The Cost of Talent - Dice-K (Red Sox) vs. the 2007 Cleveland Indians Payroll

Paying a little more for talent is OK.  But diminishing returns follow to anyone, including an organization like the Yankees, who pays 3x as much for the same number of "employees" as their competitors.  Case in point - the Cleveland Indians, who crushed the Yankees with less than 1/3 of the New York payroll (61M to 195M).

Flash to Game 3 of the ACLS tonight.  The Red Sox, who paid a total of 100M to bring Dice-K to the states, sent the Japanese ace to the mound tonight to take back control of the series against guess who?  The Indians.  When you pay 100M, you're doing it so the ace can go to the hill and win the "must have" game. 

Result?  Indians 4 (61 million invested this year in total for the team), Red Sox 2 (100 million invested in Dice-K alone). 

Moral?  Grown talent from within and don't pay retail when you buy externally.  Retail is for suckers....