Would you take a year off to see a salary cap/floor...

[razzzorsharp]

Pretty simple question, would you be upset about having no baseball for a year if they came back with a salary cap of 125 million (for example) and a floor of 75 million (for example). The cap would ahve to start down the road two or three years asl well or they would have to grandfather in some contracts. In this scenario the owners found a way to share their TV revenue as well if that changes any minds.

[prophet]

I would be willing to take a year off, but I'd probably want to see the proposal first. If the new system has what you describe, I would probably be willing, but I'd also like to redo rookie contracts, and make the international signings more fair by entering them in the draft, like the NBA.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I would also like to see some sort of a cap. It would be hard to enforce a minimum unless a penalty is enforced for being under the cap. How would the minor league contracts be figured into the payroll? All players must have been subject to the draft meaning guys like Ichiro and players defecting from Cuba that are coming in now are drafted and not free agents right away. We can call it the JD Drew rule. The loopholes that are in the NBA type of salary cap must be closed. MLB cannot be like an NFL cap because the contracts are guaranteed.

[Polish Falcons]

Nope, couldn't survive a year without baseball. The lockout was torture enough.

[Ennder]

I wouldn't want to take a year off from baseball to do this. If they did go this route I wouldn't want the cap and floor so close together either. $50M and $125M would work better imo.

[jerichoholicninja]

Probably not. There is so much more that would need to be done for true competitive balance than a cap and floor.

[BREWCREW5]

YES.

 

By doing so, it would at least give the Brewers a fair chance.

 

Look at what the crew had to do just to make the playoffs. Imagine what it would take to actually make it to the world series and then to win it. I know, I know, anything can and does happen. Any team can get on a roll.

 

If every team could only spend $110 million, baseball would be a way better sport.

 

This is why the NFL is so great.

[Ennder]

This is why the NFL is so great

 

We will agree to disagree, the NFL is just terrible now.

[AJAY]

I would absolutely take a year off if it resulted in a meangingful salary cap and a level playing field. In fact, I would be happy to take several years off. I was actually VERY disappointed when the last work stoppage ended. I wanted to see the owners hold out longer because I know they would have ultimately won.

 

The players have no leverage at all. Where else are they going to earn the salaries that they are making? If given a choice a between playing baseball with a salary cap or getting a real job in the real world, they would have caved eventually.

 

The owners need to be strong because they hold all the cards.

[joepepsi]

Pretty simple question, would you be upset about having no baseball for a year if they came back with a salary cap of 125 million (for example) and a floor of 75 million (for example).

I would be very upset. Salary cap is not the answer. Baseball players are entertainers. They deserve to make as much money as the market will bear for their talents.

 

The answer is in sharing media/broadcast revenues and ticket sales.

[paul253]

I would absolutely take a year off for a salary cap. You are sacrificing one year for probably 20 years of much more fair play. What I'd like to see is something like the NBA where the team that the free agent plays for can offer more money than the team who is trying to sign him away. I also agree with Enner though. I think $75 million is too high. What you'd see if some teams signing crappy players to ridiculous contracts just to get to the floor.

[Invader3K]

joepepsi wrote:

I would be very upset. Salary cap is not the answer. Baseball players are entertainers. They deserve to make as much money as the market will bear for their talents.

 

The answer is in sharing media/broadcast revenues and ticket sales.

I kind of agree with this. I'm not sure a salary cap and floor are really the answers in baseball. Sure, it seems to work in the NFL, but look at what a mess the NBA is. Baseball is just plain different from those sports, and I think the cry of salary cap is reflexively thrown out by some baseball fans way too much.

 

Increased media revenue sharing seems like it would be a good fix, but how do you actually get teams like the Yankees to agree to do that? Right now, baseball is raking in tremendous money, and I'm not sure there is that much economic incentive to force substantive changes.

[logan82]

I think you need a salary cap/floor in conjunction with revenue sharing. Better revenue sharing is what really needs to be done to fix things but if all you do is revenue sharing teams like the Yankees will just pass their money through the owner's pocket to increase their payroll. I would have to agree the floor needs to be pretty low. In cases like this year's Pirates for example, why should they throw another $30M at players just to meet the salary requirement? It isn't necessarily going to make them more competitive throwing money at over the hill free agents like Looper or Backe. At least not competitive enough to make the marginal wins worth the money.

[TooLiveBrew]

The owners need to be strong because they hold all the cards.

 

One thing I will never understand is why so many fans side with the owners. The thing I think most people miss in talking about a payroll cap/floor arrangement is that all it will do is increase the owners' already incredible incomes.

 

Another problem with installing a payroll cap/floor is what to do with teams that are already over or under the limits. I guess the way I feel about it is that if a team like the Marlins can put a competitive team on the field for ~$22M like they did in '08, or ~$37M like they did in '09, or ~$45M in their '03 WS championship season, why should they be punished? Likewise, if the Yankees want to spend over $200M to fill out their roster, and they are being financially responsible as an entity, why should that (inherently) be punished?

 

The biggest problem to me is the ability for teams that don't have über-deep coffers to retain the (star) players they develop. What I think should be pursued is a tweaking of revenue sharing, in which the vast majority of the dollars are allotted to smaller-revenue teams for the exclusive purpose of re-signing their homegrown players. The comparison I can offer is the NBA's "Larry Bird Rule", which I know nothing about aside from its intent -- for those that don't know, the rule allows NBA teams to exceed the payroll cap when they re-sign their own player(s). Perhaps it's not a viable alternative for MLB, I really don't know. However, in concept, it's exactly what I'd like MLB to pursue.

 

In my 'proposal', I'd want to see some revenue sharing money still used for things like infrastructure, foreign baseball academies, etc. However, the bulk of it should address what I believe is the biggest problem MLB faces. Teams would still be able to essentially horde revenue sharing money, but would only be able to utilize the bulk of it to re-sign their own players. And now that I'm typing that out, maybe the money should be available to either re-sign their own players or sign free agents. I regret that I lack financial knowledge, because I think that hinders my ability to offer a tangible plan to this discussion, but I really believe the concept is what's most important.

[apirk]

Nope

 

I'd rather they do something with the draft

[gregmag]

I agree with joepepsi about preferring a sharing fix to a capping fix. Baseball is a market commodity, but I've always been annoyed by the Baseball Prospectus line that MLB internally should mirror the most laissez-faire model of the market. Externally baseball is a commodity, but internally it's a game, and games should feature competitors with access to comparable resources. I'm really not much of a baseball fan anymore -- I haven't watched the World Series in years -- because I think MLB has about as much competitive integrity as pro wrestling. I follow the Brewers because I've always loved the Brewers, and I can enjoy their progress in its own right, but MLB as a whole reminds me too much of what I don't like about the real world.

[endaround]

Fix revenue sharing by having MLB take over all local broadcast rights and a salary cap becomes meaningless.

[logan82]

One thing I will never understand is why so many fans side with the owners.

 

Teams are less likely to leave town than players. There is more perceived loyalty although I am sure if teams could easily move to different cities they would every few years.

 

I don't want to see a cap either for one of the reasons TLB mentioned. I don't want to see the owners line their pockets.

 

I wold also like to see teams share the baseball academies in South/Central America along with putting all those players into the draft. Also draft slotting instead of the negotiating that goes on now. I know a lot of this has already been mentioned but there really needs to be a big overhaul of the financial aspects of MLB if it wants to get better.

[TooLiveBrew]

...if it wants to get better.

 

This is also a big key. I'm just not convinced that MLB itself wants any changes. The profits are already astronomical.

 

This might be a bit loopy, but I'm really starting to believe that the only way MLB changes is if the fans were to go on strike.

[logan82]

This might be a bit loopy, but I'm really starting to believe that the only way MLB changes is if the fans were to go on strike.

 

It doesn't. Like you said, what is their motivation to change? Record attendance and profits? The rumblings we are hearing outside of Mark A. seem to be more about realignment than actually fixing the problem.

[dadofandrew]

A floor, having to spend money on veteran FA's while rebuilding, is asinine for developing your younger players.

 

More revenue sharing is the key, though, it is oodles better than it was just a few years ago. I think MLB shares about 33% of the total revenue, 50% would be ideal.

[honuswagner21]

The only reason, I believe, that the NFL system works are the non-guaranteed contracts. And considering that the NFL cap is going to be history I just don't think that it is realistic to compare MLB and NFL. I don't believe that even a year off would be enough to make players go for the non-guaranteed contracts. And in all honesty, I don't think that it is fair to the players to take on the majority of the risk like in the NFL system. In MLB, we can have guys like Braun tied up for 8 years and not have to worry about a holdout when both sides agreed to the deal. If he has some catastrophic injury along the way, then that is the way it is.

 

I am on board with others who have mentioned revenue sharing as key. I don't believe that it is fair that the Yankees are so above and beyond the other teams when if it wasn't for the other 29 teams, the Yankees would be nothing. However, I am still undecided on how you reconcile teams who want to spend their shared $$$ to win vs. teams who would just want to line the owner's pockets.

[Tbadder]

I would so lose baseball for a real salary cap that made the league fair. I don't care how it's done. I do think that all the economics of every team needs to be transparent, a matter of public record.

[Mr QL]

I might even take 2 off.

[Mr Southpaw]

Fix revenue sharing by having MLB take over all local broadcast rights and a salary cap becomes meaningless.

 

Should baseball be equal in America? Should Selig equal Obama? Should the Yankees equal the top 3% incomes who pay the majority of taxes so the others can survive? The Yankees ownership has a right to do with their money what they want. Taking the Yankees broadcast rights is equal to putting a cap on player earnings. They are Americans and they have a right to earn as much as they can, just like any baseball player. When CC blows out his arm and they owe another $100 million to him, you will not see them cry, they will just go and get another pitcher. That is why it is easy to hate the Yankees, which I rather enjoy.

 

Life in America is not about being equal, it is about making the best with what you have. The current system is not equal, but it is fair. When you join, you know the rules. If you don't like the rules, you should not have joined. I'm not trying to be ugly, but if you don't like it, go watch Little League, Babe Ruth League, or American Legion baseball. That is where baseball is being played for the right reasons anyway.