Every year, without fail, it seems that the Yankees give a lot of money to a very good player and a lot of money to other good players (and without fail, every year it seems one doesn’t pan out—either is injured or doesn’t play as well as expected).
The thing is, the Yankees can’t really help it. They’re caught in a Catch-22. They might not want to spend the money, but the fans expect it. The fans expect a quality team, and pay to watch a quality team (which is why it amuses all other fans the years that the Yankees spend a lot of money for a third-place team—and then promptly fire their manager).
The most baffling trade of late that involves money would be the Toronto Blue Jays giving the Chicago White Sox outfielder Alex Rios. Rios was an all-star player for a couple of years, and is still young. The thing is, he hasn’t been hitting like the superstar he was, and he was getting paid superstar money ($60 million over the next 4 years, from my understanding; I am unclear whether the $60 million is for the next four years, or if it includes this year and I’m too tired to find out).
The thing that’s needed to be understood is that Rios is not a bad player. He’s merrily average, and at age 28, he still has a little time to rebound from his average year. It was a risk that the White Sox were willing to take, and the Blue Jays weren’t willing to wait for. The White Sox didn’t give up a player in the negotiations, and simply took on the extra salary. For a team with a little money to spend, it’s probably a good risk. If Rios rebounds, they got something for nothing—they’d end up paying that money to someone for a superstar player. If Rios doesn’t rebound, the Blue Jays win in that they got out of his contract, which is what they seemingly wanted.
The point is, you have to spend money to get money. Showing up with an average team is likely to gain a team any sort of following. There will always be baseball fans, sure, but bandwagon jumpers bring in a lot of the money. The better the team is, the more fans that want to attend. The more fans in the stands, the more merchandise being sold, the more money a team is going to make. And not all risks are easy to make.
The risk that the White Sox took on will pale if Rios becomes the .290/.345/.825 hitter he was in 2006-2008. Ages 25-27 seem a little young to reach the apex and start declining at age 28. Age 227-29 is often considered the prime years of baseball, and we’ve seen players like Barry Bonds and Greg Maddux playing into their 40s (Maddux is probably a better example, because as far as I know there’s no steroid allegations with him). Naturally, there are often some flash-in-the-pan rookies who come out of the gates like a super-star, but fizzle off into nothing. (Recall Lew Ford was part of the final vote for the All-Star Game early in his career, and three years later was almost completely forgotten by baseball. If he hadn’t be an absent-minded geek, he probably would’ve been completely forgotten).
The short of all the babbling is that this is a good risk by the White Sox. They’re going to end up spending money, but the odds favor them getting a good return on their money. His minor league numbers are very consistent with what he’s done so far in the majors. It’s possible that he won’t make it, but I would be willing to take the risk, too—if I had the money.
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