It's The Length - Not the Size

Many people have a problem with the Yankees giving out the richest contracts but it hasn't served them well (no championships in this century). To me what will really kill them is the length of contract that they routinely give out. Here are the people on the Yankee roster who have guaranteed contracts for 2005 and beyond:

10 year - Roger Clemens basically gets $1 million a year until 2014
6 year (2) - Jeter, A-Rod
4 year - Giambi (with option for 2009)
3 year - Vazquez
2 year (5) - Contreras (even though he was traded away - Yankees still picking up large part of that contract), Mussina (with option for 2007), Posada (with option for 2007), Rivera (with option for 2007), Sheffield (with option for 2007)

Compare that to the Red Sox who have one 4-year deal (Manny Ramirez), one 3-year deal (Keith Foulke) and three 2-year deals (Nixon, Schilling and Ortiz with Ortiz also having a 2007 option).

The Yankees have depleted their farm system and if they continue to take on long bad contracts - then they will run out of both money and roster spots. Even the Yankees have a limit to what they can spend and I think they are getting close to that limit.

BTW - the only other 6-year contract in the AL belongs to Eric Chavez of the A's but it should be noted that he's 2-years younger than A-Rod and 4-years younger than Jeter.