In the interests of full disclosure, I’m going to identify myself as a Mariners fan who respects Jeter, hates A-Rod, and would just as soon see a salary cap in the MLB. With that out of the way:

I wish people would say World Series Champions. Seems a bit presumptuous to assume that the team is the best in the world, bar none, without having a way to even remotely approach testing that theory. Consider the WBC—a hugely flawed system, yes, but notice which team has won—both times. Japan. I’d love to see what would happen in a series between the Japanese league champions and the MLB champions. (consider that while Ichiro, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Hideki Matsui play in the US, most of the players on that WBC team don’t play over here)

On to your post:

Yes, we have the highest pay-roll in baseball, and yes without money we probably aren’t champs. But money does not make CC talented or Tex, Jeter, A-rod etc…the talents is there and they are rewarded immensely. If a salary cap was in place, would that mean A-rod will now hit 20 homers and CC win 10 games, in my opinion that point is senseless

Here’s the flaw with your argument, as I see it: no, money does not effect the talent level of a player. However, look at it this way: no other team in the league could have absorbed a $40M price tag for three starters, and still fielded a team with Tex and A-Rod. Not even close. Your payroll was 48% higher than the next highest-spender. With that said, big spending does not guarantee success—obviously. But the simple reality is that the spending levels of the Yankees allow them to absorb bad decisions/players that don’t pan out in a way unlike any other team.

Yes, the Yankees were hands-down the best team in the league, and as such, they deserved to win the title. However, I have a hard time seeing how you can make the case that winning is such a great accomplishment when the team had such an incredibly large financial advantage over the rest of the league.

the argument that the money the Yanks spend to procure the talent they have (intermixed with homegrown talent and shrewd trades) should ALWAYS guarantee a playoff spot. With the talent we has this year only injuries could’ve derailed us from making the playoffs and we really had no significant ones during the season other than Wang. But winning the WS the way baseball is set up know IS an accomplishment no matter how much you spend. In the playoffs you can’t afford a bad stretch of games and even if talent underforms for about 1 week or so periodically over the season , the length of the season makes it nearly impossible for standout talent to not shine often. But the playoffs require consistently excellent fundamentals (starting with pitching) not undermining talent over a span of about a month. You know what, the Twins and Angels were fundamentally awful against us and that undermined them us much as any talent gap. Bad baserunning, bad fielding, at times bordering on amateurish. You know what, we didn’t do any of those things for the most part. Every pitcher got into the 6th except for Burnett in Game 5 of the WS and our fielding was great. The baserunning was good and so was the fielding. We did not beat ourselves. That takes concentration and focus. We deserved to win because we executed better than any of the teams we played against and we did not put ourselves into a position where unsound fundamentals could determine our fate. As far as our money advantage goes, we don’t have to apologize for the fact that we’ve got resources that allow us to get the best talent on the market. The one thing I found somewhat nausaeting was the new stadium. It’s a shrine to excess and makes our front office seem like elitists. In that sense Levine, Trost and to a lesser extent Cashman have taken away that touch of class we had when Torre was here. I think it’s even easier to hate us now if your other teams’ fans. As a Yanks fan I found the players to be the team’s saving grace. We’ve got too many guys who are good people and genuinely care about their teamates. Rivera, Jeter, Posada, Pettite, Sabathia and many others. Rivera is a player who has transcended his position. His only point of reference is himself. Him and Jeter are the best things that have happened to this franchise in the last twenty years. They make me care, not just about how the Yanks do in satifìsfying me as a fan, but about them as players and human beings. They were not bought and what they bring to a team can’t be measured in dollars and cents. Let the Yankee haters choke on that.

Just to clarify once more—I’m not “hating” on your team, I’m not saying you weren’t the best, that you didn’t deserve to win…I sincerely hope you are enjoying the victory. We clearly have some differences of opinion (how boring would it be if we didn’t!), but one way or the other, it’s been fun discussing this stuff with you…and I appreciate not being automatically labeled “troll” etc. :)

Cheers

-R