billy-beane | @SportzfanRadio

With the MLB playoffs having commenced, I thought it might be interesting to re-visit team payrolls and look at the teams still vying for a World Series spot.

The division pennant winners (with 2014 payroll in brackets) were:

American League

East – Baltimore Orioles ($107.5 million)
Central – Detroit Tigers ($162.3 million)
West – LA Angels ($155.7 million) * best record in the AL for wins/losses
Wild card entry – Kansas City Royals ($92.1 million) and Oakland A’s ($83.5 million)

National League

East – Washington Nationals ($134.7 million) * best record in the NL for wins/losses
Central – St Louis Cardinals ($111.1 million)
West – LA Dodgers ($235.3 million)
Wild card entry – San Francisco Giants ($154.2 million) and Pittsburgh Pirates ($78.2 million)

The American League has already played its Wild Card game with the Royals coming out on top over Billy Beane’s A’s. The National League plays today with the Giants and Pirates playing in a winner take all game to advance in the playoffs.

The ALDS sees the Orioles play the Tigers while the Angels take on the Royals.

In the NLDS, the Cardinals play the Dodgers while the Nationals play the winner of the Pirates/Giants game.

Going on strength of payroll alone, it should be a Dodgers v Tigers World Series, however, given many teams with high payroll haven’t even made the playoffs that clearly isn’t the sole determining factor.

I like the Royals to continue their fairy tale run to play the Nationals in the decider.

One thing for certain, Billy Beane knows that even $83.5 million per year wasn’t enough to get the A’s over the line in 2014!

In what endeavour would you be responsible for spending in excess of $203 million, have little or nothing to show for it results wise and still be in a job? In baseball that’s where. How does Brian Cashman, General Manager and Senior Vice President of the New York Yankees retain his job? The Yankees, who have all but been eliminated from post season play, have currently won 81 games. When viewed against their payroll (second highest in MLB), they pay about $2.5 million per win. The concept of ‘buying wins’ was adopted by Billy Beane and brought to the public’s attention in the book and film, Moneyball. By comparison, the other New York team, the Mets get better value for money as they pay about $1.17 million per win spending less in payroll and winning nearly as many games as the Yankees.

Probably the best result in 2014 has been returned by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have qualified for the post season winning 86 games spending $908,000 per win. As for the Oakland A’s, they spend a little more than the Pirates at $970,000 per win and are still in the wildcard chase. The bottom line is getting value for money and the Yankees haven’t whilst the Pirates and A’s have. Maybe Mr Cashman and the Yankees need to re-think the strategy.

@SportzfanRadio

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