27 Championships Bought - Because They Can

The American League East has historically been known as a powerhouse division, lead by the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox (the Orioles had a short run, too). With George Steinbrenner buying another Championship, is it not time for some other organizations to step up to the plate?

Many organizations believe in home-growing their players, paying them minimal salaries, putting 10,000 butts in the seats of their 45,000 seat stadium, turning a profit, and losing 80-100 games per year.

The sad thing about these teams growing their players; they'll be Yankees. Well, at least the best ones will. When those players get good, they refuse to pay them the desired salary and the Yankees swoop in and say, "we will!" Carl Crawford of Tampa Bay? He'll be a Yankee in 2011. The cream of the crop with expiring contracts, every off-season, will be handpicked and payed nicely by the Yankees until teams step up and "pay for their Championships."

Is it the Yankees fault? No. There's no rule in place to prevent the Yankees from doing so. As a matter of fact, the "tax" that teams pay for going over the salary cap gets split up between the (bad) organizations that don't.

Fans need to quit their whining. The only thing keeping other teams from competing with the 4-or-so teams that "over-pay" for players is the owners' unwillingness to do whatever it takes to hold onto its star players. Texas let A-Rod AND Mark Teixeira get away. Boston gave away Johnny Damon. Cleveland - C.C. Sabathia. Toronto - A.J. Burnett. Oakland/Chicago - Nick Swisher.

So, this goes out to the 20+ teams not competing. Quit letting your players get away, unless an empty stadium and a small profit is good enough for you and your fans.

New York Yankees - "the best team money can buy."

Championship Number 27

Must-Watch Baseball?

With the best football game of the week over and tonight's game going to be over at half-time, there's room for watching baseball tonight. Cliff Lee was spectacular in Game 1 for the Phillies and takes the mound against A.J. Burnett tonight in a 3-1 series. The only thing that could be more impressive than his last performance is to send him out there with no defenders; just Lee and the catcher. (Or maybe have him pitch at a bear)

This game is a toss-up. I see the Yankees winning, but not without a hell of a fight from Lee. New York won't string a bunch of hits together, so watch for a couple long balls. (and hopefully a bench-clearing brawl?) A.J. Burnett is solid and the Yankees have better bats. I'm thinking Yankees 4 - Phillies 2.

Who Should Phillies Throw in Game 1?

As a long time fan of the Baltimore Orioles, dating back to 90's when I'd turn to Channel 11 (PBS?) to watch Brady Anderson, Baines, Surhoff, Mussina..... oh, and Ripken to watch the Orioles lead the American League East from Game 1, I can't help but to root for the Phillies tonight. But, in an unbiased perspective, the Yankees should win the World Series in 4 games. The Angels had the best chance at keeping New York from a title of any team in the league. They couldn't do it. Now, the Phillies' best chance is to switch some things up.

Why not start Pedro Martinez tonight? He's your third best starter. Give up tonight's game, when CC is going to walk all over you. Yeah, Cliff Lee may hold the Yanks to 3 or 4 runs, but Sabathia is going to hold you to 2. Put up Lee in Game 2, a much more winnable game against A.J. Burnett, who's posteason ERA is 3 runs higher than Sabathia. Now you have Hamels at home in Game 3 in a 1-1 series. Sounds like a much better idea to me.