Now That's What I Call Value!

Ok. Breathing has slowed almost to David Blaine-In-Water-Bubble levels. Reaction time has been dulled. Blinking, swallowing, any overt motions that might cause detectors to trigger have been virtually eliminated. I am now ready to face the world following this numbingly apocalyptic five-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees. Can something be simultaneously numbing AND apocalyptic? Fortunately, I am far too deep in a catatonic depression to feel any urge to justify that word pairing.

For all of our self-righteous complaining that the Yankees are bad for baseball, that they just throw money and more money at their problems without any heed paid to the value they're getting in return, the results have got to speak for themselves. There's nothing like $200 million to plow you past the pretenders. Sure, the Yankees can pride themselves on having home-grown talent like Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera contributing to these wins, but they've also got more players making $10 million or more each year than the Royals have wins this year. The Yankees, at least since the mid-1990's, have decided that they'll acquire talent and lock it up, regardless of the price. They'll not hesitate to pay a premium for that talent. And talent is called talent for a reason. This weekend, the Yankees hit the crap out of the ball. Their bullpen was solid when it needed to be solid, and they just carved the Sox up.

Over the past few years, I've really taken some pride in the fact that Theo and the front office have tried to instill a logic and information-based strategy of assembling a team. They established a budget, did research, and insisted on getting value and not overpaying for players- particularly when it came to long-term contracts. Signing Pedro or Johnny Damon to deals longer than three years was improbable (though I think signing Pedro at all would have been virtually impossible). Overpaying for a middle reliever or a utility infielder wouldn't happen. Why pay six million for two years of Kyle Farnsworth or Tom Gordon when we've got Craig Hansen virtually free for the next four to six years? I appreciated that sense of replacement level value and the fungibility of certain talents.

But then the smartest kid in class steps out onto the playground and gets his books knocked out of his arms and his glasses broken by the class bully. We can take comfort in the knowledge that the Sox may be smarter than the Yankees, but it doesn't matter, because smartness doesn't necessarily win. It would help win more if there were a salary cap and everyone played by the same budgetary rules (ala the Patriots in football) but the Yankees play by their own rules. If they need something for the team to win, they buy it. Need another all-star outfielder? A fourth closer to set up Rivera? No problem? That'll push us over $210 million and more than $75 million over the salary-penalty level? So what?

I'm not saying that the Sox should emulate the Yankees in this way. Despite John Henry being probably wealthier than George Steinbrenner, I don't advocate the Sox spending their way totally out of this mess. I do advocate, however, a bit of a recognition that sometimes, you do have to bit the bullet and overpay for some talent. The very best baseball players, the ones you need in a rockfight against the Yankees, deserve a premium. If we weren't stuck in the Yankees division, we might continue to be the wealthier, smarter Oakland A's. But we can't afford to do that. We need to overpay a bit more, just to stay in this one.