The NY Times’ Murray Chase in this article provides some humbling analysis of the economic disparity between the New York Yankees and everyone else in Major League Baseball:

If the Yankees’ rotation is [Randy] Johnson, Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, the combined 2005 salaries of the starters will be $67 million. That total is more than the 2004 payrolls of 18 of the other 29 teams.

And if the Yanks outbid the Stros for Carlos Beltran?:

If Beltran’s agent gets what he wants, $20 million a year, make the Yankees payroll $230 million, nearly 30 percent higher than this year’s.

By way of comparison, the Stros’ 2004 salary budget was just a tad under $75 million.