The Cleveland Guardians had an incredible run in the 2024 season and fell just short of their ultimate goal after losing to the New York Yankees in the ALCS 3-1.
The focus now turns toward the future, and many fans are anxious to see the team push all its chips into the pot to go for a title, but analyst Bruce Drennan has a message for those fans eager to see the Guardians pony up more cash.
Drennan said on a recent episode of The Bruce Drennan Show that the team doesn’t need to spend that much to compete for a ring, pointing out “The last time that the big money payroll New York Yankees were in the World Series was 2009. That’s a long time ago.”
Bruce Drennan wants you to understand that the Guardians don't need to spend THAT much to compete for a ring.
"The last time that the big money payroll New York Yankees were in the World Series was 2009. That's a long time ago."
Stream show in free app: https://t.co/Ag5PaVP3qG pic.twitter.com/7YQumAxnDJ
— Bruce Drennan Show (@Bruce_Drennan) October 26, 2024
While what Drennan said is true, it’s tough to deny that spending works in today’s day and age considering the last three teams standing (Yankees, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers) had the three highest payrolls in baseball.
In the past, there was certainly a case to be made that you can’t buy championships, but the big-market teams are spending more than ever and the gap between the big spenders and the penny pinchers continues to grow each year.
The Yankees and Dodgers aren’t in this position if they don’t use all their resources to bring in Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Giancarlo Stanton, Juan Soto, and retain MVPs like Aaron Judge and Mookie Betts.
This type of rhetoric being promoted only continues to let billionaire owners off the hook, when the reality of the situation is that Guardians owner Larry Dolan is the 4th-richest owner in baseball and could easily spend like these other big market teams if he wanted to.
NEXT: Analysts Discuss Guardians' Top Offseason Priority
