Doug Melvin complains about Yanks CC offer

[Sports Guy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3706123

Sounds like a bunch of whining to me.

[clapdiddy]

Agreed...what are you going to do about it? The Yankees can pay whatever they deem reasonable. Without a salary cap in baseball, you can't control what other teams want to do.

[beaner]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3706123

Sounds like a bunch of whining to me.

Who does Doug Melvin think he is, a Hangouter?

The Yankees the past few years have proven that money doesn't buy anything. Let them spend the money, who cares.

Tampa, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Detroit..etc have proven you can win without signing the most expensive player.

[geschinger]

Teamps vocally complaining is a good thing that we should applause. Until there is a critical mass reached where enough teams decide that revenue disparities are a legitimate problem the problem will not be addressed.

[ledzepp8]

It might be whining, but I think he's got a good point. This illustrates what is wrong with MLB. Melvin and the Brewers offered what they think is a pretty good first offer, but you've got teams like the Yankees who can just come and basically say "Screw You Brewers!!" and offer $40 million more. You add that to the fact that the Yankees plan on offering contracts to basically ever free agent this offseason and it presents a little too much disparity. Not that we haven't seen this for the last 10-12 years or so.

[ledzepp8]

It is whining but it doesn't mean it's not stupid.

Yanks are pretty much bidding 40 million against themselves right?

This is a great point too and again illustrates how it really doesn't matter to the Yankees how much money they spend. It doesn't hurt them when they don't spend wisely.

[beaner]

It might be whining, but I think he's got a good point. This illustrates what is wrong with MLB. Melvin and the Brewers offered what they think is a pretty good first offer, but you've got teams like the Yankees who can just come and basically say "Screw You Brewers!!" and offer $40 million more. You add that to the fact that the Yankees plan on offering contracts to basically ever free agent this offseason and it presents a little too much disparity. Not that we haven't seen this for the last 10-12 years or so.

The Yankees started spending wildly in 2001, they haven't won since. As I've mentioned ad nauseum on the board, they were way better off in the '96-2000 era in which they won 4 World Championships with a main core of homegrown guys than they've been since the wild spending started. Of course, everyone chooses to ignore this because well, it wouldn't fit the mode of constantly whining and crying about the Yankees.

For what it's worth, let's take a look at the last few World Series MVP's and see how many "big name" Free Agents are on the list

2008-Cole Hamels-developed by Phillies

2007-Mike Lowell- a throw in with the Beckett deal

2006-David Eckstein-Far from a big name

2005-Jermaine Dye- Free Agent from Oakland but far from an earth shattering figure (2 years, $10 mil)

2004-Manny Ramirez- There's one

2003-Josh Beckett- Still young at the time

2002-Troy GLaus-Developed by Angels

2001-Johnson, Schilling- Johnson was a big time free agent

2000-Derek Jeter-Developed by Yankees

1999-Mo Rivera- developed by Yankees

1998-Scott Brosius- Not a big name

1997-Livan Hernandez-Unheard of at the time

1996-John Wetteland-Traded to Yankees

1995-Tom Glavine-Developed by Braves

1993-Paul Molitor-Free Agent

1992-Pat Borders-Developed by Blue Jays..

For what it's worth, and granted it's not much, these men were MVP's of the World Series, and there are 3 big time free agents on the list, only Manny Ramirez in the last few years. And honestly, besides Boston and Arizona, how many of those teams weren't mostly homegrown players? I guess the BLue Jays in 1992-93 as well.

Bottom line, to me, who cares, let the Yankees buy whoever they want, it's been proven year after year that it usually doesn't work anyway.

[davearm]

Melvin comes across looking pretty clueless here.

Was he not aware that Johan Santana got just about the same deal the Yankees are offering Sabathia?

That's the benchmark Melvin ought to be looking at, not his own desperation lowball offer.

[mweb]

Who does Doug Melvin think he is, a Hangouter?

The Yankees the past few years have proven that money doesn't buy anything. Let them spend the money, who cares.

Tampa, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Detroit..etc have proven you can win without signing the most expensive player.

Well if consistently making the playoffs until this year isn't anything, than sure. But money clearly makes a big difference. And the playoffs are largely a crapshoot, and I don't see what showing WS MVP's prove.

[mweb]

Melvin comes across looking pretty clueless here.

Was he not aware that Johan Santana got just about the same deal the Yankees are offering Sabathia?

That's the benchmark Melvin ought to be looking at, not his own desperation lowball offer.

Santana's deal is really only(can't believe I'm using that word here:D) worth $123 million in present day value due to all the deferred money.

[mweb]

Who does Doug Melvin think he is, a Hangouter?

The Yankees the past few years have proven that money doesn't buy anything. Let them spend the money, who cares.

Tampa, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Detroit..etc have proven you can win without signing the most expensive player.

I don't recall anyone saying you can't win without the most expensive player, however the last two of your examples had pretty high payrolls, and two of the first 3 teams took forever to make the playoffs, or even become solid. Not sure they're good examples.

The Twins are a decent example, but wouldn't they be better if they could afford to keep more of their guys and/or bring in a top free agent occasionally?

Wouldn't the Brewers likely be better going forward if they could afford to keep CC and maybe even Sheets? Or weren't interested in trading one of their best players because he's about to become expensive and they fear losing him after a couple more seasons?

[Sports Guy]

The Yankees know that CC would prefer to be on the west coast and perhaps prefer the NL as well and because of that, the Yanks know that they have to blow him away to get him to come back to the AL and to the east coast.

So, they are doing just that...As Dave said, you have to look at the Santana deal to start off with and the Yanks are going to have to spend more than that to get him.

Melvin needs to get over it...This sounds like jealousy to me..Yes, this does suck and I wish something could be done about it but nothing can, so either the Brewers can offer more money or move on and go after someone else.

[Migrant Redbird]

Melvin comes across looking pretty clueless here.

Agreed.

The Brewers offered $20M a year for 5 years and Sabathia decided to wait to see if there would be any better offers out there. The Yankees have offered $23.3M for 6 years -- yes that's substantially better but it's nowhere near where the final contract could end up.

General managers have to balance the dominating performance which Sabathia delivered for the Brewers against his less than spectacular performance for the Indians earlier in the season, along with the tendency for pitchers getting long term contracts to spend most of that time on the DL, and decide whether it's worth it or not for them to overbid for Sabathia in the hopes he'll remain healthy and performing near a Cy Young level for another 5-7 years. The odds are very, very long against that.

$3.3M a year isn't that much in today's free agent market place. Sabathia has to consider whether it's worth giving up the right to bat for himself, and to pitch against other pitchers, to go back to the AL and pitch in baseball's heaviest hitting division. If I were him, I wouldn't even consider it. But I'm not CC.

Look at Mike Hampton, how well it worked out for him prioritizing dollars over pitching environment and going to Colorado for the big bucks. That mistake may have shaved dozens or even hundreds of wins off Mike's career total. If Mike had remained in Houston or taken the Cardinals offer which reportedly was only slightly less than Colorado's -- his career might have paralleled Roy Oswalt's or Jake Peavy's over the last 6 years.

[Hank Scorpio]

Hey, if they want to give a 6 year deal to a guy that's thrown damn near 500 innings the past two years and is marginally overweight, god bless 'em. I'm sure this one will end up just like the other however many bad contracts they've handed out to pitchers the past 5 or 6 years...

Has Sabathia ever had TJS?

[davearm]

Santana's deal is really only(can't believe I'm using that word here:D) worth $123 million in present day value due to all the deferred money.

The present value of the Yankees' offer is not $140M either.