They can have whatever they like

From a young age, we are taught that the Holiday season is kinder to some than others. While many children run down the stairs and see a mountain of presents under the tree, others are treated to a rusty bike and an alcoholic uncle. You get the idea.

Undoubtedly, the New York Yankees are the rich kids with the pile of video games while the Atlanta Braves got nothing but a Festivus beatdown from drunk Uncle Randall.

I don't mean to be a Scrooge. The Yankees are well within their rights to pay their players more than the GDP of several countries. There is no salary cap in baseball. This is well known. The Steinbrenner clan has more money than they know what to do with, aparently.

Well, they found something to do with it. They showered C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira with gigantic contracts to try to once again buy a championship.

If this sounds like sour grapes, I assure you that it isn't. The Braves' lack of recent success has nothing to do with payroll. Atlanta ranked a respectable 10th in the league in payroll last season. Tampa won the AL East and the American League pennant with a payroll that ranked 29th in the league. The only team that paid their players less was their Sunshine State neighbors the Florida Marlins.

Within the world of baseball, the Yankees are the equivalent Pacman Jones walking into the strip club, making it rain, and making all the dancers forget that you have 20 bucks worth of singles in the corner trying to get a dance. It's perfectly legal, but something just doesn't sit right.

First off, the Yankees better win the World Series this year. No excuses. They have spent money at such a mind-boggling rate, that there is no possible justification for ending the year without a title. Unless, of course, there are catastrophic injuries.

Last year's Rays won 97 ballgames with a payroll just over $43 million per year. That comes out to about $448,000 paid per win. The Yankees' payroll in 2009 figures to be at least $210 million. In order for the Yankees to get the kind of value per win that the Rays got, they would have to win 469 games in 2009. I think you see my point.

Now of course, not every team will get the bank for their buck that the Rays got. It's very rare for a team like the Rays to succeed. But the Yankees have outspent everyone by miles.

Despite the on-field issues of expectations due to such a payroll, here's what really gets my blood boiling about the Yankees spending spree. The Yankees demanded that the city of New York pitch in substantially for the construction of the new Yankee Stadium. With an economy on life support and millions without jobs, the Yankees thought that Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett were worth more than the money of their fans.

Not only that, but "ticket license" packages at Yankee Stadium start at $350 per seat...per game. Not a typo. Read it again.

I'm not asking the Yankees to become a charity. I'm not asking them to stop being the biggest spenders in all of sports. But for goodness sakes close the gap a little bit. Bring some perspective back to the game. Does a guy like Teixeira, who has never finished in the top 6 of an MVP vote, really need a $180 million contract?

Don't you think you would be better served to, I don't know, develop a pitcher or two instead of blindly gobbling up whatever big name is on the market?

We all know how bad the Ian Kennedy debacle was but don't give up yet. I'm not a Yankee fan. I don't know what it's like to be a Yankee fan. But I do know that a big part of my enjoyment of the Braves' success during their 14-year run was the fact that Atlanta developed those players themselves.

Glavine, Smoltz, Chipper, Andruw, Furcal and Justice were all homegrown. Every once in a while we got a huge free agent or trade like Maddux and McGriff. But we didn't live and die buy it.

Personally, I'm not convinced the Yanks will be any better equipped to take on the Rays this year than the Red Sox were last year. No doubt, the Yankees have talent. But at what cost?

If you have the money to spend almost half a BILLION dollars on three contracts in one offseason, you should probably build your own damn stadium. I'm sure the city of New York has plenty of use for that money.

I won't get into the supposed sweetheart deals between Mayor Bloomberg's office and the Yankees for luxury box rights. Although it does reek of scandal.

If the Yanks win the title this year, they will most certainly have earned it with their wallets. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer a franchise that earns in with shrewd management and talent development.

But what do I know? I'm just a Braves fan. At least we re-signed Greg Norton!