Spending big money isn't the only way

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.

You think Brian Cashman is feeling the heat? Shoot, Tony Reagins would kill to be Brian Cashman.

The Angels' GM faced two waves of intense questioning Thursday morning about how the Yankees' former nemesis whiffed on Carl Crawford. The speedy outfielder seemed destined for Disneyland, but instead, here at Disney World, the baseball world learned of the Red Sox's seven-year, $142-million commitment to Crawford.

The Angels tried to sign CC Sabathia or Mark Teixeira in 2008 and fell short to the Yankees in both pursuits. This time Crawford blew off the Angels and his good pal Torii Hunter for New England.

Given the Yankees' and Red Sox's Hot Stove League dominance, a reporter asked Reagins how he could keep up with his American League brethren.

"I think you compete by developing and scouting," Reagins said. "You do those things well, you can compete. They have revenue streams that a number of other clubs don't have. But they conduct business in the manner they feel is appropriate."

And the manner they feel is appropriate? It's rather excessive.

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For all the "competitive imbalance!!!" chatter this week will produce, it's likely that the other 28 teams will enjoy the fruits of the Yankees' and Red Sox's labor as much as the two clubs themselves.

Seven years and $142 million for Crawford, on top of the trade for former Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, is a huge overpay for a corner outfielder with a career OPS of .781. Twenty-three-million dollars or so per season is just fine for Cliff Lee, but seven years - the rare air where the Yankees went Thursday in hopes of securing the free-agent lefthander - carries significant risk, given that Lee turns 33 in August.

To be fair, both the Yankees and Red Sox continue to emphasize development and scouting. Yet to reiterate an old point, these two clubs might be able to print money, but they can't print roster spots. The Yankees-Red Sox cold war rebooted when Theo Epstein took over the Red Sox for the 2003 campaign, and in the eight subsequent seasons, Boston has won two World Series, the Yankees one and five other teams one each. Hardly an outrageous ratio.

That's because other teams have grown smarter; look at what a great job Queens native Jon Daniels did in putting together the 2010 Rangers, who eliminated the Yankees at less than half the cost and visited Lee Thursday for one last recruitment. It's also because the small sample size of the postseason can be unforgiving of slumping teams.

Maybe these moves will prove brilliant. "If things come together the way we hope and expect, we'll be really satisfied," Epstein told Boston reporters. "I think you go into every winter with a Plan A, and sometimes it's hard to pull that off, and then you move on to Plan B and C. I think adding an impact player was very important for where we were for the short, medium and long term. Adding two, as long as they were the right players, in the right spots, in the right situations, would be even better."

Cashman said of the Red Sox, "They've had two huge acquisitions, so they're loading up like they always do, but this is even more significant than a typical Red Sox reload. So they've done a great job so far."

So far, sure, but we'll see how Crawford, Gonzalez and, if he comes to the Bronx, Lee handle life in the Rivalry Fishbowl. And how they age.

Big names are great, big contracts not so much. As long as other teams keep focusing on scouting and development, it'll be much more difficult for the Yankees and Red Sox to win in October than in December.