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Red Sox and Yankees are Two Worst Run MLB Organizations

By Dan Orencole

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Just because you can spend freely, does not mean you should. Why the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are the two worst ran MLB organizations in recent times.

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have the largest fan bases and play in the biggest markets in Major League Baseball. They also both share another thing in common, being the two worst ran MLB organizations in recent seasons. From 2010-2015, the Yankees and Red Sox represent the two highest payrolls in baseball.

All thirty teams in baseball share one goal coming into Opening Day, winning the World Series. While this is universally shared, certain cities are accustomed to expecting this as opposed to hoping for this. Between the Yankees and Red Sox, they hold just one World Series Championship in these six seasons, the Sox in 2013. Here’s a look at the payrolls of the teams who ended up winning the World Series from 2010-2015.

2015- Royals (16th highest payroll) – $113,618,650 million

2014- Giants (7th highest payroll)- $154,185,878 million

2013- Red Sox (4th highest payroll)- $150,655,500 million

2012- Giants (8th highest payroll)- $117,620,683 million

2011- Cardinals (11th highest payroll) $105,433,572 million

2010- Giants (10th highest payroll) $97,828,833 million

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While the Giants stand out on this list, the Giants are known for grooming their players in their farm system. With three World Series championships, two of the three World Series MVP’s in their championship years were products of their farm system, Pablo Sandoval and Madison Bumgarner.

With the payroll the Yankees and Red Sox have, big name free agent acquisitions have become a norm and dumping homegrown players via trade has been too common. When the Red Sox were at their peak in the 2000s the majority of their core were homegrown players. This past season, the Royals championship continued to prove that developing players in a strong farm system goes a long way.

They had a core group of talented prospect stars turned big leaguers who had played together growing up through the system. As a result, the payroll was an afterthought and the team chemistry and trust was at the forefront.

Here’s a list of the World Series MVP’s from 2010-2015 and how the team acquired them:

2015- Salvador Perez (homegrown)

2014-Madison Bumgarner (homegrown)

2013- David Ortiz (acquired from Minnesota following 2002 season)

2012- Pablo Sandoval (homegrown)

2011- David Freese (drafted by Padres, traded to Cardinals and brought up in Cardinals farm system)

2010- Edgar Renteria (not homegrown)

With this information out there, one must wonder why these two organizations are so driven to sign big name players. Players brought up through the farm come at a discount and while failure is possible, success is also a possibility.

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A team will never figure out what a player has to offer if they let them go via trade before getting a shot at the big leagues. A great example of this is former Red Sox prospect and current Chicago Cubs first baseman, Anthony Rizzo.

The Red Sox traded Rizzo for all-star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in 2010. Following the trade, the Sox signed Gonzalez to a seven-year $154 million contract. Now in 2015, Rizzo is a two-time All Star, and at 26 years old, is on his way to a great career. Gonzalez only played two of the seven years in his contract before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers alongside Josh Beckett and another failed signing in recent years, Carl Crawford.

While the Red Sox got the Dodgers to eat around $270 million of these players’ contracts, the loss of Rizzo greatly outweighed the money coming back. Gonzalez’s salary in 2015 was $21,857,143. Rizzo’s salary was $5,285,714 in 2015.

October 20, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo (44) reacts after he hits a single in the first inning against the New York Mets in game three of the NLCS at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The first baseman of the Red Sox coming into 2015, Mike Napoli, had a salary of $16,000,000 in 2015. The best player of these three this past year was Rizzo and he came at a discount of at least $10 million compared to the other two.

Meanwhile, the Yankees let go of a homegrown player themselves. While Robinson Cano played many years for the Yankees, letting him go was a huge mistake. Even though he did not come at a value based on his successful career, Cano was a guy brought up in their system who should have been rewarded by the organization.

Second base is a position where offense is tough to come by. Cano has almost in-arguably been the best second baseman in recent years, at least from an offensive perspective. The Yankees had the money to pay him, but let him walk. As a result, the Yankees had serious troubles at second base this season relying on Stephen Drew. Drew is a great defensive infielder, but his bat pales in comparison to Cano.

Bringing players up and giving them a shot can pay huge dividends as shown by Rizzo and Cano. Rewarding those players who provided great value to the organization and produced great numbers like Cano is also extremely important.

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While the Yankees and Red Sox have these payrolls, they are not putting them to good use. That cannot be argued as in the past six seasons, they combine for one championship.

Until they start to realize this trend, the traditional powers of Major League Baseball could be in trouble. Winning will be tough to come by as other teams such as the Royals, Astros and Cubs become powerhouses in baseball with their great farm systems becoming complete major league teams.

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