And I do agree that the current system rewards failure too easily and something should be done about penalizing those teams that fail to meet a minimum standard.
Yup. I have no problem with the Yankees marketing their team and making the money off of it. They want to be successful every year and are willing to pay for it. And that annual success returns plenty of revenue. The Nats were the second most profitable franchise because it is easy to get plenty of revenue while spending just enough to generate it and still suck.
Sure, the Yankees go out and buy the big FA names, but that doesn't mean teams can't be effective spending less money on players that will field as competitive of a team. Players like Damon and AJ Burnett could be easily countered by other teams for a lot less. The Yankees will always be able to outspend and have the most marquee names. But they only have 25 roster spots. The fault lies with Selig and and other owners who are content to act as de facto farm teams for the likes of the Yankees as opposed to being competitive.
There does have to be more revenue sharing and forcing the teams to spend it. The Yankees and Sox make a ton of money off of the constant national marketing exposure of ESPN. But owners that don't spend the money they get should not be let off the hook.