Why MLB Needs a Salary Cap

[bobby jr]

To illustrate why I think a cap is absolutely necessary, I pulled up the following stats. To show the strong correlation between payroll and on the field performance.

 

From the statistics which follow, it is obvious that there is a lack of fair competiton in baseball. (And the argument that certain owners don't pump money into their teams isn't really valid. Even if KC and Pittsburgh owners' went bankrupt trying to up their payroll, they could not compete with the Yankees, the Red Sox, ,or the Mets.)

 

First I looked at the payroll of the top five teams, and the bottom five teams, in terms of their total team payroll:

 

http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...aspx?year=2006

 

New York Yankees $ 194,663,079

Boston Red Sox $ 120,099,824

Los Angeles Angels $ 103,472,000

Chicago White Sox $ 102,750,667

New York Mets $ 101,084,963

 

 

And now, the bottom five

 

Kansas City Royals $ 47,294,000

Pittsburgh Pirates $ 46,717,750

Colorado Rockies $ 41,233,000

Tampa Bay Devil Rays $ 35,417,967

Florida Marlins $ 14,998,500

 

 

 

Then I extrapolated each team's current winning percentage to a 162 game season.

 

NYY .606 98-64

Bost .586 95-67

LAA .522 85-77

CWS .595 96-66

NYM .604 98-64

 

Now the bottom 5

 

KC .348 56-106

PIT .372 60-102

CO .485 78-84

TB .412 66-96

FL .464 75-87

 

The top 5 teams in payroll are going at a pace to win an average of 94 games each.

The bottom 5 teams in payroll are at a pace to average 67 wins each.

At the current pace, the top 5 teams will finish an average of 27 games ahead.

[Cocos Disciples]

OK, they should have a Salary Cap, but how would it work?

[26 Reasons to Hate Us]

I'd list the reasons it will never happen, but I haven't got all day.

[Mr Crunchy]

never say never

that being said

so long as 20+ teams remain in the hunt at the allstar break there is interest in the game

most teams are still in it

few have a realistic shot of winning but as long as theres a glimmer of hope the people will come

[HeadOfSoxNation]

I'll be honest...I don't even really know what extrapolated means...

[bobby jr]

I'll be honest...I don't even really know what extrapolated means...

 

Just a fancy way of saying that if the teams keep playing at their present rate, that will be their record at the end of the year.

 

It amazes me that MLB fans can accept the reality of the Yankees being in the playoffs every year with the top payroll. The Orioles (I'm from Baltimore) have little chance of ever making the playoffs with the Yankees and Red Sox being two of the top spenders.

 

What would work would be a NFL type of system, with each team limited to a set payroll amount.

 

What isn't working is the Yankees buying their way into the playoffs for 12 straight years and no end in sight.

[Cocos Disciples]

We're not happy about it, but again, tell me how you would do it? Would there also be a floor? Where are the logistics?

[guapo34]

What would work would be a NFL type of system, with each team limited to a set payroll amount.

 

What isn't working is the Yankees buying their way into the playoffs for 12 straight years and no end in sight.

 

Whats ironic is in baseball a different team has won the world series each of the last 6 years, while it seems like the patriots, eagles, broncos, steelers, and colts have been dominating the NFL for a while.

[Cocos Disciples]

Eagles suck.

[RedSoxRooter]

Hey, I'm a Sox fan and would love a cap. Make the cap 110 million and then see who's best.

[bobby jr]

I've always liked the Red Sox, I'd much rather see them win than the Yankees. But it does bother me that the Sox payroll is now second behind the Yankees.

 

As for the logistics of it, I'd leave that up to the experts, I'd like to see it modeled after the NFL salary cap system which has been a success. I do think there should be a salary floor too, to keep owners from just pocketing the revenue sharing money as I have heard the Royal's owner has done.

[jacksonianmarch]

Honestly, no yankee fan, sox fan, mets fan, or LA fan should ever whine about the need for a salary cap. Some people say it should be 110 mil. Why is that? So that the one team that is above it has to be reigned in? Nobody will agree to that kind of thing, especially with the yankees and sox essentially drawing record crowds everywhere they go, and that doesn't happen if the yankees or sox start a season with Cairo, Stern and Stinnett in the starting lineup.

 

At the same time, the only way it can be instituted is by rolling back all the salaries in the league so that the yankees can get below it immediately and you would essentially be freeing them of some real tankers of contracts. The Yankees play with a huge payroll because it is allowed. The Yankees are going to have their new stadium financed with revenue sharing dollars because it is allowed. The Yankees will also add hotels in the area that they will get cuts of, which is allowed and not included under the revenue sharing agreement. Regardless, the yankees stay above the cap because they can and they make it work. If you forcibly made them stay under a cap, you would have to free them of some bad contracts and they would figure out how to win with the rules as is anyway. You have to give the yankees credit where it is due, have they created a seemingly unfair advantage in comparison to the bottom 3rd of the league, absolutely. Are they smart, hell yeah, they would figure something out to recreate the disadvantage.

[Sox Fan on Cape]

I'd just like to point out, that the Players Association would fight any attempt at a cap.

[Papelbon58]

you know what, I don't know if i am alone or the majority, but I do not want a salary cap for baseball. And it is not just because the Sox are 2nd in spending. It is because that is not baseball. The small market teams can win and progress. The Marlins will be just fine without really inflating their spending. The Rockies aren't bad. Teams can win with small budgets, they just have to have good scouts and a good FO. The Angels were nowhere near the top and they came to win the World Series, and he Marlins have done it twice. If small market fans want to complain, then they better get their butts to the stadium so their team can have a little more money. Baseball does not need to turn into the NFL, it takes away the tradition and the personality of teams.

[26 Reasons to Hate Us]

you know what, I don't know if i am alone or the majority, but I do not want a salary cap for baseball. And it is not just because the Sox are 2nd in spending. It is because that is not baseball. The small market teams can win and progress. The Marlins will be just fine without really inflating their spending. The Rockies aren't bad. Teams can win with small budgets, they just have to have good scouts and a good FO. The Angels were nowhere near the top and they came to win the World Series, and he Marlins have done it twice. If small market fans want to complain, then they better get their butts to the stadium so their team can have a little more money. Baseball does not need to turn into the NFL, it takes away the tradition and the personality of teams.

 

That is a good point. It would almost take away from the culture of the sport.

[RoyNHSox]

In a way the luxury tax threshold has served as a "cap" for the Sox this year. It's been reported Theo refused the Abreu deal because his contract next year would put the team over the limit for the second year in a row. Apparently Theo has chosen next year to be more mindful of that and has capped the team's payroll. I know it's not exactly a cap per se, but basically it's put a limit on their spending, even though we all know that the Sox could probably afford it.

[Pesky]

Baseball doesn't need a cap, they need a floor. Make teams spend at least $60 million on payroll. These owners can afford it. Competition would sky rocket. Team like KC and TB could actually have decent teams, which leads to more fans, which leads to more money, which leads to higher payroll, which leads to even more competition.

 

A cap wouldn't help too much, but a floor is more necessary. The Tampas, Pittsburgh and KCs of the world are never going to spend more money, and a cap wont help.

 

A cap brings the level of play down, a floor would bring it up.

[Cocos Disciples]

I agree.

[noonanberg]

I also agree with Pesky, most teams can keep some of the higher priced talent, they just choose not to. Baltimore is a fine baseball market, and they've shown they can and sometimes will spend, they just don't get it right. The Twins are another example, they have some cash, they can spend, they have chosen not to. And it ended up panning out, instead of overpaying for Pierzynski, etc. they chose to curb spending a little and ended up with the likes of Mauer, Morneau, Liriano etc. There is not an owner in any sport, who buys a team without the ability to spend because otherwise they wouldn't buy the team at all. The problem is that most owners buy the team, don't spend a lot and try to keep their costs low and maximize profits, that's the reality. And also, you can win with a cheap roster as some teams have proven.