Yanks get Tanaka 7y/$155M

[Guest]

Didn't you troll enough about Tomko yesterday?

How is it trolling for real? Those are the players we're signing this off-season. It's the truth not trolling.

[Guest]

On a side note the Yankee Lineup

Likely Yankees lineup (guys likely to miss 20 games or more in bold):

Ellsbury

Jeter

Beltran

McCann (technicality - catcher)

Soriano

Teixeira

Kelly Johnson

Brendan Ryan/Brian Roberts

Brett Gardner

[twinedenter]

So the O's and Yankess had the same record in 2013.

The Yankees add Beltran, Ellsbury, McCann, & Tanaka + BRob, Scott Siezmore + Kelly Johnson + healthy Jeter(???)

The Yankees lose Cano, ARod, V. Wells, Chris Stewart

The Orioles add Ryan Webb, Jemile Weeks, David Lough

The Orioles lose Scott Feldman, Jason Hammel, Jim Johnson, BRob, Danny Valencia

And folks think the O's will finish ahead of the Yanks in the AL East???

We have a last place starting rotation... and that's if they stay healthy and pitch to their career norms. An injur to Tillman, MGon, or Chen and we have a 95 loss starting rotation.

But sure we'd all rather root for the loveable losers than see our owner spend some money on talent.

Don't forget they are getting Michael Pineda back as well.....

[bpilktree]

A team only pays luxury tax on the amount by which they are over the cap. So, it does matter quite a bit whether they are over by $1 mm or $20 mm. In the first scenario, the tax is $500k, in the second scenario, it's $10 mm.

The big reason the Yankees wanted to get under the cap, however, was to "reset" their tax rate. The tax rate goes up for each consecutive year (up to four years) that a team is over the cap. A first time offender pays 17.5% of the amount by which they exceed the cap, two-time offender 30%, three-time offender 40%, four-time offender 50%. So, if the Yankees could have stayed under the cap, not only would they have avoided any luxury tax for 2014, they would have lowered the tax rate for the following three seasons even if they were over the cap in those years. It adds up.

Yeah this tax rate is one reason i thought they would stay under this season to do as you said restart their tax rate at 0 years. I don't think this team is a championship team with or without him so i figured they would want to restart it so they have more money in the future. The basically are paying him close to 50 million because of the luxary tax and the tax rate. That is a lot of marbles.

[Austin]

How is it trolling for real? Those are the players we're signing this off-season. It's the truth not trolling.

Because this thread has nothing to do with our payroll or Brett Tomko. We get it, the Orioles are cheap.

[Frobby]

The 2013 model that won them 85 games after maybe the worst rash of injuries and drama for one team in recent MLB history?

You know I was going to make a smart comment 3 pages ago about how the usual suspects were going to show up and chime in with their "Yankees still don't scare me" nonsense, but thought better of it.

Well what do you know look at the last 2 pages LOL and this ridiculous post. Like clockwork.

I can't tell how good the Yankees are going to be this year. Obviously, they made four big acquisitions in Tanaka, Ellsbury, MCann and Beltran. But let's not forget they lost Cano, Granderson, Pettitte and Rivera, and ARod won't play either.

On the one hand, I agree that they won't get hit with injuries to the same extent as last year. And on the other hand, they remain an old team that will probably have more than its share of injuries for that reason.

Finally, although the Yankees won 85 games last year, their Pythagorean record was much worse, as they were outscored 671 to 650 (which computes to a 79-83 Pythag).

Overall, it could go either way for the Yankees. They should score a lot more than 650 runs, but they don't look like a dominant team to me.

[lovetoaster]

How is it trolling for real? Those are the players we're signing this off-season. It's the truth not trolling.

You were proven wrong about "only the Orioles" looking at Tomko. If you were not trolling yesterday, you were pretty close. You are acting like he would be the biggest pitching acquisition that the team plans on making. If that ends up being the case, we should be annoyed. But I am fairly certain that we have our eyes on better options and that you are just trying to rile people up. Who knows, Tomko could be a smart signing, who cares about his age if he can throw the ball over the plate and get people out?

You are here in this thread about Tanaka because our owner is not "going for it." Hey, I wish we would spend more money too, but paying a guy $22M a year for seven years when he has never thrown a MLB pitch and may have a ceiling as a #3 starter is not the kind of investment we need to be making. So spewing the same stuff in this thread is irrelevant.

Honestly, I would rather spend a minimal amount on Tomko than $155M on Tanaka. There are guys that we might be interested in, and there are guys that we know that we were never going to be in on. Tanaka and a few others are on that latter list. So I am not going to get pissed about not signing a guy that we did not have any interest in, and should not have had any interest in, IMO.

[lovetoaster]

Because this thread has nothing to do with our payroll or Brett Tomko. We get it, the Orioles are cheap.

Jackpot.

[bpilktree]

So the O's and Yankess had the same record in 2013.

The Yankees add Beltran, Ellsbury, McCann, & Tanaka + BRob, Scott Siezmore + Kelly Johnson + healthy Jeter(???)

The Yankees lose Cano, ARod, V. Wells, Chris Stewart

The Orioles add Ryan Webb, Jemile Weeks, David Lough

The Orioles lose Scott Feldman, Jason Hammel, Jim Johnson, BRob, Danny Valencia

And folks think the O's will finish ahead of the Yanks in the AL East???

We have a last place starting rotation... and that's if they stay healthy and pitch to their career norms. An injur to Tillman, MGon, or Chen and we have a 95 loss starting rotation.

But sure we'd all rather root for the loveable losers than see our owner spend some money on talent.

You missed a lot of guys the Yanks lost as well. The best closer ever in baseball in Riveria. They lost Pettite who had a decent year for them and maybe about the same ERA that I would expect from Tanaka. They also lost Granderson and even though he had a tough year he is about the same as Beltran.

[SilentJames]

So the Yankees got Tanaka.

1) Is there anyone that really is surprised by this? They probably offered him at least 30% more than the other teams, because they can. Get over it, deal with it.

2) Why do I not seem to care? Why am i not afraid of the Yankees? A couple reasons: First and foremost I'm not afraid of the Yankees because I am not a professional baseball player. It is not my job to be afraid of the Yankees as the Yankees' ability to play baseball well will not have a significant impact on my day-to-day existence. Secondly, even if I was, what exactly would that accomplish? Me fretting about he Yankees doing something they have done for the better part of the last 20 years will not change matters.

I have to have discussions with teenagers everyday that are fretting about the biggest problems in their lives to that point. Usually it is a paper, or a project, or a debate tournament. Sometimes it is more personal. I go through the same thing every time: Is there any way I can change the conditions of my situation? No? Then how can I be successful within these conditions?

There is always a way to be successful. There is always a way to get things done. You either change the conditions or work within them to get the best outcome you can given the conditions.

The Orioles can't change the conditions they are in. They play in the AL East against a team with seemingly unlimited resources. They need to find a way to be successful under those conditions. That means being smart and picking your battles.

This is just how I look at the world in general. So far I am pretty happy with where it has gotten me.

[Guest]

Cry all you want to about financial disparity. The reality is this. The Baltimore Orioles choose NOT to compete financially on any level with the most

successful franchises in the game. Sure, they were never players in the Tanaka sweepstakes, but dont think they didnt have the financial ability to.

The chose not to. That is why it is likely the Orioles are looking at third place at best, and more likely fourth or fifth.

Bingo, Funny if i said this i would get killed. Let's see how this plays out with you saying it.

[spiritof66]

Thanks for the clarification. Apparently the Yankees don't care about the LT.

The reason that they cared, or professed to care, was that they had a window this year, with the full-season ARod suspension, to come in under that figure and get a reset on the tax. Paying a $10 or $30 million luxury tax shouldn't be that big a deal to a team that has reported annual revenues of almost $600 mm, not counting the YES money machine -- especially if the higher payroll gets them to the playoffs. I suspect the Yankees made a point of trying to get under $189 mm in part, if not completely, as an element of their ongoing campaign to avoid further pro-competitive measures by presenting themselves as having financial concerns and constraints that limit their payroll and free agent signings.

[lovetoaster]

Bingo, Funny if i said this i would get killed. Let's see how this plays out with you saying it.

Are you trying to get people to feel sorry for you? Roy does not say the same thing all over the place and add a heavy dose of mockery about every move we make, whether it is good or bad. I love sarcasm more than most people, but when it is the same thing over and over again, it gets old fast.

[Number5]

Cry all you want to about financial disparity. The reality is this. The Baltimore Orioles choose NOT to compete financially on any level with the most

successful franchises in the game. Sure, they were never players in the Tanaka sweepstakes, but dont think they didnt have the financial ability to.

The chose not to. That is why it is likely the Orioles are looking at third place at best, and more likely fourth or fifth.

The Orioles could theoretically pay that amount, but they really couldn't absorb it if Tanaka busted. That is the real financial disparity. The Yankees have the wherewithal to just sign someone else if they miss on a huge deal like this. The Orioles, and most other teams, do not.

[SilentJames]

Cry all you want to about financial disparity. The reality is this. The Baltimore Orioles choose NOT to compete financially on any level with the most

successful franchises in the game. Sure, they were never players in the Tanaka sweepstakes, but dont think they didnt have the financial ability to.

The chose not to. That is why it is likely the Orioles are looking at third place at best, and more likely fourth or fifth.

They could have given Tanaka that contract, but would that have been a smart thing for them to do? Look at Seattle and Cano.

Even if the Orioles could give Tanaka that money, and offered him the exact same contract the Yankees could offer him 10% more. That is the difference between the Orioles and the Yankees.

Sure the Orioles are likely not utilizing enough of their resources, I don't think anyone can argue that, but what makes the Yankees so impossible is that they seem to literally have as close to unlimited funds as possible. They, and now the Dodgers, have the ability to outbid virtually every other team on whim. They have the ability to absorb so much more risk than say the Chicago White Sox, or the Indians, or the Rays, or the Orioles.

Tanaka could be a bust. He could never live up to the hype. The Yanks can take that risk, the Orioles can not.

That is just math.