A Yankees fan will tell you that New York’s ability to achieve perennial success isn’t based on money. The correlation between their consistently league-leading payrolls and annual contention is but a mere coincidence. But with the news of Derek Jeter’s insane demands for a new contract, the Yankees’ situation closely parallels the Indians’, and reveals the true difference between the Bronx Bombers and other teams.
Even if Jeter isn’t being quite as unreasonable as originally reported, consnus seems to be that New York’s captain, coming off a season in which he posted a .710 OPS, will have to settle for something like four years and $ 76 million. Poor baby.
Even the Yankees’ original offer of three years and $ 45 million was overly generous; they were going to have to overpay to keep their captain, and they were just fine with that. The Bombers will undoubtedly have to pay close to $ 20 million a year for a 36-year-old poor defender who just had the worst offensive season of his career until after the end of the Mayan calendar.
But will that hamper GM Brian Cashman’s plans to improve the roster for 2011? Of course not! If Jeter had taken the Yankees’ initial offer, he would have brought payroll for next season up to $ 165 million; throw in the inevitable re-signing of Mariano Rivera and arbitration raises to Sergio Mitre, Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain, and Phil Hughes, and you’ve got at least $ 180 million right there. Plus, the bidding for Cliff Lee might get as high as $ 25 million or more, and he’s surely not the only guy on Cashman’s Christmas list.
In other words, going beyond their already inflated offer to keep Jeter in pinstripes will have no effect on how the rest of the roster is put together.
Meanwhile, the now-infamous $ 57 million contract extension the Cleveland Indians gave Travis Hafner in 2007 is preventing the Tribe from making any major moves this offseason. While ownership has the financial muscle to spend on the free agent market, Cleveland’s Opening Day 2011 payroll will likely be south of $ 50 million.
By that standard, the $ 13 million we owe Pronk will make up more than a quarter of the Tribe’s payroll—maybe more like a third, depending on just how low the budget sinks. That money could be used to sign someone like Adam Dunn or Adrian Beltre, or even a couple lower-tier free agents like Brandon Webb or Magglio Ordonez.
The bottom line is that the Yankees won’t think twice about pursuing other top-tier free agents while shelling out as much as it takes to keep Jeter, but the Indians’ entire offseason agenda is restricted by a bad deal we made three years ago. If that’s not a huge advantage, I don’t know what is.
