I guess $200 million no longer buys what it once did.

Just ask the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers or New York Mets, the three highest spending teams in baseball, none of which is currently sitting any better than third in their respective divisions and a trio that was a combined one game above .500 as of Saturday afternoon.

Wow! Talk about a bang for your buck.

Or not!

Between them, the “thrifty” trio is spending almost $500 million on players’ salaries in 2008, which is almost $100 million for every dumb thing Hank Steinbrenner has said this season and more than the combined salaries of the nine lowest-spending teams in baseball.

But they’re not getting a huge return on their investments and that gives Steinbrenner and his fellow owners the right to say all those stupid things or fire their manager before the season’s even halfway done.

And they’re not alone.

Of the top 10 highest-spending teams in baseball, each of which spends more than $100 million in players’ salaries, only four – the Red Sox, White Sox, Angels and Cubs – actually have winning cords as of Saturday afternoon.

The other six – Yankees, Tigers, Mets, Dodgers, Mariners and Braves – are all floundering in mediocrity, at best.

That serves as a sharp contrast to how effective the lowest-spending teams in baseball have been this season, and of the bottom 10 spenders, who average about $50 million in total players’ salaries, only four have losing records, and one of them (the Diamondbacks) are still winning their division.
To take it a step further, and in sharp contrast to the Yankees, Tigers and Mets, the lowest three spenders – the Marlins, Rays and A’s – are all either first or second in their respective divisions, despite combining to spend under $114 million, barely more than half what the Yankees are spending.

In fact, two of the Yankees players – Alex Rodriquez and Jason Giambi – each earn more than the entire Marlins roster.

So what’s gone wrong with the topsy-turvy world of baseball? And, dare I say it, but could the average fantasy geek actually do a better job of spending on players?

I mean, seriously, don’t you think the “average Joe” with a casual knowledge of baseball could do a better job than the Yankees if he had a salary of more than $200 at his disposal?

Well, maybe, maybe not, and there are several variables involved in addition to spending wisely.

First, this is baseball we’re talking about, and when it comes to America’s pastime the best and worst winning percentages are always a lot closer than in other sports such as football.

Compare the best and worst winning percentages in baseball right now (the Rays’ .624 and the Nationals’ .386) to the best and worst in football in December (the Patriots’ 1.000 to the Dolphins’ 0.063) and you can see a sizable difference.

Translation: Baseball is a sport where poor teams beat the better teams more often than most other sports.

The other factor to consider in regard to why low-spending teams are faring so well this season is an age-old belief in the world of sports that the best way to build a championship team is through the draft or farm systems and not through free agency.

And with that in mind, it’s no coincidence that the three best farm systems in baseball right now are arguably those of the Marlins, Rays and A’s, with Florida and Oakland consistently producing the best players over the past decade.

As for whether one of these low spenders can win the World Series remains to be seen, but halfway through the 2008 season one thing is for certain – when it comes to baseball, money doesn’t guarantee success.

(Opinions expressed in columns do not necessarily reflect those of The Eureka Reporter.)