A good read on Baseball economics

[nate82]

I wasn't sure where to put this. There is a lot of good information on players salaries and why some are over paid and why some are under paid.

 

MLB's Labor and R&D Formula

[cwolf2012]

The thing that sucks about the labor agreement is that many of the controlled guys are paid too little and the FAs are paid way too much. They talk about how the guys who sell the seats only get paid league minimum being underpaid, but anyone who is good enough to earn much more than league minimum that early in their career is probably going to get PAID in FA. The average major leaguer may only last 6.85 years, but if they were only going to last 6 years they probably wouldn't get paid that much anyway.

 

Still, arbitration + controlled salary is a good thing. Unless they somehow start using a salary cap, I don't see it changing. It gives smaller markets a chance to keep up with big markets and creates a far more interesting (albeit unfair) economic system within the sport. It's more like a real-world business than any other sport.

[jeffy]

If MLB player's union operated like a normal labor union, there might be a little more equity...like higher major league minimum and minor league pay, in exchange for a bit less going to free agents. Instead, the players union seems to want more of a winner-take-all system.