They always have a big payroll, but because they made no major off season acquisition, missed out on Cliff Lee and we made 2 huge acquisitions, most Yankee expected the Sox to finish ahead of them. In that regard, the 2011 Yankees surpassed expectations and certainly with the emergence of Nova and the contributions of Colon and Garcia and the All Star year from Robertson, they over achieved. If Cashman's contract is up, I would love for the Sox to poach him.