Smart Money

In baseball, there’s a direct correlation between winning and spending. The team with the biggest payroll doesn’t necessarily win it all, but I think the team with the biggest payroll reflecting money spent smart does. Take this World Series. The Yankees spent more on their payroll than the Dodgers, $303.3 million vs. $249.8 million according to USA Today. The Dodgers, though, look to be getting more for their dollar than the right-now pretty-hapless Yankees, who are down 0-2 in the Series after falling by a score of 4-2 last night. New York went with Carlos Rodon to face Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or the $162 million pitcher vs. the $325 million pitcher. It wasn’t even close. Rodon couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, giving up four runs on three homeruns. Compare that to Yamamoto, who went 6.1 innings, giving up one run on one hit. You get what you pay for. With Rodon, the Yankees went hook, line and sinker for the stats agent Scott Boras fed them. What they forgot is Rodon’s history of injuries, which have affected his pitching. The Carlos Rodon who pitched for the Sad Sox was better than the journeyman who posted a 3.96 ERA in the regular season. Yes, Yamamoto was injured, too, in the regular season, but he still posted an ERA nearly a point lower than Rodon’s. The proof was in the pudding, as they say. But I’m not going to jump on Aaron Judge here. Judge is having a terrible postseason with nineteen strikeouts in 40 at-bats to go with a .150 BA. Granted, not much of a return on a $360 million contract, but Judge is the guy who dragged his team into the postseason. Right now, he looks to be having a Ted Williams World Series. I’d take either of them to get me there. By the way, has anyone seen the Yankees’ Marcus Stroman, he of the $37 million contract? That’s what a 4.31 ERA in the regular season will do to a guy.