Light the Hot Stove fires

Of course it makes a difference, which is why it will always be better to be the owner of the Yankees and the Royals and why a franchise in a big market will always be more valuable than one in a smaller market. You get what you pay for.

But a lot of club investment is done with borrowed money because money is relatively cheap with today's interest rates. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees carried one of the higher debts in baseball. Doesn't mean they're about to go broke, though, because their growth (franchise value) is far outpacing their debt.

 

Joe Posnanski likes the Meche signing. The optimist in me believes the optimist in him ...

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/16190469.htm

 

Exactly. So why don't they leave the rightie in? Because, to use your words, odds are the lefty would hammer him.

So I'm just not sure how this means lefty closers are any more iffy than righties.

 

Separated at Birth?

<img src="http://espn.starwave.com/media/mlb/2004/1227/photo/a_drew_frt.jpg" />

<img src="http://www.dacre.org/stills/webm/Mcl3759.jpg" />

New Red Sox outfielder JD Drew and Victor McLaglen (well known actor for such films as The Quiet Man and Gunga Din among others)

 

The Orioles are giving Jay Payton a two-year deal. The fun continues in Balmer. Sigh.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-os1208,0,5860222.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball

 

Jason Marquis to the Cubs -- a three-year contract worth either $20M or $26M, depending on which paper you read. I don't know if I should applaud the Cubs for taking a chance or call them crazy. Marquis wasn't even good enough to make Cards' postseason roster, yet he did win 13 games for them two years ago. I'll let others who saw more of him last season than I did rate this one.

 

the twins are exhibit a of this. the marlins, if they can sustain their success in 2007, might be exhibit b. i have no idea how much the twins pay their scouts or pour into their baseball development, but whatever they're doing, it works. i've been beating this drum for years. nothing is to stop the yankees from skipping one $20 million player in a given offseason and devote that entire amount to beefing up the farm system, from facilities to nutrition to quality scouts to actual instructors who know how to teach instead of ex-player hangers ons owed a favor by someone.

 

Wow, that's awful. He was brutal this year.

 

1 WS win
3 AL pennants
7 postseason berths

Nothing.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

You have some vested connection with baseball management.

There is no reasonable explanation for your bizarre take on this when you are so on point with so much else.

 

You lose money every year until you sell=Bad business.

 

Exactly.

No baseball team should have an advantage to win purely based on where it's located.

 

Not in the NFL.

In a sports setting, where - dunno if you've heard of it - a level playing field is pretty important, baseball is a joke.

Why not let the Yankees have a fourth outfielder, too. A rover, while every other team just has three.

It's exactly the same concept. But I bet your ass you would object to THAT.