Yankees spending more on luxury tax than Tampa is on payroll

I just saw a Yahoo News article that says that for 2005, the Yankees will pay more in luxury tax than the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will spend on their whole payroll. The Yankee$ will probably spend over $190 million (leading to a tax bill of $60 million) while the Devil Rays are around $25 million. I can't believe the disparity between payrolls and I don't know how MLB will stay competitive. It's getting to the point that the rest of the league just has to hope that the Evil Empire makes mistakes or implodes under their own pressure.

Speaking of the Bronx pressure cooker. I heard an NPR interview with Buster Olney who wrote the book The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty The Game, the Team, and the Cost of Greatness. The book sounds great. The basic premise is that Steinbrenner has created such a high pressure environment that it has become very difficult to perform. The teams of the 90's were so good because they had a strong core of players that came up through the minors together (Williams, Jeter, O'Neill) and supported each other against the wrath of George and the attention of the fans. Now the team is a bunch of greedy individualists who, although great athletes, regularly perform beneath their potential. I hope he is right.