Escalation or Sign Him Before They Do

The Battle of the Budgets between the Yankees and Red Sox continued today with the signing of free agent outfielder Vladimir Guerrero by the American League East Champion New York Yankees. Owner George Steinbrenner, who was livid after the Kansas City Royals defeated his expensive conglomeration of players in the first round of the 2004 playoffs, immediately started spending money on free agents and demanded that general manager Brian Cashman make trades that would guarantee a World Championship in 2005.

The Yankees' 2004 payroll exceeded $500,000,000 but we have not seen anything yet. Much to Mr. Steinbrenner's chagrin, the loss to the upstart, low budget, small market Royals increased the Yankees streak of not winning the World Series to four years, which just is not acceptable in Yankee land. Mr. Steinbrenner immediately ordered his underlings to pursue Guerrero, whom the Yankees eschewed in favor of Gary Sheffield last year, in order to add another bat to the Yankees lineup for the 2005 season.

The Yankees' payroll is the highest in the history of sports and larger than the annual budget of more than one half the countries on earth but it is necessary because the Red Sox budget is only slightly less. The irony is that neither team made it to the World Series in 2004. The Red Sox once again finished second to the Yankees but were the American League Wild Card. Like the Yankees, the Sox were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs when the surprising Texas Rangers swept them away.

Guerrero gives the Yankees the big bat they sorely need for the 2005 season, which brings us to the events that led to his signing. After losing the 2003 World Series, the Yankees traded Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera and Randy Choate to Montreal for right handed pitching ace Javier Vasquez and then signed hard hitting right fielder Gary Sheffield to a three year, $42 million contract, or at least that is what Mr. Steinbrenner thought.

Sheffield wanted more than the $42 million and wanted the deferred payments to be interest bearing. Mr. Steinbrenner became furious and informed Sheffield that he, Steinbrenner, was not Arizona’s owner Jerry Colangelo and that Sheffield was not David Wells. A handshake, Mr. Steinbrenner told Sheffield in no uncertain terms, is binding when one of the hands belongs to Mr. Steinbrenner. A contrite Sheffield, realizing no other team would match the Yankees' offer, grudgingly agreed to the deal.

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