Make him a #3-4 starter, possibly skip a start or two during breaks, and he could be worth twice that.

The difference is now they find themselves boxed them selves into a couple of expensive long term contracts that aren’t paying off with Matsizaka, Lackey and, so far, Crawford. Add in the increases you mentioned and the draconian penalties of the new CBA and … voila! The RS are out of payroll.

Take this and the recent report that the Yankees “only” have 1-2 mil for a DH and you can easily see that there may well be a profound effect of salary growth that the union isn’t going to like. On the other hand, I’ll bet the Royals and Rays are finding these recent Yankee/RS hardships amusing. It’ll be funny right up till the luxury tax money starts to dry up.

Surely, you must recognize that any organization you belong to undergoes changes, ones that enhance viability. Your argument that you have some sort of “grandfather” protection is senseless. Could teams argue that they used to play without the DH, before the rule change, so therefore they shouldn’t have to abide by the rule adjustment?

Like I said I’m kind of a stickler for accuracy especially when the actual number exist.

What the numbers for 2012 will be are yet to be determined. My guess is knowing what I know right now the difference between the 2 teams for the 2012 season will be pretty close to that same amount. But the difference could be slightly bigger.

And spud, I get that no MLB team is an island, but to say that if an owner wants to be in the league, follow the rules is silly. Some of these ownerships have been in place for decades since these new rules have come into effect. I know with certainty that the Yankees front office does NOT agree with the current revenue sharing/slurry cap system, so I’m not confused in the least.

As spud points out below, the Yankees need “failing” organizations….they have to play against someone, they Yankees entire value is based on their membership in the league…in contrast, the league would do just fine without the Yankees.

Were their striking deficiencies somewhere on the ball club this position would be more plausible. We all know that a team cannot have too much pitching, particularly accomplished starters. I cannot imagine any other acquisition, for the price, that could have such a positive input.

The Cards have depth everywhere else. They have the available cash. Make the move. It would turn the off-season into one that could be viewed as positive. Without Oswalt, it is kind of a wash.

Now is they sign a starting pitcher to a guaranteed ML contract or do anything in RF other then platoon 2 players already on the roster that $182MM number I just quoted can go up “substantially”.

When you choose to join an organization certain rules apply, like luxury tax. Bitch about it if you like. Try to convince other members of the unfairness if it suits you, but leave the “free-enterprise” blathering to the political ignorant.

The majority of baseball owners currently believe that in order to maintain a somewhat level playing field, that enhance all members the ability to equally compete a cap on salaries is the fairest way to insure equity.

Your “free-enterprise” position allows you to compete in the Mexican League, or show your teams talents in Korea, or even create your own league, where there is no luxury tax restrictions. But as long as you are a member of MLB, you have to play be their rules.

Sounds to me like both teams are choosing to reduce the amount of luxury tax they pay and the amount of revenue sharing in the league.

Peeps keep forgetting that Gonzo was still making his San Diego chump change last year. He makes big-boy money now.

That’s a big part of it.

I realize that insurance probably covers some of that, but it’s not going to take care of the whole cost there, plus they’ve got to figure out what’s up with Ortiz if they go the arbitration route and he makes $13+M or if they go for a two-year deal or something where he still figures to make $10+M per year.

Toss in the raises from 2011-to-2012 for Gonzalez ($6.3M to nearly $22M), Crawford ($14.8M to $20.3M), Pedroia ($5.75M to $8.25M w/ a raise to more than $10M in 2013) and Lester ($5.7M to $7.6M w/ a raise to more than $11M in 2013) and the fact that Buchholz and Ellsbury are about to start making grown-up money and you’re looking at a lot of money that’s already squared away.

…and I’d be remiss if I forgot to mention the $6M sunk cost that is Bobby Jenks.