The Non-Hometown Discount

Interesting article from Will Leitch[1. Without whom Deadspin.com has gone way downhill, IMO.] today on how the Yankees\’ habit of luring superstars has actually turned into an advantage for the Yankees, because now other teams are being forced to pay NY prices for their top talent, when really only the Bronx Nine can afford to do so.

I think, in the main, he\’s absolutely correct. The Yankees have the most revenue in Major League Baseball by a large margin, and can afford to hand out the kinds of contracts that other teams really shouldn\’t. And I think he\’s right about how that applies to Joe Mauer in the sense that, if something happens to Joe, the Twins are indeed toast.

However, I think he\’s wrong about how much the Yankees would have paid if Mauer had been on the open market. Given the gap between Baby J and the rest of the talent pool, I think the Yankees would have opened up the wallet to make sure he ended up in pinstripes. Obviously we\’ll never know, but that\’s my two bits.

Regardless, yet again another competitive advantage goes the Yankees\’ way. We can only hope they\’ll compensate with more bad ideas like the \’Joba Rules\’.