A Touch of Evil Isn’t So Bad

The emperor of the Evil Empire is issuing his daily pronouncements to the media serfs from his special chariot in a basement tunnel at his spring castle known as Legends Field, which is located at 1 Steinbrenner Drive.

Sitting in what otherwise might be called a golf cart, the managing general partner of the New York Yankees is discussing what has been one of his favorite spring themes.

In other words, he is again suggesting that all those owners and baseball people who continue to hammer the Yankees for acquiring Alex Rodriguez and assembling their own All-Star team, the equivalent of a private (multi-)Millionaires Club, should finally stop with the envy and whining and get on with their lives -- if not their businesses.

“Enough sour grapes,” George Steinbrenner said.

“Everybody complains about the Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, but everybody is dying to play us.”

Of course.

Everybody loves those sellouts, and everybody loves those revenue-sharing checks he signs even more.

The point?

Well, forget the often insufferable bluster and bullying.

Considering how Steinbrenner’s generosity under the new bargaining agreement has helped produce a new measure of parity and competitive balance, the naysayers should just let George do it.

They should subscribe to his passion for winning but too often don’t.

Jason Giambi provided an appropriate perspective.

“Do I feel sorry for any of the other owners or teams?” the first baseman said. “Why should I feel sorry? I came here to win.

“When I left Oakland as a free agent I wanted to sign with an organization that would give me that chance every year, and the Yankees were the only option [in that regard].

“If people are going to cry about what Mr. Steinbrenner does, they shouldn’t own a team.

“It’s like being a player. You want to be the very best you can be, and I think that’s the way Mr. Steinbrenner approaches owning the Yankees. He does what it takes.”

Mr. Steinbrenner, of course, has what it takes to do what it takes.

Industry-high revenue provides the Yankees with more room for error, and the Boss definitely benefits from owning a team in New York.

Then again, isn’t that where the Mets also play, and where has their inept operation left them in recent years?

The Mets don’t have the Yankee history and brand, but Steinbrenner has been a master at profiting on it, as his YES television network and sponsorship agreement with Adidas illustrate.

The same opportunities may not exist in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Cincinnati, for example, but it’s also true that the more Steinbrenner reaps, the more he sows.

As Yankee President Randy Levine has often said: “There are never any complaints when we write the check for $60 million.”

Sixty million was the staggering sum the Yankees paid in revenue sharing and luxury tax last year, and the obligation may reach $80 million this year.

It’s a debt that has come back to bite the Boss in each of the last two Octobers. The Angels and Florida Marlins both took advantage of their revenue-sharing dole in building the teams that whipped the Yankees in the playoffs.

The Angels did it in the 2002 division series on their way to winning the World Series, and the Marlins did it in the World Series last year.

As Levine suggested in referring to that $60-million check, how evil can the Evil Empire be when the Yankee tax and revenue sharing contribution has helped create an expanded and more successful middle class?

More and more clubs seem convinced they can compete even as Steinbrenner continues to spend.

Consider the Marlins with their $53-million payroll.

President David Samson didn’t send Steinbrenner a thank-you note in October, but he paused at the club’s spring camp and said that what the new bargaining agreement has underscored is that “there is no correlation between payroll and winning the World Series” and that “overspending is no substitute for good decisions.”

Would he agree with Steinbrenner that owners need to stop whining?

“I wouldn’t put it in terms of whining,” Samson said. “I think it’s important not to be negative -- don’t believe you can’t win just because you’re being outspent or your players may believe it.

“I read where [new Dodger owner] Frank McCourt had a good line when he talked to his team the other day. He said that salaries don’t win games, players do.”

It isn’t clear what McCourt’s long-term financial direction will be, but Anaheim neighbor Arte Moreno definitely seems to endorse the Yankee philosophy of spending money to make money.

When the Boss put the philosophy to work again in acquiring Rodriguez, John Henry, the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, proved there are no restrictions on envy and hypocrisy.

Claiming that Steinbrenner’s resources were “insanely beyond” any other club’s and that the industry’s economic system was far out of whack, Henry’s rant ignored his own aggressive pursuit of Rodriguez only a few weeks before.

Ultimately, the Red Sox backed off financially and failed to go the extra mile for their fans -- as the jabbing Steinbrenner put it in facetiously saying he could understand Henry’s embarrassment and frustration with the Yankees’ acquisition of Rodriguez -- but just imagine.

Had Henry stayed the course, he would have 1) acquired one of baseball’s best players and top marketing cards, 2) purged the roster of Manny Ramirez, 3) avoided the possibility that an alienated Nomar Garciaparra will leave as a free agent at the end of the season, and 4) removed all possibility of an in-our-face acquisition of Rodriguez by the hated Yankees.

Now the Red Sox face the possibility that Steinbrenner, having acquired Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and Kenny Lofton in addition to Rodriguez and others this winter, may not be through.

“We’ve got some things we still want to do,” Steinbrenner said from his chariot.

Among them:

A contract extension for Manager Joe Torre and the probable re-signing of free agent Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who missed almost all of last year after shoulder surgery and would be stockpiled as Jon Lieber, who was then recovering from surgery and is now a rotation candidate, was last year.

Said the re-energized Torre:

“I like the fact that George and I are back on a level of mutual respect. I’m very comfortable where our relationship is. It wasn’t that way last year, but I’m very happy the Boss has been so happy. Just don’t even ask me why [he has].”

It would be difficult, of course, for a man of Steinbrenner’s determination not to have been invigorated by a winter shopping spree capped by the Rodriguez trade and by that “Bay of Pigs” cross-fire, as one industry executive called it, with the Red Sox owner.

Now word is emerging that the Yankees -- with two shortstops on the left side of their infield -- are already discussing the possibility of pursuing another for the right side if Garciaparra becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

Of course, it’s doubtful the Boston shortstop would consider moving to second base and it’s likely this is merely a little speculation to get under the Red Sox’s skin again, but bet this:

Although the best team money can buy doesn’t always survive in October (the Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2000), Steinbrenner will do what he has to do to give them a chance.

Those who complain should ask themselves if that really is so evil.