Deep in the heart of Texeira

The signing of Mark Texeira by the New York Steinbrenners is not the apocalypse that commentators are making it out to be. Not even for the Red Sox. The Yanks have been over-paying for players (not "talent," players) for the past eight years and it's gotten them nowhere. Mike Mussina. Carl Pavano. Kevin Brown. Jarret Wright. Jason Giambi. And, of course, Pay-Rod. And they finished third last year.

Now they've opened their checkbook for another National League pitcher (see Brown, above); another injury-prone pitcher (see Pavano, above), and a young slugging first-baseman (see Giambi, above).

It might just work out for them, but I'll believe it when I see it. Had the Sox signed Texeira, they would have been faced with the dilemma of trying to fit four all-star-calibre players (Tex, Youk, Lowell and Ortiz) into three positions (1B, 3B & DH). One of them (probably Lowell) would have had to go, yet it was his absence -- far more than Man-Ram's -- that contributed to the Sox ultimately falling short last year. If this gang is healthy, I'll take them over any team that money can buy. If they're not healthy, well, that's the chance you take. However, I'd rather take that chance with less than $400 million.

As has been written here before, the dynastic Yankees of the 1990's had even this observer's grudging admiration, as they had built their teams the right (or the traditional) way -- a strong farm system, a core group that had played together in the minors, and complementary, second-tier players signed to reasonable contracts to plug the gaps year-to-year. They now have a weak farm system, an aging core group, and a host of over-paid, under-performing free agents. It hasn't worked yet.