Mets homer or Yankee realist? Lupica has no love for the Mets... he's an equal opportunity hater. It doesn't surprise me to see fans cheering this move... who wouldn't want to bring back an old hero? I guess we'll see in August when the games start to matter if the love is still there. :up:
I understand your man love for Cahsman... that said, doesn't reducing the luxury tax actually involve reducing the luxury tax?
I read his column practically every Sunday, he definitely was pro-Mets and anti-Yankees this year. I'm not saying he can't do that, since he's not a reporter but an opinion columnist. But it was sickening how he treated the two teams this past season.
Don't mistake facts for "man love", I mean just 24 hours ago I was saying he should be in danger of losing his job if he had given Lilly 4/$40. If his plan was to reduce the luxury tax for this year, Lilly or Meche would have been signed. He'd rather pay $16M for Pettitte this year (and maybe next year) instead of $10-$12M over the next 4-5 years for a Lilly or Meche because of his plan to reduce the luxury tax in the long run.
I think $10 million is way too much for Ted Lilly. It's just a crazy supply-demand market this offseason.
I'm just happy Cashman did not get Zito, cannot be any happier. Now, Pettitte for one year i'm cool with as the #2. I doubt the Yanks get Clemens so lets put that to rest, but we'll see. I like it for one year, he obviously knows the AL and can handle Fenway and the Postseason... Of course Mets fans jump in this thread, but if Pettitte signed with the Mets, he'd be the reason why they go to the World Series.
He deservedly burried Randy Johnson, Pavano, and Arod. Praised Rivera and Jeter... talked about Cashmans support for kids. Wrote about D. Wrights popularity and changing tide in NY baseball pointing out the Willy was a better manager this year. Talked about how the Mets had an exciting team... where is he off base? Few people praise Jeter more then him... and if you think he's a Mets fan you haven't read him for long... he's been dumping on the Mets for the past few years. Like him or not he raises fair point about the A.P. signing.
Come on now, let's be fair. There is no doubting that 16 million dollars for a pitcher with elbow problems can be disputed by fans of any fan base. You could draw some parallels between this and the Pedro signing as far as the risk of future injury is concerned. I'm not a big fan of giving Pettitte 16 million, but maybe I'm too stubborn to put that in the context of the way this market exploded. I never would have thought that Lilly would be making 10 million dollars a year for 4 years. In my book, his value nearly doubled from the area that I had projected him out to be. Performance-wise, Pettitte for 16 for 1 year is better than the alternatives.
My point being, you can talk about luxury tax reduction all day long but until you actually start reducing it... it's all just talk. Long term, short term... the bottomline is that there has been no reduction at all so far. Now they also have to deal with a fully implemented Debt Service Rule which was extended in the new agreement. If I understand things correctly the $25 mill for the Japanese dude will count against this years payroll, plus his salary, where does that leave the total right now... about $200 mill no? where is the decrease? The tax will still be 40%... the only help they'll get is the new structure of the deal which won't push the tax any higher then 40%.... so basically they've maxed it out.
Edit. Posting fee's don't count against tax. I see Yanks payroll somewhere near upper 180's after Andy but before signing Japanese pitcher or anybody else... correct?
Correct, posting fees do not count against the tax, and they don't technically fall under the payroll either. It's a fee that is separate from the player.
What does Jason ferguson have to do w/ anything? Lupica is actually a Red Sox an which is why he hates the yankees and everything he writes about the yankees is negative. Lupica for some reason has this elite status among writers but his column has been terrible for a long time.
I'm curious as to what the goal is for Yankee fans, is it to reduce the luxury tax long term or to win a couple more championships? I keep hearing in here, I'm so glad we didn't sign Zito, well bottomline is Zito gives the Yanks or any team for that matter a better chance to win a championship for the next 5 years than Pettite does. I've always been a big fan of Pettite but 16 mil is crazy for an aging pitcher with a history of elbow problems.
I don't care about the luxury tax, sure I'd rather have a low payroll but tickets will go up every year regardless- I just want to win again. $16 mil sems like alot for Andy but when Lilly gets 10 and Meche 11 then 16 doesn't seem to bad at all.
You guys are out of your minds... if anybody says anything outside of the YES network compnay line they are Yankee haters? Give me some examples of something Lupica said this past season in his column that was not legitimate criticism of the Yankees? He went after Pavano, Arod, Randy Johnson, and then said Giambi wasn't the man to be calling Arod out... much of the exact same criticism was posted here by many of the faithfull NYY fans. Are you two that thin skinned that you can't take any criticism of your team at all? Have you forgotten how he gushed about Jeter? Have you forgotten all the praise he published for the teams that didn't miserably underachieve in the Bronx? The Yankee organization carries themselves with more swagger (read ego) then any team in MLB... you repeatedly hear members of the organization say anything less then a championship is failure... it's funny how when somebody holds them to their very own standards they're considered haters. Throughout the year this 2006 team was called a great Yankee team many times we now know it wasn't a great Yankee team. Calling them on that isn't being a hater it's being a realist.
I don't even bother reading his columsn anymore b/c he has his political and sports agenda and he tries to be funny when he's not. Look up his archived articles at the DN, he's always taking shots at the Yanks. Sometimes we deserve it of course and more times than not lately BUT no matter what they do he's bashing George or the yanks. I don't get my Yankee news from YES, I dislike the homerism from them but there's a balance btw being a homer and being anti-Yankee. I just can't stand Lupica(not just for his Yankee articles).
At one time Lupica was one of the best in the business(if not the best) butt hat was a long time ago. It's funny how he will write about attitudes of players and politicians but he is as arrogant as they come. He definitely lost touch w/ the NY sports fan a long time ago and he is terrible on the sports reporters- he thinks he's God's gift to newspapers and TV.
