Don’t Blame George for Yankees Empire, Blame Bud - Vito's View - Comcast.net Sports

As the Yankees piled on one another in the infield like Little Leaguers (minus the free shirts and hats) and later doused each other in champagne like frat guys (minus the goggles) – all in celebration of the franchise’s latest World Series championship – the rest of the baseball world turned away in disgust.

Listen to any sports talk radio show today, read some blogs, visit a few message boards and I promise that you’ll meet plenty of people dismissing New York’s 27th title. The refrain is as familiar as it is constant: Of course, the Yankees won. They spent $200 million. They bought their championship. It’s not fair.

Evidently, they completely disagree with Derek Jeter’s assessment: "This is right back where it belongs," he said of the World Series trophy he held in his arms after last night’s clincher.

This is about the point where Lee nearly threw up on the Yankee Stadium field.

This is about the point where even the most levelheaded baseball fan calls Jeter a jerk for rubbing it in.

But this is also the point where, as a Yankees fan, I become an apologist. This is where I jump up and defend the team that I spent every summer with since, well, as long as I can remember. And believe me, it wasn’t fun taking all those licks when the organization was a joke in the mid-to-late ’80s and early ’90s.

My main defense of the Yankees has always rested on a single contention: Don’t blame the Yankees, blame Major League Baseball.

Some Yankees fans believe that money doesn’t guarantee championships. Of course it doesn’t guarantee championships. But let’s be honest, it helps … tremendously. The Yankees have the money to build a $1.5 billion ballpark, stand up their own TV network and sell a global brand.

But most importantly, they have the money to make mistakes. Money allows you to hit big just as it allows you to miss big.

Sure, they spent a combined $423.5 million on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira last offseason. And that’s in addition to the $275 million deal they handed A-Rod the offseason before. And all of that’s in addition to the $189 million deal they awarded Jeter nine years ago and the big money they’ve given Rivera, Posada, Damon and Matsui.

But since their last championship in 2000, the Yankees have also made a host of head-scratching trades and signings for players who couldn’t deliver a championship: Carl Pavano, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Jeff Weaver, Kei Igawa, Esteban Loaiza, Bobby Arbeu, Raul Mondesi, Ivan Rodriguez – the list is seemingly endless.

"This is what the Steinbrenner family has strived for, year after year," Joe Girardi said after winning his first World Series as a manager.

Indeed. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, I can’t jump up and down and claim that money doesn’t buy hardware. It does everything but. I’m on your side of that squabble.

What I won’t buy is the argument that the Yankees are this evil empire that’s swimming in Benjamins, crushing the little guy and making a mockery of the game by giving big contracts to the best players.

That’s not the Yankees’ fault. That’s baseball’s fault. Don’t blame George Steinbrenner. Blame Bud Selig.

Instead of instituting a salary cap to achieve competitive balance, baseball decided to focus on revenue sharing and a luxury tax (which is a euphuism for a penalty on high payrolls).

Against that backdrop are the Yankees, a franchise making the most money but also willing to spend the most money. By declining to set a salary cap, baseball has handed the Yankees (and everyone else) that right.

What do you expect the Yankees to do … not spend their money?

We have plenty of owners taking that route. They act as if they can’t afford top-tier free agents because they are already begging on the street corner trying to keep their franchises afloat.

As a fan, you want your team to win at all costs. And that’s exactly what the Yankees do.

They spare no expense in building a winner. To expect them to hoard their money and limit their spending because it would be better for some other team to get certain players who can then beat the Yankees and keep them from winning a championship is ludicrous.

But that’s exactly what Yankee-haters demand. They insist that the Yankees should take it upon themselves to restrict their spending … all for the good of the game. I’ll tell you what’s good for the game – good Yankees teams that attract huge crowds on the road and drive up TV ratings. That’s good for the game.

And that’s exactly why baseball doesn’t want a salary cap. They want the Yankees to be good. They want the Yankees in the playoffs. They want them to reach the World Series.

Baseball knows that you’ll watch when the Yankees are among the elite, that you’ll smile when they lose and you’ll fume when they win.

You might cringe when watching the Yankees celebrate another championship and you might feel nauseated this winter when hearing them talk about doing it again next year.

But your rage shouldn’t center on the Yankees. It should focus on baseball – and the broken system it created. The Yankees weren’t alone in building this empire. Baseball enabled them and assisted them … every step of the way.

Your Feedback Did the Yankees buy their championship? Or are they just taking advantage of baseball's rules? Click here to comment.

Email me at vitosview@comcast.net; follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/vjforlenza.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Message Edited by Vito_Forlenza on 11-06-2009 09:03 AM