The Yankees are worth $3.2 billion, and that doesn't count the Steinbrenners' interest in YES

Hal "I'm Not Cheap" Steinbrenner arrived in this barren, brutal world worth about $100 million.

Considering that his family is majority owner of the Yankees and minority owner of YES Network, I'm Not Cheap is now probably worth two to three billion dollars - and that's in Yankee holdings alone. God knows what the family passed along in real estate, stocks, art, jewels, gold, slaves and tablets of Viagra.

Today, Forbes ranked MLB franchises according to net value and annual revenues. The Yankees - of course - top the list. The numbers reveal a vast, overwhelming financial clout, the team being as much a money-printing machine as a cultural icon.

The Yankees are worth $3.2 billion dollars. Try to wrap your head around that figure, next time A-Rod's scandalous $26 million salary raises tempers in the beer garden. Three point two billion dollars. Years ago, Forbes estimated the value of YES Network at more than the Yankees itself. Since then, the Steinbrenners sold the majority of their YES interest to Satan himself, Rupert Murdoch.

Last year, the team took in more than $500 million - well more than twice the amount that I'm Not Cheap spent on payroll. He could have run that payroll to $300 million and never felt a twinge. It just would have been uncomfortable in the other owners' parties.

Last month, I'm Not Cheap pulled out his pockets and bleated poverty like a homeless bridge-sitter, after Cuban Yoan Moncada signed with the Redsocks for a few precious pennies more.

Of course, the game is rigged, and the owners can never lose. But one of these days, a hard rain is gonna fall...