Gotta disagree w/ you on this one, Stoney. As a Dodger fan, I grew up hating the Yanks as much as anyone. That being said, I respect the fact that Steinbrenner invests his cash in his team &, I believe, in some cases, at a loss. Think back from 1982 through 1995. That was the time between WS visits; and you had to go back to 1978 since their last WS championship before '96.
I don't recall too many people feeling bad for King George when he was signing a bunch of average players at superstar salaries only to see them all turn out to be busts. Remember Roy Smalley, Butch Wynegar, Dave Collins, Eddie Whitson, Bob Shirley, Johnny Oates, Steve Kemp, Jesse Barfield, Ken Griffey (Sr.)? Yeah, most Yank fans would prefer to forget them & a host of others as well. They are proof that you can't just throw money at the problem.
From '96 till the present, Cashman & his staff have done a decent job of throwing the big bucks at players who earned their money. Especially when it netted them WS championships. That being said they haven't won one since 2000 & have gambled some big bux on busts like Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, Hideki Irabu, & Randy Johnson (he had decent numbers but not what the Boss was expecting after that huge contract).
My beef is w/ the small market teams that cry poverty (specifically the Royals & Twins) when their billionaire owner is too stingy to crack open the piggy bank. I believe that Carl Pohlad, owner of the Twins, is the wealthiest owner in all of MLB, yet he knows that the general public perceives them as "small market" & so he can use "poverty" as an excuse when he loses a big-time, homegrown player (like Tori Hunter who will probably leave after this season b/c of $$). The Royals owner, Wal-Mart executive David Glass, isn't exactly on welfare either. He finally breaks out his pocketbook this past offseason on an average pitcher in Gil Meche. Glass, like the other small mkt owners, receive profit sharing from the money the big-mkt teams bring in to supposedly even the playing field as best as possible. Unfortunately, the owners aren't forced (though they should be) to reinvest that money in upgrading their roster. Instead, they pocket the dough. That's the problem w/ these successful CEO's who want to run their baseball team like a business: they get caught up in making a profit & not caring as much about rings. Then if the losing gets too unbearable & the ticket sales plummet, the owners complain about lack of a new stadium & insist the taxpayers buy them a new one. When they do, the owner can just sell the team for a nice profit & try his luck in another professional sports league.
When the owners of these smaller mkt. teams start spending EVERY nickel they receive from profit-sharing on bettering their rosters, I may start to sympathize a little. But then, I'll remember that their bank accounts dwarf that of Steinbrenner's & I'll think the better of it.
