I’ve been working on the sports pages, at the International Herald Tribune the past few days, and that means I’ve seen a lot of stories about the New York Yankees. And even the Mets. You know, teams actually doing something, trying to get better. Signing C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Francisco Rodriguez, for instance.

The subtext to this seems to be … “the New York teams have money no one else does.”

And the Dodgers and Angels don’t?

Didn’t each just spend more than $100 million on salaries, last year?

Don’t each sell 3 million tickets a year? And keep raising prices?

And they’re now waiting around for … what? To see whom the last free agent standing is and try to low-ball him into their clubhouses?

It’s just all sort of depressing for a SoCal baseball fan. Apparently, Los Angeles is now a second-tier market incapable of paying for stars.

Yes, I know: The correlation between spending and success is not a strong one. Otherwise the Yankees would have won a World Series lately, and Joe Torre might still be their manager.

But when “signing Casey Blake” is the biggest Dodgers/Angels news out of the Winter Meetings … when you read stories indicating that West Coast teams (including the Dodgers and Angels) made zero attempt to negotiate with C.C. Sabathia … it just gets you down.

Sure, you can win with kids and low-end veterans. Tampa Bay just did it. But it’s a hard way to sell season tickets.  “Come see Matt Kemp turn into a superstar, maybe!”

I’m waiting, Tony Reagins and Ned Colletti. Do a little something, show you’re awake. Alive. Do something even if it’s wrong, before the Yankees and Mets sign everyone on the market.