You eat pieces of shit for breakfast?

Welcome to my very first post on this blog. I think it's going pretty well so far.

"let's get down to brass tacks on the midwesterner's assumptions about the Yankees...that we simply purchase success. The very thought that we earned the latest dynasty through good decisions and a good farm system along with our money scares you all. That would mean we could beat other teams at their own game...through smart decisions and good player development. AND, we could back that up with deeper pockets. That combination would mean we'd be very tough to beat. So, as soon as someone in this argument admits this is a possibility...that the Yankees could do things by not just simply throwing their money around...the order of the universe would break down. Is this a fair assessment?"

Yes, I think that an important bedrock point of this whole argument so far has been that the Twins and other low-budget teams are better at making careful, well-reasoned decisions in the free agent market and also better at farming their own talent for cheap than the Yankees. The Yankees don't HAVE to make these kinds of decisions, and so even when they choose RIGHT, they still haven't beaten the Twins "at their own game," because they got that right choice through a lot more casting about with golden doubloons. I also think that as long as the Yankees have the budget they do, and they can buy up seasoned veterans and put them on the field, the likelihood that they will be taking their well-bought rookies and giving them a real chance in the majors, the way the Twins are forced to, is basically nil. I await the evidence that will prove me wrong.

The Twins, I'll agree have produced better talent from their farm system over the past few years than the Yankees. So, their stats aren't surprising. Of course, these stats don't mean a whole lot. When the Yanks play the Twins in the regular season and the post season, they seem to pull the games out more often than not.

And thank you for that. Yes, head-to-head, it seems like the Twins are terrified of the Yankees like little boys are terrified of bears. They still won only one less game in the regular season last year, so those stats seem to mean a whole lot somewhere, now don't they?

See again, the Twins and the Yankees have been able to get teams into the playoffs. The Yankees managed 6 pennants and 4 championships out their playoff teams. The Twins not so much with their recent teams. If a team makes the playoffs, is it fair to say they have the capability to win the WS? I'd say probably. Once you get to the playoffs the payroll and all of this $$ talk is largely irrelevant. The team is in position. The Yankees were able to put a special group of players together to win that went beyond simply spending $$. Again, I'll admit that's a part of our success yes. A necessary, but not sufficient condition for success. You still need other pieces to fall into place that money can't buy.

Oh, son, you just totally ignored the numbers, didn't you? The point was not that the Twins accomplished the SAME THING as the Yankees... it was that for A LOT LOT LOT less money, they accomplished CLOSE. In 2006 both the Twins and the Yankees were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, and the Twins had only one fewer regular season wins than the Yankees. So, one win cost the Yankees $130 million. In 2005 the Yankees lost in the first round and the Twins didn't go. Twelve wins and a playoff bid cost the Yankees $152 million. In 2004, nine wins and one round further in the playoffs was worth $130.4 million. In 2003 eleven wins and the chance to lose the world series was worth $97.2 million. AND, in 2002, the Yankees won 9 more regular season games, but fell out in the first round of the playoffs while the Twins went on to the second, all for $85.5 million dollars less.

You see where I'm going here? Yes, the Yankees have more pennants and more World Series titles, but they are also doing it EXTREMELY inefficiently. I have the suspicion that raising the payroll a few million dollars might help solidify the Twins' playoff bids for the next 5 years, and even make the likelihood of a pennant or even World Series title more likely. But I don't think that they need to spend THREE TIMES AS MUCH. So, obviously, the Twins are doing something better than the Yankees, and the Yankees are throwing money around like they're at a strip club on Christmas.

Again, to the point about younger kids being a gamble. I get it. So, that means NONE of them are worth it? NO ONE is worth a risk? I simply don't agree. You don't need to pay every kid extra.

Sure, some day Terry Ryan might get a visit from one of the Pre-Cogs he calls scouts, who will insist that he has seen the future, and Jim Bob Joe Johnson is the next Ken Griffey, Jr., and then we will hope that Pohlad will let him open the purse a little for a signing bonus. I have no problem with the VERY occasional bonus over slot. I have a BIG problem with it becoming a regular thing. I also just don't trust your scouts like I trust ours.

(BTW, at least we're getting somewhere with the ownership profile. Yes, Pohlad is a billionaire...richer than Steinbrenner. After watching Steinbrenner for 25 years, I can tell you one thing for sure...that winning trumps everything else...even making money. Every fan would want an owner like that. EVERY FAN. The fact that Pohlad won't commit to winning first when he wouldn't miss the $$ isn't necessarily virtuous. Some could call it short-sighted and selfish. I mean, he didn't make billions by not taking any risks. Same principles here. He'd just rather not do it. Steinbrenner would.)

Yes. Carl Pohlad is evil. Find me a Minnesotan who disagrees and I'll buy you a pony.

Also, I don't feel that everyone should like the Yankees or that they're America's team or whatever. I don't believe they're better than the midwest because of geography. Like you Twins folk (or Brewers/White Sox folk), I was brought up believing the Yankees were the best because that's who my family rooted for. I have no problems with you hating the Yankees. I dislike other teams mostly because they're not the Yankees...regardless of where they're located.

Well, I'm honestly glad to hear this. I'm glad you're a "real" Yankees fan. But you have to admit that the marketing around the team is pretty blatant here, and that there is real East Coast bias against the Midwest. There is also real Midwest bias against both coasts, but where it's different is that we accept our fate as the redheaded stepchild and even embrace it. We never expect anyone to have any kind of respect for our geography or our teams. I still get a little excited when they name Twins players on SportsCenter.