OH, HENRY, SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE
Look at your salary requirements for this year, schmuck. If you had been able to close the deal with A-Rod, you'd be damn near what the Yankees would be paying out without his money included in their total. Acting like your trying to defend the other clubs, trying to bring 'sanity' to the spending, doesn't even fly with your local baseball scribes.

The hard cold fact is Boss George's team brings in roughly $350 million a year in tickets sales and such, and George shovels the money right back into the organization. Every time the Yankees go on a road trip, the local team sees an increase in their revenue because of George's spending the dough to bring in The Show. And none of those other teams have any problems accepting their cut of the luxury taxes the Yankees pay. They just pocket the money instead of putting it out on the field.

The Giambi deal is turning out to be a huge bust for Steinbrenner, so he went out and snagged Sheffield as insurance and to fill the right field hole. You went out and scored Schilling and Keith Foulke to solidify your pitching, while the Yankees lost three stars from their starting rotation. A-Rod was desperate to get out of Texas and you weren't willing to pull the trigger. Then Boone blew out his knee. The Yankees asked if Rodriguez would be willing to move to third. He wanted a ring. The rest is history. And Soriano, the only quality youngster on the squad, was part of the price Steinbrenner paid.

You want to scream? Scream at Selig for allowing Hicks to give the kid that insane contract in the first place. It jacked up the money George had to fork over to Jeter, Bernie and Giambi and made what it would take to get Rodriguez out of Texas within reach of only two teams. The one with the balls did it. Which won't mean a damn thing if the Yankees don't win eleven games in October.