When Has a Yankee Official Ever Admitted This?

[Jagwar]

"The Yankees have 26 world championships," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says. "If we had played all of those years with divisions and wild cards, we would not have 26 world championships. This is much more perilous, a lot more combustible."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-10-06-playoff-format_N.htm

[RShack]

Well, look, I hate the MFY's as much as anybody... but let's not get confused and let the truth of his comment take away from the 26 championships. It shouldn't, and to think it should is missing something important.

Face it, the reason the modern playoff system would have hurt them is that it gives second chances to a whole bunch of teams who aren't good enough over the whole season. The reason the MFY's had that many is because they were reliably the best team in the league for decade after decade. The only teams who are helped by the playoffs are teams who aren't good enough to win the pennant the old-fashioned way: by winning more ballgames than anybody else...

[Dr. FLK]

He's just making excuses for why he doesn't win the WS every year despite his endless payroll, and he's hoping to lower his expectations by explaining to his fans why things are different now.

[Scrat1]

Well, look, I hate the MFY's as much as anybody... but let's not get confused and let the truth of his comment take away from the 26 championships. It shouldn't, and to think it should is missing something important.

Really not sure I could disagree with you more. While I agree that their payroll advantages don't completely tarnish their championships, the championships are certainly less spectacular than they otherwise would have been.

For you to say that their payroll advantages shouldn't take away from their championships is tantamount to saying that heavyweight completely deserves all the glory of that boxing match, even though he was fighting a welterweight. When one team in the MLB (Yankees) has a player whose yearly salary is greater than the entire payroll of another MLB team (Florida Marlins) that most certainly takes away from the notion of sport, a big part of which is fairness.

[Mad Mark]

Really not sure I could disagree with you more. While I agree that their payroll advantages don't completely tarnish their championships, the championships are certainly less spectacular than they otherwise would have been.

For you to say that their payroll advantages shouldn't take away from their championships is tantamount to saying that heavyweight completely deserves all the glory of that boxing match, even though he was fighting a welterweight. When one team in the MLB (Yankees) has a player whose yearly salary is greater than the entire payroll of another MLB team (Florida Marlins) that most certainly takes away from the notion of sport, a big part of which is fairness.

And it's always been this way! The Yankee$ have been exploiting MLB's archaic, 19th-Century revenue distribution "system" forever, and they've never really been called on it. The only times they've fallen from power have been times of inept or erratic ownership.

[RShack]

Really not sure I could disagree with you more. While I agree that their payroll advantages don't completely tarnish their championships, the championships are certainly less spectacular than they otherwise would have been.

For you to say that their payroll advantages shouldn't take away from their championships is tantamount to saying that heavyweight completely deserves all the glory of that boxing match, even though he was fighting a welterweight. When one team in the MLB (Yankees) has a player whose yearly salary is greater than the entire payroll of another MLB team (Florida Marlins) that most certainly takes away from the notion of sport, a big part of which is fairness.

What in the world are you talking about? Most of their championships had nothing to do with mega-payroll. They had the best teams, won the season, and went to the WS because inferior teams didn't get a 2nd chance at them in the playoffs. Mega-million-dollar payroll had nothing to do with it. Even when the won rings fairly recently, that was before their payroll became insane.

[beaner]

The last time the Yankees won a World Series (2000), their payroll was $113 million. The Dodgers, Braves, and Red Sox were all in the high 90s. There was no dominant payroll advantage that everyone always seems to talk about. An advantage, yes, a little, but not much. In fact, the Orioles payroll was higher than the Yankees in 1998 when they won a million games. Since they started spending like madmen, they haven't won one yet. So exactly ZERO of the 26 championships has much to do with this payroll advantage everyone constantly cries about.

[Jagwar]

The last time the Yankees won a World Series (2000), their payroll was $92 million. The Dodgers, Braves, and Rangers were all in the high 80s. There was no dominant payroll advantage that everyone always seems to talk about. Since they started spending like madmen, they haven't won one yet. So exactly ZERO of the 26 championships had anything to do this payroll advantage everyone constantly cries about.

You're wrong. The Yankees' advantage wasn't about having a high payroll in one year. It was about maintaining the high payroll year after year.

Do you really think their players like Posada, Jeter or Rivera would have stayed with the team for all of these years if they were, say, the Cardinals? The Braves? Not to mention the a team like the Pirates/Royals/Marlins?

[beaner]

You're wrong. The Yankees' advantage wasn't about having a high payroll in one year. It was about maintaining the high payroll year after year.

Do you really think their players like Posada, Jeter or Rivera would have stayed with the team for all of these years if they were, say, the Cardinals? The Braves? Not to mention the a team like the Pirates/Royals/Marlins?

Fair point, but why is that such a negative? Don't we all hope the Markakis, Wieters, Matusz...etc all stay here for their whole careers? It's the same idea.

[YardBirds13]

Fair point, but why is that such a negative? Don't we all hope the Markakis, Wieters, Matusz...etc all stay here for their whole careers? It's the same idea.

Point is bean, they use that payroll to make the playoffs EVERY YEAR (save last year of course).

We all know that once you get into the playoffs, its basically a crapshoot, they'll always be 1 of 8 teams with a chance....but the thing is, they are almost always going to be one of those eight teams.

In this decade:

The Yankees have made the playoffs 9 times in 10 years.

Boston and the Angels 6 times each.

Those three teams have been in the playoffs nearly every year this entire decade.

Sure, they do lots of things great. But the fact that a Carl Pavano or a Julio Lugo or a Gary Mathews contract to them is just an annoyance while it would be crippling to other teams is whats wrong with it.

[beaner]

Point is bean, they use that payroll to make the playoffs EVERY YEAR (save last year of course).

We all know that once you get into the playoffs, its basically a crapshoot, they'll always be 1 of 8 teams with a chance....but the thing is, they are almost always going to be one of those eight teams.

In this decade:

The Yankees have made the playoffs 9 times in 10 years.

Boston and the Angels 6 times each.

Those three teams have been in the playoffs nearly every year this entire decade.

Sure, they do lots of things great. But the fact that a Carl Pavano or a Julio Lugo or a Gary Mathews contract to them is just an annoyance while it would be crippling to other teams is whats wrong with it.

I'll buy that, but I don't see it as that big of a tragedy. We'd all kill to have the playoff consistency of those teams you mentioned. Anyone on the board who dares to deny that is lying. We may get there one day soon, and I'm sure no one will complain about some of the things we complain about other teams..

[Mu'ayyidSaafir]

You know, a factor in the Yankees’ 1998 season that is often overlooked is how relatively bad the level of competition seemingly was in the American League that year. Look at the rosters of the 1998 teams sometime. The Twins were running a lineup out there in which Matt Lawton was the best hitter. The Tigers were worse. Tampa Bay, of course, was in its first year of existence. The Royals had Pat Rapp as their #2 starter, while young Jermaine Dye and old Terry Pendleton gave KC a .606 and .637 OPS, respectively from RF and DH. The White Sox backed up their purchase of Albert Belle by sticking Wil Cordero of all people at first for 97 games. We all know how ill-conceived the Orioles’ roster was that year. Even the Red Sox, who made the playoffs, were pretty thin after Pedro and Nomar, with an outfield of Troy O’Leary, Darren Lewis, and Darren Bragg.

So next time a whining Yankee fan wonders why the Yanks can’t have a season like ’98 again, despite having the cream of the FA crop every single year, and blames it on A-Rod not having enough character or something like that, maybe they should consider that other teams have just gotten wiser and better since then. This was a league where the Rangers won the division with Rick Helling as their ace, so 114 wins for the Yankees shouldn’t be surprising.

[Mad Mark]

The last time the Yankees won a World Series (2000), their payroll was $113 million. The Dodgers, Braves, and Red Sox were all in the high 90s. There was no dominant payroll advantage that everyone always seems to talk about. An advantage, yes, a little, but not much. In fact, the Orioles payroll was higher than the Yankees in 1998 when they won a million games. Since they started spending like madmen, they haven't won one yet. So exactly ZERO of the 26 championships has much to do with this payroll advantage everyone constantly cries about.

The 1998 Yankee$ were relatively young. The 1998 Orioles were relatively old, and therefore expensive. (They were also badly assembled, but that's another story.)

And ALL of the Yankee$ championships are--one way or another--about money. Not payroll...certainly not payroll in the late, unlamented days of the reserve clause...but about revenues. Revenues that didn't have to be spent on players, but were spent on scouts and other cool baseball stuff.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: unless Yankee$ ownership is incompetent or insane, they should never not make the playoffs. Never.

[Mad Mark]

I'll buy that, but I don't see it as that big of a tragedy. We'd all kill to have the playoff consistency of those teams you mentioned. Anyone on the board who dares to deny that is lying. We may get there one day soon, and I'm sure no one will complain about some of the things we complain about other teams..

If any team was able to do that in a MLB that featured equitable distribution of revenues, then all you could do is tip your hat to teams that consistently made the playoffs. When one team consistently has higher revenues than all the others, you're not on a level playing field...and resentment is a natural feeling.

[Jagwar]

Fair point, but why is that such a negative? Don't we all hope the Markakis, Wieters, Matusz...etc all stay here for their whole careers? It's the same idea.

Yes it is the same idea, but how many of the current crop players will be lifelong O's? Which of Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Matusz, Tillman, Bergeson, etc, will still be with the team in 7-8 years?

The thing is, the Yankees can afford to throw money not only at their players, but they can sign any FA they want. And if those FA's don't pan out, they can add salary through trades without any consequence if those players fail to produce.