Teixeira Signing Sparks Ignorance

The New York Yankees missed the playoffs in 2008 and the Yankees' front office is trying to prevent that from happening again in 2009. They lost $88+ million in salary over the offseason, but that plays no part to the media. The Yankees signed CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, proving their typical big name spending. But that is what many analysts expected. What they did not expect is what just happened.

As you may have heard, the Yankees signed another Scott Boras client, Mark Teixeira to an 8 yr, $180 million contract. This came as a surprise to many as no one expected the Yankees to play part to Teixeira after trading for former Whitesox first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher.

But what really catches my eye is the amount of ignorance by the media and other fans. The Yankees are probably the most hated team in baseball because of their 26 World Series titles and their enormous salary. But because of their hatred and ignorance, fans everywhere say they will miss the playoffs. Period. There is no logical explanation to that.

Injuries? Every team suffers from injuries, even fluke ones. They happen to every team, don't say your team can avoid injuries.

Relief pitching? Mariano is still one of the most dominating closers in baseball. He blew one save last year (39/40 in save opps) with a very low ERA (1.40) and a superb K/BB ratio (77/6). Damaso Marte, though struggling at first in the AL East after the trade, really pitched well at the end of the year. In the last 11 innings pitched, he allowed just two runs. Bruney, Ramirez, and Veras are all middle relievers and should play big roles for '09. Phil Coke should also pitch well in 2009.

These players are all overrated? That may be, but they are great players. If they did not sign with the Yankees, there would be no talk of them being overrated.

The Yankees still managed to trim their payroll from 2008, which is astounding. The only difference is they signed big name free agents to do it, and that is what is getting everyone all riled up.