More Lupica Math.

"The Yankees still make boatloads of money, even if no one is exactly sure how much. They will eventually spend, in salary, revenue sharing and luxury taxes, close to $300 million to field their 2005 team. So, from the outside, it still looks like business as usual."

Wait a minute: "Revenue" is not the same as "payroll."

Payroll is an expense. Revenue is income, the opposite of an expense.

The Yankees make a lot of revenue and they share that revenue with other teams, according to MLB rules. How does Mike Lupica possibly include that in Yankee payroll?

Because of the revenue sharing, the Yankees have less to spend on payroll; the rest of the league has more.

Now, technically, Lupica may have tried to hide his lie by using the phrase "field their 2005 team" rather than "payroll," but even that is wildly misleading.

Because if you're going to just add up every expense for the NY Yankees, it's a lot more than salary and the accompanying luxury tax ("luxury tax" doesn't play a position on the field, so it really makes no sense to included it while comparing Yankee payroll to other teams).

If you're going to add up random things, you may as well include everything. Overhead. The Yankee probably have more overhead than any other team. The cost of toilet paper in Yankee Stadium, the cost of hot dog vendors, the cost of the ground crew, the cost of air travel and hotel rooms. Right? The Yankees have to pay hotel rooms and airplanes "to field their 2005 team," don't they? If the Yankees are scheduled to play in Seattle, they don't hitchhike across the country.

All of these are costs of business, of course, not player payroll. But since we're including everything ... I could claim the Yankees spend $750 million to "field their 2005 team." Who knows how much it costs to rent the Stadium and run a TV station?

Now, let's take Lupica Math to an extreme. Say the Yankees spend $1 million on hot dog vendor salary. (Feel free to add that to payroll, since we're including everything.)

But this is where it gets weird and Felz will try to help you understand what Lupica is doing. Suppose those hot dog vendors collectively make a profit of $2 million. With me so far?

Okay, it's a $1 million profit. But the profits are taxed. The IRS takes $300 thousand. This seems easy enough.

Expenses $1 mill, revenues $2 mill, pre-tax profits $1 mill, $300 thousand tax, net profits of $700 thousand.

Basic accounting. Easy enough, right?

What Lupica is trying to pull ... wake up, this is the key point ... is take the $300 thousand tax and add it to expenses. According to Lupica math, the Yankee "spent" $1.3 million on hot dog vendors. It's a flat-out lie and it makes absolutely no sense.

Lupica should just be honest about it. The Yankee payroll in 2005 will be about $205 million. It's the amount of money paid to the players on the field. The so-called "luxury tax" is not spent on the players who actually play on the field and "revenue sharing" is not a part of payroll, it's a tax on income.

That's the reality. Lupica Math suggests that Yankee payroll is $300 million. Lupica Math is a lie.