Yankees Try To Buy Pennant

I had a boss years ago who would often chastise a young supervisor for paying overtime to get the job done. He would often say, “Anyone can do it with overtime. The challenge is to do it without overtime.”

This same methodology applies to the New York Yankees and to a lesser degree the Boston Red Sox – the two teams with the top two payrolls in major league baseball.

No matter what happens, the Yankee fans can count on Uncle George to pull out his checkbook at the scent of a free agent.

The Yankee payroll is now close to surpassing the astronomical $200 million dollar mark and not even the punitive escalating luxury tax seems to put a damper on trying to buy the way to the World Series.

Three players (Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Derek Jeter) combine to make approximately $66 million. Three players make half of what the Boston Red Sox pay their entire team and the total amount that the Minnesota Twins pay for their entire team.

With a payroll of over $200 million one would think and expect the Yankees to be running away with the pennant. As of August 6, the Yankees have a record of 66 – 42, the Red Sox are at 65 – 45 which is the same record held by the Minnesota Twins but they are doing with a third of the cost as the Yankees..

To me their manager deserves to be manager of the year because he has to juggle his young players. You see the old time boss was right when he said, “Anyone can do it with overtime.”