Reply #4: Money is no object [View All]

We can be sure of that. Money will not be a problem.

I think the "big payroll" syndrome is finally catching up the the Yankees. Other teams with huge payrolls have flopped spectacularly. The Yankees have been the one exception. I think they had an unusual group of players and exactly the right guy (Torre) leading them. This year you could see cracks in that delicate balance. Steinbrenner began to get more involved. They made too many moves to try to fix any perceived crack in the Yankee armor. I think the chemistry was not there like it had been with the previous teams. They would have lost to the Red Sox if anyone other than Grady Gump had been managing the Sox.

The Yankees will always contend but the 3 years in a row without clinching the deal will take away the invincibility this team once had. The Marlins were able to puncture the aura of Yankee Stadium also. The Yankees have had a huge edge there in every series because teams thought they could not win there. They expected bad things to happen in Ruth's house (ask the Diamondbacks). This is somewhat reminiscent of the back to back losses the Yankees had in 63-64. It took the Yankees 12 years to recover and rebuild.

Another bit of bad news for the Yankees is that they now have competition in their division. The Red Sox have a smart GM and a good young team that knows they can compete with the Yankees. This will be an interesting off season for both of those teams.