"In the name of competitive balance, the commissioner and many of the owners want to reach deeply into George Steinbrenner's pocket and extract huge sums of his money.
If the economic rules advocated by Commissioner Bud Selig were in effect this year, they would cost Steinbrenner's Yankees about $150 million, enough either to bolster the treasuries of most of the other teams or to buy another team to join the Montreal Expos in Major League Baseball's portfolio.
The commissioner wants to take half of the Yankees' local revenue, less Yankee Stadium rental, and 50 percent of the portion of their payroll over $98 million.
The Yankees' revenue last year was $218 million and could reach $240 million this year. Their payroll for purposes of determining what management calls a competitive-balance tax is $164 million. Take about half of $240 million and half of $66 million, and the Yankees would pay about $150 million to enhance competitive balance.
Steinbrenner and the union have both said they don't mind the other owners getting some of the Yankees' money, but neither will stand for their getting so much of it. The union, in fact, is the best defense Steinbrenner has against the commissioner's attempt to empty his pockets. He won't make any inroads with the commissioner and his fellow owners against the proposed sharing and tax rates, so he is depending on the union to do the job for him.
And it's not just the Yankees who turn their hopeful eyes to the union. It's also the Mets, the Dodgers, the Braves, the Red Sox, the Giants, the Mariners, the Rangers and the Diamondbacks. Not that any of them would admit it.
Read more here -- from today's NYTimes (reg. req.)