Michael Weddell makes a good point about the effect of the Yankees foreign signings:

Regarding the Yankees’ payroll, compared to the possible alternatives, Lucchino should be fairly happy. If one accepts it as a given that the Yankees will spend whatever it takes to have the best team on paper entering the season, then the Contreras signing is one of the least damaging things the Yankees can do with their money. As a player with no prior MLB experience, Contreras would be very hard to use as a comparison player in an arbitration hearing. Even as a use in free agent negotiations, Contreras’ signing will have limited impact on negotiations between other players and other MLB teams because his value (and hence his ability to be used as a comparison) is so uncertain. This (and the Hideki Matsui signing) are much less damaging to other MLB teams’ payrolls than if the Yankees had signed Greg Maddux to $18M per year or Cliff Floyd to $10M per year for example.