MLB Salary Cap?

[AppGuy04]

Should MLB have a salary cap?

[dbackjon]

Definately. And a salary floor.

[HiHiYikas]

Maybe, MAYBE if there's a fairly high salary floor. Revenue sharing isn't doing its job when owners can put up a $28 million payroll.

But there's no need to do anything to even out a league with a 162-game regular season. That's a powerful equalizer. Show me another pr league where teams routinely overcome 10+ game deficits to get into the playoffs.

[slycat]

yes they need to make it more fair for teams with low team salaries like kansas city. as long as NY is spending $200, teams like that have no chance and its hurting those cities. its a joke that teams like NY and Boston can try to buy wins. atleast it didnt work this year.

[AppGuy04]

Maybe, MAYBE if there's a fairly high salary floor. Revenue sharing isn't doing its job when owners can put up a $28 million payroll.

But there's no need to do anything to even out a league with a 162-game regular season. That's a powerful equalizer. Show me another pr league where teams routinely overcome 10+ game deficits to get into the playoffs.

No, the problem is some owners want to keep more money for their pockets

[UNHWildCats]

yes they need to make it more fair for teams with low team salaries like kansas city. as long as NY is spending $200, teams like that have no chance and its hurting those cities. its a joke that teams like NY and Boston can try to buy wins. atleast it didnt work this year.

Don't blame this on Boston, Boston has the resources most teamns dont have, but there forced into the payroll they have because they wont just sit back and let NYY walk away with the division every year.

[slycat]

Don't blame this on Boston, Boston has the resources most teamns dont have, but there forced into the payroll they have because they wont just sit back and let NYY walk away with the division every year.

i figured you'd say something. i give boston some credit for trying to keep up with NYY but not every team can. still boston is 2nd in payroll i thought so thats why i said them too. a salary cap is fair. people dont need to make that much for playing baseball anyway.

i just want the texas rangers to have a chance.

[AppGuy04]

A salary cap is just that, a cap. It doesn't guarantee that teams will spend even close to the same amount of money

[UNHWildCats]

A salary cap is just that, a cap. It doesn't guarantee that teams will spend even close to the same amount of money

Yes thats why Jon's suggestin of a floor too is wise.


dbackjonDefinately. And a salary floor.

[UNHWildCats]

i figured you'd say something. i give boston some credit for trying to keep up with NYY but not every team can. still boston is 2nd in payroll i thought so thats why i said them too. a salary cap is fair. people dont need to make that much for playing baseball anyway.

i just want the texas rangers to have a chance.

I agree that its not fair to other teams, but Texas doesnt have to compete directly with NYY for the division title, Boston does.

Besides that I really dont wanna here cries of poverty from the Rangers, not after the A Rod and Chan Ho Park contracts, cause there as guilty as anyone, if not more for the status of contracts these days.

[AppGuy04]

Yes thats why Jon's suggestin of a floor too is wise.

yeah, but we aren't talking about a $10 million difference. It probably more like $20-30 million between the ceiling and the floor, thats still a wide margin

[UNHWildCats]

yea but it closes the gab by a lot. The average team payroll on opening day 2006 was 75.5 million. Florida had the low of 15 million, the next lowest was 35 Million. Keep in mind, Florida received 45 million last off season in revenue sharing, makes you wonder what there doing with the money. 11 of the 14 teams over $75.0 million in payroll were competitive this season. If Baseball went with a 100 million cap and a 65 million floor it would turn baseball into a competitve sport like Football. Any team that cant handle a 65 million payroll even with revenue sharing shouldnt have a team.

[AppGuy04]

yea but it closes the gab by a lot. The average team payroll on opening day 2006 was 75.5 million. Florida had the low of 15 million, the next lowest was 35 Million. Keep in mind, Florida received 45 million last off season in revenue sharing, makes you wonder what there doing with the money. 11 of the 14 teams over $75.0 million in payroll were competitive this season. If Baseball went with a 100 million cap and a 65 million floor it would turn baseball into a competitve sport like Football. Any team that cant handle a 65 million payroll even with revenue sharing shouldnt have a team.
Like I said, owners pocketing money.

65/100 wouldn't be bad, but there would have to be major changes, and similar to hockey, salaries would have to go way down

[slycat]

I agree that its not fair to other teams, but Texas doesnt have to compete directly with NYY for the division title, Boston does.

Besides that I really dont wanna here cries of poverty from the Rangers, not after the A Rod and Chan Ho Park contracts, cause there as guilty as anyone, if not more for the status of contracts these days.

those contracts were a huge mistake. we didnt even get a great performance out of those players, chan ho park was the worst. we just spent big bucks on them and that forced other talented players on the team to get less and then leave. baseball is just frustrating at this point at texas.

[HiHiYikas]

Like I said, owners pocketing money.

65/100 wouldn't be bad, but there would have to be major changes, and similar to hockey, salaries would have to go way down
I don't know how this ought to work, but a salary cap ought to be tied to how much money a team can generate.

If a team - like the Red Sox - can get people to pay $40 for the worst seat in the house - and still sell out every game - that money HAS to go someplace. Most of it ought to go into player payroll.

Of course, since 2002, a lot of that money goes to other teams in accordance with the most recent version of revenue sharing. And since 2002, teams with the 15th, 25th, 2nd, and 13th-highest payrolls in baseball have won the World Series.

The 2006 playoffs are down to the 5th, 11th, 14th, and 21st richest payrolls. That makes it hard for anyone to use money as the basis for disparity.

[Mr. C]

The players union would NEVER go for a salary cap. We've had too much labor strife in baseball through the years. We don't need to cancel another World Series by blowing up a season like the NHL did.

[AppGuy04]

The players union would NEVER go for a salary cap. We've had too much labor strife in baseball through the years. We don't need to cancel another World Series by blowing up a season like the NHL did.

But I believe that the NHL is stronger now than it has been in a decade. Sure, they don't have the TV deal they had previously, but I think thats coming soon.

[Blue Hen Nation]

The MLB needs some degree of parity or the small market teams will continue languish.

1.New York Yankees $194,663,079
2 Boston Red Sox $120,099,824
3 Los Angeles Angels $103,472,000
4 Chicago White Sox $102,750,667
5 New York Mets $101,084,963
6 Los Angeles Dodgers $98,447,187
7 Chicago Cubs $94,424,499
8 Houston Astros $92,551,503
9 Atlanta Braves $90,156,876
10 San Francisco Giants $90,056,419
11 St. Louis Cardinals $88,891,371
12 Philadelphia Phillies $88,273,333
13 Seattle Mariners $87,959,833
14 Detroit Tigers $82,612,866
15 Baltimore Orioles $72,585,582
16 Toronto Blue Jays $71,915,000
17 San Diego Padres $69,896,141
18 Texas Rangers $68,228,662
19 Minnesota Twins $63,396,006
20 Washington Nationals $63,143,000
21 Oakland Athletics $62,243,079
22 Cincinnati Reds $60,909,519
23 Arizona Diamondbacks $59,684,226
24 Milwaukee Brewers $57,568,333
25 Cleveland Indians $56,031,500
26 Kansas City Royals $47,294,000
27 Pittsburgh Pirates $46,717,750
28 Colorado Rockies $41,233,000
29 Tampa Bay Devil Rays $35,417,967
30 Florida Marlins $14,998,500

[Gil Dobie]

No salary cap. It's called professional baseball, if you can't compete, oh well. The richest owner in baseball competes by having his staff evaluate talent, not by paying outrageous salaries. Carl Pohlad of the Minnesota Twins.

[Gil Dobie]

The MLB needs some degree of parity or the small market teams will continue languish.

1.New York Yankees $194,663,079
5 New York Mets $101,084,963
6 Los Angeles Dodgers $98,447,187
11 St. Louis Cardinals $88,891,371
14 Detroit Tigers $82,612,866
17 San Diego Padres $69,896,141
19 Minnesota Twins $63,396,006
21 Oakland Athletics $62,243,079


Mets are the only $100 Million team still in the playoffs.

[HiHiYikas]

The MLB needs some degree of parity or the small market teams will continue languish.

30 Florida Marlins $14,998,500
This particular "small market" team, a recent World Champion, received $31 million this season in revenue sharing. They cut their payroll over 75% after the 2005 season and are sitting on a surplus of about $16 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the Tigers, a team that lost 119 games in '03, 90 in '04, and 91 in '05, received $25 million in revenue sharing this season. Just think of that as a free voucher good for Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Brandon Inge, Justin Verlander, and Kenny Rogers (whose combined salaries are just north of $25 million).

The 2002 CBA clearly states that revenue sharing dollars must be used "in an effort to improve its performance on the field". The teams that do it honestly and effectively can jump from .382 over 3 seasons to a playoff run and maybe even a 1-0 lead in the ALCS.

That is parity. And any small-market team with a decent front office can do the exact same thing.

[dirtbag]

yes they need to make it more fair for teams with low team salaries like kansas city. as long as NY is spending $200, teams like that have no chance and its hurting those cities. its a joke that teams like NY and Boston can try to buy wins. atleast it didnt work this year.

Kansas City's problem isn't that they're poor. Oakland is poor.

Kansas City's problem is that they're poor and stupid. Same with the Pirates. They don't know how to evaluate talent and they don't know how to develop talent. You could hand them $100M a year and they'd still suck. You could institute a $50M salary cap and they'd still suck. The only thing they know how to do well is cash their revenue sharing checks. Without those, they'd be run out of business by their own incompetence, like it works in every other industry in this country.

[dirtbag]

people dont need to make that much for playing baseball anyway.



Thank you, Fidel Castro.

[LacesOut]

No, no cap.

Get rid of the rediculous guaranteed contracts. Same for the NBA.

[Pard4Life]

Hell yes! ..and I'm a Red Sox fan..

[dirtbag]

No, no cap.

Get rid of the rediculous guaranteed contracts. Same for the NBA.

???

There are no standardized contracts in those leagues that require the contracts to be guaranteed. Whether a contract is guaranteed or not is a matter of free negotiation between the player and the team.

Owners choose to award guaranteed contracts because they total dollar outlay is cheaper -- players would ask for much higher yearly salaries if contracts weren't guaranteed.

Players are willing to accept lower yearly salaries with a guaranteed contract because they're getting an "insurance policy" on the length of the contract.

[HiHiYikas]

people dont need to make that much for playing baseball anyway.
Fenway Park seats just over 35,000 fans, at an average ticket price of about 47 bucks. You may not think it's worth $47 to go to a game at Fenway, but you're outnumbered by the millions a year who do.

That comes to a llittle more than a $1.6 million a game in ticket sales alone. Over the course of 81 home games, that totals over $133 million. That's not even touching media revenues, merchandising, endorsements, advertizing, and who knows what else.

None of that happens without the players. The moral of the story: if you can convince 35,000 people to show up at your office and pay $40 to watch you do your job, you deserve to bring home a HUGE paycheck.

Now, if 35,000 people will pay to watch you work, advertizers will pay to promote their products in your workspace, media outlets will pay to broadcast your day at the office to a wide audience, and your office becomes so popular that merchandise with the company logo generates millions in sales every year, you deserve a HUGE HUGE HUGE paycheck.

The monetary value of a baseball player isn't some random number that falls out of the sky; it's based on the money the team makes. That money has to show up in SOMEBODY's paycheck, and it ought to be the players.