No money's no excuse for not winning
Posted: Saturday, October 13, 2007 10:30 AM
Before George Steinbrenner goes crazy with the checkbook again come November, he might want to look at who’s still standing in October and who’s won titles in the six seasons since he last won the World Series. Rarely is it a big spender.
Of the four teams left in Major League Baseball’s playoffs, only one spent a great deal of money to get there. That’s Boston, whose $143-million payroll was second this year only to the Yankees’ $190 million.
None of the other three teams -- Cleveland, Colorado and Arizona -- spent more than $62 million. That was Cleveland, which stood 23rd of 30 teams in team payroll, according to annual figures compiled by USA Today. The Rockies were 25th at $54 million, and the D-Backs were one slot behind them at $52 million.
The Rockies, Indians and D-Backs together, then, spent about $168 million, $22 million less than the Yankees.
The jury is still out on whether the best way to get a championship is to buy it. If Boston wins its second World Series championship in four seasons, it will be a strong argument that money may not guarantee titles, but it sure does help.
Still, not many of the top spending teams got much for their bucks. In fact, the last time the two World Series participants were among the top ten spenders was in 2004 when Boston took the second-highest payroll into the Fall Classic and beat the Cards, who were ninth in spending.
This year, the top 10 put four teams in the playoffs, of which only Boston is still alive. The Yankees lost in the first round for the third straight year. The No. 3 big spenders, the Mets, engineered the greatest September collapses. Number 4 Anaheim, like the Yankees, was one-and-done. The next three teams, the White Sox, Dodgers and Mariners, missed the playoffs. The Cubs were next -- one-and-done, and the Tigers 10th.
Last year, the Cardinals won it all with the eleventh-highest salary, beating the Tigers, who were 14th in spending. In 2005, the White Sox won with the 12th-highest salary, beating the Astros, who were 13th.
In 2003, the top-spending Yankees were beaten by the Marlins, who were 25th in payroll.
The Angels spend a lot these days, but when they won in 2002, 14 teams spent more than they did, including the team they beat, the Giants, who were 10th in spending that year.
And then there’s 2001, the year the D-Backs won for the first time. The team they beat, the Yankees, were, as always, the biggest spenders in the game, but Arizona was pretty generous with the cash, too, taking the eighth-highest payroll into the postseason.
What’s interesting there is that Arizona had to dismantle much of that team -- it was too expensive for the market. It took six years to get back, but here they are.
Cleveland never won a World Series in its 90s heydey, but for seven seasons ending in 2001, the Indians were one of the game’s best teams. That team, too, got too expensive and was scattered to the winds. Now, six years later, they, like Arizona, are also back, which kind of sets your timeline for rebuilding through great farm systems. That also happens to be about the length of time it took the Marlins to go from champions in 1997 to dismantled the following year and back to champs in 2003.
There’s a lesson there, and it is that if your team hasn’t made the playoffs in 15 or 20 years, it’s not about the money; you’ve got lousy management. In fact, if you haven’t made it in 10, somebody’s not doing their job.
So if there’s an owner in Kansas City, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington, Texas, Baltimore, Toronto and a few other places reading this, stop taking excuses from your G.M. This year is proof again that you don’t have to break the bank to compete.
