I read it this morning but the news of the Tex deal just puts it over the top. My favorite part is the final paragraph, which while imperfect by assuming fair market value is determined by Forbes, cannot be that far from the truth (my emphasis): More fun with numbers.: suppose the Yankees exceed the tax threshold in every year of of CC Sabbathia's (7 years $161 million) and AJ Burnett's (5 years $82.5 million) contracts. Further suppose the salary payments are made in equal installments over the lives of the contracts, the Yanks pay the top luxury tax rate of 40%, and face a discount rate of 5%. Then the after-tax amount they'll pay for these players is a discounted $286.3 million. To put this in perspective, Hank Steinbrenner could have bought the Tampa Bay Rays franchise for $290 million or the Florida Marlins franchise for $256 million (based on the Forbes franchise values for 2008).