June 14, 2005

Yankee Players Are Rent-Seeking Whores:

posted by yerfatma to baseball at 09:57 AM - 13 comments

This just in...

posted by 86 at 10:00 AM on June 14, 2005

I'm so loving this summer.

posted by danostuporstar at 11:15 AM on June 14, 2005

I suppose I should have given a little more background in the post, but I couldn't resist. The article isn't simply slamming this year's Yankees. Rather it's an attempt to figure out why the Yankees pay more (possibly as much as double) to get market-level performance.

posted by yerfatma at 11:49 AM on June 14, 2005

It was pretty interesting, especially the theory about the over-compensation being a type of "hazard pay" for playing in NYC. But the third one, the knowledge of the revenue differential, like the article says, is probably the prime reason.

posted by chris2sy at 12:10 PM on June 14, 2005

Interesting view of the Yankees

posted by daddisamm at 01:34 PM on June 14, 2005

Make sure you read the comments- I found the second one particularly insightful.

posted by tieguy at 02:08 PM on June 14, 2005

would like to see more disparaging articles about the bronx bombers

posted by dgphilli at 04:24 PM on June 14, 2005

You cant knock the Yanks any more, they won tonight! They are Back!....again..................at least until the next loosing streak!

posted by daddisamm at 11:18 PM on June 14, 2005

Thanks, tieguy. ;)

posted by danostuporstar at 02:07 PM on June 15, 2005

That's... not quite what I meant, dano ;) BTW, has anyone else noticed that ARod is a pretty lousy third baseman? Check Stats, Inc.'s Zone Rating- the gap between the leader and the second-to-last player is .109, and the gap between the second-to-last and A-Rod (who is last) is .086- huge! And he is nearly at the bottom of more traditional stats like fielding percentage and range factor too. This really surprised me- the CW seems to be that he's made the transition fairly well.

posted by tieguy at 09:58 AM on June 16, 2005

It's weird, because he's such a good SS. It'd be nice to see them at least experiment with flip-flopping A-Rod and Jeter. From a pure stats standpoint, it'd be cool if they did that and held the rotation steady for enough games to get two equal samples.

posted by yerfatma at 11:04 AM on June 16, 2005

yeah, tieguy, we've noticed. but, i'll take his occasional troubles in the field for his production at the plate this year, as opposed to last year where he was a bit more solid in the field but did not put up his usual numbers. some people think that he worked so much last year on the transition to third during pre-season that his offense suffered. this year he did his normal routine and he's back to where he should be at the plate but he's not making some of the plays that he should. another theory is the fact that he bulked up a bit during the winter and he lost some flexibility. there was a stretch of games where he made quite a few errors and misplays. since then he's been working on flexibility and crap like that and seems to be doing much better. (i have no clue if that is showing up in those stats you linked to, all i know is what i see every game) i don't think jeter could make the transition to third nearly as well. i'm not sure he has the quick reaction time needed for third (and his range to his left isn't great). with his arm and his range on fly balls, he would be a great center fielder. that way you can move rodriguez back to short and i think andy phillips can play third if i'm not mistaken. but i'm not sure that will be happening any time soon.

posted by goddam at 11:29 AM on June 16, 2005

I can't see Jeter moving to the outfield after not moving for the player considered the best shortstop in the game.

posted by dusted at 01:23 PM on June 16, 2005

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