Once again, Mike Francesa has spoken. In today’s Mike and the Mad Dog show, while discussing the articles in the major New York papers that stated that the Mets may be reclaiming New York, Mike said that the Mets will never completely retake the city from the Yankees. The Yankees will always be good. Because the Yankees have such huge revenue streams, he said, they will always put a competitive team on the field and will never have a bad season. Now he did say it’s possible that the Yankees possibly will not make the playoffs in some years but that they would always be a competitive team. Hmm, as good as the Mets are right now with their young core players of Wright, Reyes, Beltran, and Milledge, and with the kids coming up and a new stadium on the horizon, I can not say that the Mets will never be bad again. How can anyone make such a claim about any team in any sport?

Certainly the Yankees do have the where with all to always be in a position to have a huge salary and be able to bring in top flight free agents. But doing so guarantees nothing. The Yankees have been good for the last 10 years for one reason. Gene Michael and Buck Showalter built a team by drafting well and growing the core of Derek Jeter, Bernie William, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and others. They made smart trades and signed key free agents. It’s a formula that worked so well that Omar Minaya seems to be taking a similar approach. But this idea that the Yankees can never be bad again is ludicrous. And mind you I get no jollies from the Yankees doing poorly. I get pleasure from the Mets winning. If the Mets and Yankees both lose on a given day, I do not feel any better about the Mets loss because the Yankees lost too. I honestly don’t care what the Yankees do. The only time I really root for them to lose is when they are playing against the Mets and that’s because I am rooting for the Mets to win.

Someday the Yankees will no longer be owned by George Steinbrenner. Who’s to say that even his son, who most likely will take over the team, will have the same passion and commitment that George has had. Maybe the new owner will be more committed to spending on yachts then multi-million dollar baseball players. There are many owners in baseball who have lots of money, more than George, but who do not put it back into the team. Why do you think George is so against revenue sharing? Why should the Yankees or Mets for that matter spend a ton on their team to win then have to give a tax to small market clubs who don’t spend that money on their players? The point is the Yankees could be owned someday by someone who is not willing to pay out like the current regime does.

Spending money does not always promise positive results. The Yankees with a 200 million dollar payroll have not won a World Series since 2000 (sorry, I hate to bring that up). The Mets spent a ton of money in the early 90’s and they stunk. Remember Vince Coleman, Bobby Bonnilla, and Bret Saberhagen. What did they get out of that? A 53 and 109 record, that’s what. Other teams like the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Angels have had huge payrolls too and have had marginal results to show for it although both Boston and Anaheim won the World Series within the last five years.   

The point is, how can you say that a team will never be bad? It’s simply absurd. Mike Francesa is not being an objective sports commentator when he says this. He is being a Yankee fan, a typical entitled, pompous Yankee fan. A Yankee fan who is a little scared right now that maybe the Mets will steal the spotlight from the Yankees. This is why so many baseball fans hate the Yankees. It’s not the Yankees they hate as much as they despise their fans. Teams have cycles, some times they’re good and sometimes they’re not. The Yankee fans have been blessed. Their team has been good for a long time now. I just wish that once in a while the Yankee fans including Mr. Francesa would be a little more humble about it. And hopefully us Mets fans can be humble too when the Mets are winning year after year.