What it Means to Buy a Ring in the MLB
Last Year’s World Series
Last year’s MLB season came to a close on October 28, 2018, when the Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was truly a World Series of East vs. West. Myself being a Yankees fan, I find it difficult to congratulate the Red Sox on a World Series victory, however petty I may be at times, I guess it’s the right thing to do. Plus, I’m old enough to where I’m starting to phase out my love of sports and replace it with things that matter most. Like which cheese pairs best with a red wine. Something like that.
I do however still have a love for the game. I’ve played from the time I was 4 until I was 19, yet I still have yet to see my official baseball card. Anywho, I respect the game being a chess match and pitting the best lefty against the oppositions best lefty hitter. The game has changed and continues to change year after year, and that’s not good for the MLB. More home runs, more strikeouts, longer games, less stolen bases, the game is, dare I say, downgrading?
Dave, Dave, Dave
Disgusting, as I stated earlier, I’m a Yankees fan and I always have been, which means I hate the Red Sox. BUT, I hate the Dodgers just as much. I don’t hate them because of where they are, it’s not because of who plays for the team. It’s because of who manages them. Dave Roberts might be one of the worst managers in the MLB. “But the Dodgers win over 90 games with him at the helm.” — Some guy The talent on that team is astronomical. One of the greatest pitchers of this generation, some great hitters, great fielders, what more could a team need besides a manager? Well, the answer IS a manager.
Dave Roberts and the Dodgers front office enjoys playing Moneyball, ever seen it? It’s a great movie about numbers and the intricacies in baseball. Anyway, Dave Roberts tries to play the numbers too often. There are too many times where Dave (yes we’re on a first-name basis here) sits his best hitters to favor the pitching matchup. Has it played out well for him yet? Well, they’ve lost back-to-back World Series’. So…I’d say no. But this is a great segue into the next topic, numbers.
Dollars
So how much money does an MLB team value their team at? There’s the age-old stigma that the Yankees just buy rings. “Oh here we go again, the Yankees are spending money in free agency and going to buy another championship.” — Another guy The Yankees are notorious for making a splash when it comes to paying their players, but are they truly “buying rings”?
This year’s highest payroll is awarded to the San Fransisco Giants, a team that didn’t even make the playoffs. So, who was second? That would be the Red Sox, interesting. Where do the Yankees sit on this list? The Yankees own the number 10 spot at highest paid salaries in MLB. However, this is where things get interesting, what about other years? The years the Yankees didn’t win the series in recent memory. Yes, the Sox do get a shoutout for winning their 4th championship in the last 14 years, pretty impressive.
In the past 14 years, the Yankees have only won 1 title, 1! COME ON! They have however owned the highest team salary for 12 of the last 14 years…yikes. The Sox haven’t held that title, but, and a big but, they’ve come second to the Yankees in spending 7 of those 14 years. So, when you talk about buying rings, maybe this should be about the Red Sox buying rings, not the Yankees.
The Facts
Baseball is all about the numbers. Numbers, numbers, numbers. So when it comes to the Yankees “buying” rings, yes, they have a high payroll, but they’re the most valuable MLB team. So, let’s ask the biggest question surrounding this article. What else would’ should they do with that money? Should they pay their front office more? Pay their non-player employees more? I mean really, if you have the highest profit in sports, you’re going to pay your players the most. That’s just logical. When you look at the Oakland A’s, who year after year have one of the lowest MLB salaries in the league, they don’t win as often as other teams. It’s not because their upper management is worse than the Yankees, they just can’t compete on a dollars and cents level.
So when you look at the best teams in sports, you’ll need to account for their location, their revenue/profits, and how much they’re spending on their players. In all of today’s major sports, year after year the total salaries increase. Every year there’s a new max contract for a player that will be beaten next year. It’s funny that it still makes headlines since, to me, it’s old news. So the discussion of “buying” rings can be squashed. Even though the Red Sox are buying rings, what else should they do with all that cash? Invest it in me to write a blog about them?
