These days Red Sox vs. Yankees has the feel of Jack Nicklaus vs. Arnold Palmer.
Unfortunately, Nicklaus is 72 now and Palmer is 83.
The Rivalry feels old and tired, and not just because Boston is a last-place team and Red Sox-Yankees passions are now more from habit than something that bubbles with renewed intensity. Been there, done that way too often.
But there also is this: This trade deadline season is emphasizing yet again that the Yankees and Red Sox are no longer the lone superpowers in the sport. In fact, both are essentially abstaining. Yes, the Yankees acquired a superstar name in Ichiro Suzuki. But, in reality, he is now a complementary player.
Also, the Yankees would not have done the deal had Seattle not agreed to pay two-thirds of Ichiro’s remaining contract. They also never got far with Colorado for Marco Scutaro because the Rockies would not eat enough of the infielder’s pact.
Both the Yankees and Red Sox are determined to be under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014. So both are mostly avoiding long-term contracts and trying to protect the best of their farm systems for inexpensive options in the near future.
But this isn’t exclusively about the Yankees and Red Sox. This is about the growth of others. The Phillies, who became the third superpower a few years back, flexed their financial muscle again by re-signing Cole Hamels to a six-year, $144 million deal. No team ever had two pitchers averaging $20 million or more a year until Philadelphia outmaneuvered the Yankees for Cliff Lee to join Roy Halladay. Now the Phillies have three averaging that much. In fact, with Ryan Howard added in, they have four players averaging $20 million or more — something even the Yankees have never had.
The Tigers’ aging owner, Mike Ilitch, has made it clear he wants a championship before it is too late. Thus, when Victor Martinez suffered a left knee injury that threatened his season, Ilitch did a George Steinbrenner thing by approving a $214 million solution in Prince Fielder. Last week, the Tigers sacrificed one of their best prospects, Jacob Turner, to obtain Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante from the Marlins.
But, really, the most interesting burgeoning superpower dynamics are being waged among the Rangers, Angels and Dodgers.
The Rangers vs. Angels has become the Red Sox vs. the Yankees 2.0: There is a top-this ethos now for the two teams. The Rangers imported Yu Darvish and Joe Nathan in the offseason. The Angels, who had ceded AL West front-runner status to the Rangers over the past few years, reacted by spending more than $300 million on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson.
The Angels then outbid the Rangers last week by giving the Brewers three of their 10 best prospects for Zack Greinke. Now there are executives anticipating Texas could be compelled to fire back again. The Rangers have Darvish, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland and signed Roy Oswalt with the season already in progress, yet manager Ron Washington said he needs a No. 1 type starter. It would have been unimaginable just a few years back that the manager of the Rangers could be asking for an ace in July.
But the Rangers are the best example of what the mushrooming local TV dollars are doing for so many teams. Again, the Yankees and Red Sox are no longer the only team bolstered by TV rights. The Dodgers sold for a record $2.15 billion earlier this season and the anticipated riches of a pending local TV deal fueled that final price.
The tug-of-war over Southern California supremacy between the Angels and Dodgers also is fueling the trade market. The Dodgers don’t have much of a farm system to wage this war, so they are doing it with dollars.
The Phillies had to sign Hamels to the second-largest pitcher contract ever because they were concerned over how much the Dodgers would give the lefty as a free agent this offseason.
Not long ago, it was unimaginable any team would take on all of Hanley Ramirez’s remaining contract (about $38 million), but the Dodgers did.
It is part of a new baseball landscape. The Red Sox and the Yankees no longer reside as the only superpowers.
Closers not all cleaning up now
The Padres gave Huston Street a two-year, $14 million extension yesterday. Why does this matter to the Yankees? Because Street is going to earn as much in 2013-14 as Rafael Soriano has as his player option for just 2013.
Agent Scott Boras would not provide an answer the other day when I asked whether, if Soriano continues to have a strong year, he would consider opting out to see if he could get, say, a three-year deal in the $24 million range rather than just have the one year. Street wanted to stay in San Diego, which could have lowered his overall return. Still, he is among the more accomplished closers in the game and will need two years to earn what Soriano is getting in one, an indicator the financial rewards for closers have come way down.
* The Padres were growing more leery of trading Chase Headley. The Yankees inquired on Headley as a replacement for Alex Rodriguez now and potentially a replacement for Nick Swisher later. But there were no indicators there was much life to those talks.
Nevertheless, third base remained an active position in the trade market with Houston continuing its fire sale (having already dealt J.A. Happ, Carlos Lee, Brandon Lyon, Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez) by trading Chris Johnson to Arizona, which dealt its third baseman, Ryan Roberts, to Tampa Bay.
Kevin Youkilis and Hanley Ramirez were other third basemen already traded.
* An executive who recently watched the Athletics said he understands why Oakland general manager Billy Beane is working so hard to find help for the left side of his infield (Oakland is being linked to Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew).
But the executive also added, “That team is no fluke.” He cited the depth of quality pitching Oakland has in both the rotation and bullpen. In addition, he said rookie Yoenis Cespedes’ excellence has “brought real life to that team, and so has Josh Reddick’s breakout. They have a good thing going there right now. There is a lot of energy, a lot of confidence. They have a kind of ‘screw-you-we’re-good’ confidence going,right now.”