Zell's Pinstriped Blog, A New York Yankees Fan Blog

Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, New York Knicks, New York Mets, New York Rangers, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers. All these teams have something in common and it has nothing to do with amount of championships. All these teams are known to have high team payrolls, have high-profile players or willing to put out premium money for premium players.

Though, that is where some of the comparisons end. With the exception one of these teams, none have been fortunate to win a major championship in over a decade. There are some that haven’t even won a playoff game in that period of time. The lone, obvious exception has been the New York Yankees, though they themselves fell on hard times for a while, but not as bad as previously mentioned teams. This further cements the suggestion from the Wall Street Journal that high payrolls don’t always equate to winning.

Since the Yankees have won their 27th World Series title, many analysts, writers or whatever you’d like to coin them were quick to claim that they bought their championship. While the case can be made that they in a way did, what the Yankees have done with their money is better than what most of the previously mentioned teams have done with theirs.

According to Forbes, only three teams in 2007 operated with a loss. If I gave you a second or two, I bet  you couldn’t name all of the three teams and if you didn’t you might have named the Nationals and maybe the Marlins or Royals as some of those teams. Those three teams are the Yankees (-47 mil), Red Sox (-19 mil) and Blue Jays (-1.7 mil). Conversely, the top two teams were the Nationals (+43 mil) and the Marlins (+35 mil).

Didn’t see that coming did you? Just because the Yankees spend a ton of money doesn’t always mean they make that money back. Plus, with all that money the Nationals, Marlins, etc are practically pocketing, they could go out and sign a couple of high-priced draft picks, a few free agents. Especially after the season the Marlins had in 2009, they should be buyers with the money they save!

Going even further, remember those 1998 Yankees and how great they were? Of course you do. Can you take a guess at their payroll and their location on the list of team salaries at that point in time? In 1998, they were second with $63 million. Who was in first? The Baltimore Orioles with $70 million. In this decade, just because you have spent the most amount of money doesn’t mean you will win the World Series as the table below suggests.

2009: Yankees: 1st
2008: Phillies: 12th
2007: Red Sox: 2nd
2006: Cardinals: 11th
2005: White Sox: 13th
2004: Red Sox: 2nd
2003: Marlins: 25th
2002: Angels: 15th
2001: Diamondbacks: 8th
2000: Yankees: 1st

There is multiple elements in play here that most people overlook or don’t realize. First, the Yankees continue to spend a ton of money not because they will see a return on that in dollars, but because they want to be the best. They want to win championships. Can that really be said for the Nationals, Pirates, etc al? Secondly, if you asked any non-Yankees fan if they could have had Steinbrenner as their Owner and his desire to win, they would in a second. The fans might not like the way he goes about things, but they can’t name a team that has more World Series titles (Yankees have won 7) since he has owned the Yankees (1973).

The third and ever important factor which the Yankees get knocked for is homegrown talent. The Yankees are knocked for going out and buying talent, but truth of the matter is that 56% of their 2009 roster was homegrown, through the farm system talent. Compare that to the Phillies as they have only 32% of their talent through the minor leagues. The only other team with a higher percentage in 2009 was the Rockies with 64% of their players.

In closing, while it may be easy to bash the Yankees, it really doesn’t make sense because they actually lose money in the quest for championships. They retain their homegrown players more than most teams, which most fans probably can’t even fathom. In the end, it may be easy to hate on their money and success, but the Yankees are some of the few that really want to be the best and you can’t fault them for that.