my self-esteem though.

Why?

Finding someone who does worse satire than me was an arduous task, but I was happy to complete it.

But you didn't—

Ah, fuck it.

[Quality Start Machine]

So glad for Yankee fans. They waited SOOOOOO long for this!

Indeed.

It was good of this guy to explain that Wrigman Bartley was a made-up name, lest anyone mistake his dry wit for non-satirical reporting.

Wow, that was all kinds of bad.

Certainly did wonders for my self-esteem though.

Why?

Finding someone who does worse satire than me was an arduous task, but I was happy to complete it.

But you didn't—

Ah, fuck it.

I found it just as sure as Columbus discovered America.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/11/05/the-yankees-payroll/

And in that way the expanded playoffs have been genius for baseball — not only because they are milking television for every dime but because the short series have been baseball's one Yankee-proofing defense against the ludicrous unfairness of the New York Yankees. Hey, if the game is rigged, rig the game. The Yankees spend a lot more money than any other team. As a direct result, they had the best record in the American League in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. They made the playoffs every single year but one this decade (and going back to 1995). They are the best team with the best players every year — that sort of big money virtually guarantees it.

So, you create a system where the best team doesn't always win. In fact, you create a system where the best team often doesn't win. For years the Yankees didn't win. They lost to Florida. They lost Anaheim. They blew a 3-0 series lead against Boston. They lost to Anaheim again and Detroit and Cleveland — and how could you say that baseball is unfair? Look, the Yankees can't win the World Series! See? Sure they spend $50 million more than any other team and $100 million more than most. But they haven't won the World Series! Doesn't that make you feel better?

...

The Yankees have a pat hand.

This is the way baseball is structured, and we have reached a point where people simply don't want to hear any griping about it. Don't like it? Don't watch. Some people have stopped watching, I suppose. But many of us keep on because we love baseball and there's enough randomness in the game itself and enough volatility in the playoffs to distract us from the lunacy of having the game so ridiculously tilted toward one team.

The trouble is that, inevitably, that one team will make good choices. They will put together a team of All-Stars. They will sign a dominant left-handed starter and slugging switch-hitting Gold Glove first baseman and a right-handed starter who throws curveballs that bend like wiffle balls. That team will be a remarkable collection of stars, and they will play often beautiful baseball, and they will win more games than any other team during the season. That team will roll through the playoffs without facing an elimination game or anything resembling real drama — though there will be constant efforts to make it SEEM like there's drama.

And then: That team that spent $50 million more than any other team, that team with three sure Hall of Famers and as many as four others, that team that bought Milwaukee's best pitcher and Anaheim's best hitter and Toronto's No. 2 starter and Boston's favorite Idiot and the most expensive player in the history of baseball and so on, that team will win the World Series, and spray champagne on each other, and they will tell you that they won because they came together as a group and kept pulling themselves off the ground and didn't listen to the doubters.

And then, if you are a not a Yankees fan, you will want to throw up. If you are not a Yankees fan, you are left hoping that next year the randomness of a short playoff series will get the Yankees and allow some other team to win so we can celebrate the hope of Opening Day. And that's baseball.

[Quality Start Machine]

The problem with baseball isn't the Yankees. It's the Pirates.

How can a team with one of the richest traditions in the sport hope to compete when they have become nothing more than the Cubs' AAAA team?

MLB won't do anything about it, any more than they wanted to with steroids until their hand was forced. Both the owners and MLBPA know that they're making an assload of money, and nobody's going to rock the boat.

Cities are building stadia for the teams that aren't making money, and the teams that are are either financing their own, or doing capital improvements to existing facilities in order to skirt revenue sharing.

Someone show me a real reason why the owners or players want this to change. What fans want doesn't enter into the equation.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

The Pirates could probably stand to spend a bit more money...



(Ranked by "investment rate", taken from here.)

But point taken.

Even if they had been as spendthrift relative to revenue in 2009 as Pen's Tigers were, they'd still have only ranked 13th in the majors salary-wise.

[Pre]

Ranked by "investment rate", taken from here.)

The problem with that chart is that no one outside of the actual teams
has any clue what their real revenues are.  The dude didn't actually say
what his sources were (other than the 'internet'), but he just took
the Forbes estimates, which are, obviously, estimates and unlikely to be
anywhere near close considering the shell games that owners play with
revenue.  I'd be shocked if those numbers are accurate within 50 million
a team.

As an example, what's the real revenue of the Cubs tv and radio rights? 
They've never really hit the open market.  Any price anyone puts to them
is a guess.

Definitely not close enough to make a break down like that accurate at all.

I also enjoy how he entirely ignores all operating expenses too, particularly
money invested in minor league players which is just as important as MLB
salary.

And the payrolls look like they are supposed to be 2009 opening season
payroll which is no where near as interesting as actual 2009 payrolls which
could have been used.  And at least the Cardinals are flat out wrong (by
11 million).

That douche's chart is the kind of lazy, misleading, and flat out wrong
blogging that contributes to the amount of misinformed fans.

[Andy]

Tom Ricketts knows what the real value of the Cubs TV and radio deals are, and he almost didn't buy the team because of it. 

He chose to be stuck with two far under market deals in order to buy the beloved Chicago National League Baseball Club, and he's being vague about how many years are left on each deal, but the Trib reporter following the sale hinted that it is at least five years in each case.

I suppose in the long run it's a small price to pay, but for a guy with debt to pay off each year when the three previous owners never had to, it sucks.  (I'm assuming the Weeghmans didn't finance the money to buy the Orphans, maybe they did.)

[Chuck to Chuck]

Tom Ricketts knows what the real value of the Cubs TV and radio deals are, and he almost didn't buy the team because of it. 

He chose to be stuck with two far under market deals in order to buy the beloved Chicago National League Baseball Club, and he's being vague about how many years are left on each deal, but the Trib reporter following the sale hinted that it is at least five years in each case.

I suppose in the long run it's a small price to pay, but for a guy with debt to pay off each year when the three previous owners never had to, it sucks.

It's likely 20 years with market adjustment provisions every 5 years.  The reason the Rickets only came down $55 million is that he likely only has to live with the bad media deals for 5 years.

The deals are also only half bad as half the games are on Comcast and they own 25% of CSN.  The issue with owning 25% of CSN is that the 25% would be valued at close to zero if the Rickets started their own Cubs Cable Network.

[Internet Apex]

Jeter just won another Gold Glove. I think it's hilarious. Let's hear some rage.

[Slaky]

Jeter just won another Gold Glove. I think it's hilarious. Let's hear some rage.

Ken Tremendous of FJM tweeted the UZR for AL shortstops. Guess who was number 5? Jeter. Guess who was number one? Pizza Pizza. I guess his point is Cesar Izturis should have won the Gold Glove?

If baseball would go ahead and admit that the Gold Glove is basically MVP of your position in your league we could stop all the gnashing of tooth over Jeter's popularity with voters. I'm not upset about it though, no sir. The day the Gold Glove winner gets me mad is the day I start shaving regularly.

[JD]

Jeter just won another Gold Glove. I think it's hilarious. Let's hear some rage.

I think Jeter's an excellent shortstop.  However, I make it a point to hardly ever watch the Yankees play.