Will Carroll is a Smart Dude

This is a few days old but I wanted to post it anyway. It's from Will Carroll over at Baseball Prospectus:

So the Yankees have signed Mark Teixeira. Along with CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, they’ve committed a load of money to three of the top free agents available this year, making everyone cry “checkbook” at Cashman and Company.

Thing is, the Yankees payroll has gone down at this point. I’m not the math guy or business guy around here, but using the available contract figures and terms, the Yankees are just south of $200 million before arbitration. With players like Melky Cabrera and Xavier Nady eligible, that figure (around $186m) will go up, but not significantly.

Yes, the Yankees spent a lot of money, but they didn’t suddenly spend money they didn’t have. They used money coming off the books and backloaded to work with money that’s coming off the books next year as well. I’m not defending them against charges that they’re “buying championships” but I would like to see some acknowledgement that the Yankees aren’t in some new era of spending. They’re just still spending, like they always have.

Like the title says, the dude is smart.