New York Yankees spending spree
The recent big name free agents that the New York Yankees have signed may at first seem like a huge increase in payroll. But what I have not seen mentioned or analyzed is the fact that the Yankees are really just replacing big contracts of outgoing free agents rather than adding significantly to their payroll. So far, the Yankees have signed these three big name free agents with the following average annual salaries:
C. C. Sabathia: $23,000,000
A.J. Burnett: $16,500,000
Mark Teixeira: $22,500,000
That’s a total of $62 million.
Take a look at these four salaries the Yankees paid in 2008 that they will not be paying in 2009:
Jason Giambi: $23,428,571
Bobby Abreu: $16,000,000
Mike Mussina: $11,071,029
Carl Pavano: $11,000,000
Those add up to $61.5 million. So the Yankees have only added half a million dollars to the payroll for 2009.
For the last eight years, the off-season spending habits of the Yankees have been rather consistent, spending top dollar to acquire at least one high-priced player each year (and most years more than one). After the season is over, the results of the Yankees for those eight seasons have been just as consistent: no World Series Championship. So anyone who thinks that this year’s crop of Yankee free agent signings means they are a lock to win the World Series or that it spells doom for small market baseball teams, just look at the last eight years.
I don’t want to hear that teams such as Pittsburgh and Kansas City can’t compete with the Yankees. A year ago people were saying the same thing about the Tampa Bay Rays. The Minnesota Twins won their division four times in five years (2002-2004, 2006). We’ve all read Moneyball and know what Billy Beane has done in Oakland. The Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks have each won the World Series over the Yankees in this decade. Paying a lot of money for high priced free agents wins the Yankees nothing.
Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In
This story in the Onion is too good to pass up: Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In
Some highlights:
A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.
Congress is currently considering an emergency economic-stimulus measure, tentatively called the Bubble Act, which would order the Federal Reserve to begin encouraging massive private investment in some fantastical financial scheme in order to get the nation’s false economy back on track.
“Every American family deserves a false sense of security,” said Chris Reppto, a risk analyst for Citigroup in New York. “Once we have a bubble to provide a fragile foundation, we can begin building pyramid scheme on top of pyramid scheme, and before we know it, the financial situation will return to normal.”
“America needs another bubble,” said Chicago investor Bob Taiken. “At this point, bubbles are the only thing keeping us afloat.”
This article was published on July 14, 2008. The Bubble Act must not have had much support in Congress because instead of trying to encourage private investment, Congress is now trying to use public funds to support the bubble.
Saving the Free Market
From Bloomberg.com:
President George W. Bush, in an interview that aired today on CNN, said he’s “considering all options” for a bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.
“I have abandoned free-market principles to save the free- market system,” Bush said.
The free market does not need collectivists to save it. It needs existing regulation removed in order to become free, not more regulation that will never go away.
Bach Cantata BWV 115: Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit
The third and final cantata on the CD Cantatas with Violoncello Piccolo Vol. 1 by Christophe Coin sees countertenor Andreas Scholl shine. Cantata 115, “Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit,” begins with a rather unmemorable opening chorale with flute accompaniment. Movement 2 is the alto aria, which is about 9 minutes long and subsequently drags on a bit by the end. Movement 4 is a soprano aria with flute accompaniment.
A performance by Rilling cannot hold up to the Coin CD, which even despite the slower tempo of the alto aria, Scholl is clearly the better singer. But overall the music contained in this cantata is really nothing special.
Rating: 5 out of 10.
Book review: The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
I would not consider myself a big Agatha Christie fan, but over the course of my life I have read about 15 of her novels and have always found them enjoyable. The Moving Finger is no exception. Written in 1942 and set about that same time, the narrator and his sister, Jerry and Joanna Burton, move out of London to a small English town while Jerry recovers from wartime injuries. They soon discover that the town is plagued by a series of anonymous “poison pen” letters that accuse the town residents of all kinds of improprieties. A murder is committed, the narrator works with the police to solve it, but Miss Marple swoops in at the very end to solve it easily.
The solution fooled me. One of the best aspects of Agatha Christie’s mysteries is that while the general plots of many books may fall into a similar pattern, the solution to the puzzle never seems to fall into a pattern or become repetitive. In this story, I followed one of the red herrings and was sure that they were the murderer, only to be surprised at the end. Being surprised by the ending makes the book enjoyable as well as realizing that I could have figured out the solution but I didn’t.
Though enjoyable and though there is nothing negative to comment upon, The Moving Finger is not one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels, nor would it be in my top 5. But it is some good, easy reading for those who like the genre.
Rating: 6 out of 10.
Monteverdi Gems
Continuing my series of Baroque Gems, here are two passages from works by Claudio Monteverdi which are really the same tune:
Toccata and Ritornello from the opening of Orfeo;
Domine ad adiuvandum from the opening of the 1610 Vespers
The opening horn (trumpet or cornett) from Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo represents an announcement of the arrival of Baroque music and an end to Renaissance music. The harmonies, the use of continuo, the ritornello form, and the creation of opera itself all represent a new style of music that differed from the Renaissance. All of those elements are embodied by Orfeo.
Monteverdi makes this pronouncement not simply within the context of the secular form of an opera, but also within sacred music by using the same opening theme in his 1610 Vespers (Vespro della Beata Vergine). The addition of the instrumental line while the choir is singing the “Domine ad adiuvandum” lends a power to the music that no Renaissance composition ever had.
My favorite version of Orfeo is with Nigel Rogers singing the title role with Charles Medlam conducting the London Baroque. For the Vespers, I like the 1990 release from John Elliott Gardiner conducting the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.
Cornell Basketball – Ivy League Champs?
As the college basketball season gets underway, I have to ask the following question: did the Cornell men’s basketball team really win the Ivy League championship last season (2007/2008) or was that just a dream? I need to ask the question because for the previous 19 years the Ivy League was represented by either Penn or Princeton in the NCAA tournament. It just doesn’t seem conceivable that a team other than Penn or Princeton could win the title.
