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.