A Little Perspective

We have all heard it a million times before: the Yankees and Red Sox are at a competitive advantage because of their payrolls. This has become such a truism that no one bothers to look at the facts.

Let's put things in some perspective. This year the Sox are fourth in payroll (the Mets and Tigers vaulted ahead of them this offseason). But as has been the case all along, placing the Red Sox in the same category as the Yankees is fallacious at best. As a look at the 2008 payrolls will reveal, the Yankees will spend $ 209,081,577 to the Red Sox' $ 133,390,035. That is a gap of some $75,691,542, which if devoted to player salaries would be the eighteenth highest payroll in MLB. Furthermore, the gap between the Red Sox and Yankees is less than that between the Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals, which is to say that the Red Sox are closer in payroll to the team with the 24th highest salary than they are to the Yankees.