MLB Salary system is a joke

[heemer]

MLB will forever be a joke until there is some sort of system put in place to equalize spending. Its actually mindblowing that the Yankees can have a payroll that is 10x that of another team. Its crazy that one organization can have the 3 highest paid players in the game. Its unbelievable that the club with the highest payroll is spending about $70M more than the team with the second highest payroll.

This topic has been discussed before but always goes away. Every time it's chalked up to "well, thats just the way it is" but its a horrible way to conduct the league and I'm amazed that there isnt more pressure from the fans to do something about it. The luxery tax certainly isnt slowing down a few of the consistently big spenders, and though a few teams like the A's have managed to have some good competitive teams, it puts more pressure than ever on drafting and developing talent and for some teams to ever have a chance at even the playoffs, everything has to come together at the right time.

The fact that the Marlins had to trade away Cabrera, probably the best young player in the league, says it all. And finally, **** the Yankees for their continuous and shameless spending which is widening the gap between the big and small payroll teams.

[TyCobb]

If it wasn't for the Yankees spending so much, the Marlins payroll would probably less than half what is now cause they wouldn't be getting any money via revenue sharing...

[a-rod]

you cant trash other teams for spending money within the rules.

[SportsWorld]

The Marlins have a World Series ring in the past 7 years...the Yankees have none....

[Schad]

If it wasn't for the Yankees spending so much, the Marlins payroll would probably less than half what is now cause they wouldn't be getting any money via revenue sharing...

I disagree; without revenue sharing, the Marlins would either need to field a team competitive enough to turn a profit, or would be forced to re-locate.

Right now, Loria is operating the Marlins like a shell company...it's a baseball team in name only.

[Bleeding Green]

What sort of rules would you propose? There is already a soft cap of sorts with the luxury tax rule. Only the Yankees are going over that.

The Marlins make plenty of money they just choose not to spend it. Same with the Twins. That's fine if you can build a contending team, but if you're going to throw out a 65 win team something should be done. But what? Throwing money at a problem doesn't really fix it as the White Sox will prove again this year.

[nykgeneralmanager]

MLB will forever be a joke until there is some sort of system put in place to equalize spending. Its actually mindblowing that the Yankees can have a payroll that is 10x that of another team. Its crazy that one organization can have the 3 highest paid players in the game. Its unbelievable that the club with the highest payroll is spending about $70M more than the team with the second highest payroll.

This topic has been discussed before but always goes away. Every time it's chalked up to "well, thats just the way it is" but its a horrible way to conduct the league and I'm amazed that there isnt more pressure from the fans to do something about it. The luxery tax certainly isnt slowing down a few of the consistently big spenders, and though a few teams like the A's have managed to have some good competitive teams, it puts more pressure than ever on drafting and developing talent and for some teams to ever have a chance at even the playoffs, everything has to come together at the right time.

The fact that the Marlins had to trade away Cabrera, probably the best young player in the league, says it all. And finally, **** the Yankees for their continuous and shameless spending which is widening the gap between the big and small payroll teams.

I know, right? Don't you just despise when owners play by the freakin rules?!

The real "criminals" are the owners who take the money Steinbrenner gives them and then uses it on their new house. The Yankees gave out well over $100 million in revenue sharing last season I think, how much of that do you HONESTLY believe teams spent on getting players? Very little is the correct answer.

It would work if MLB can somehow force teams to use that money on their team, but unfortunately there is no way to prove that money is being spent on the team...and MLB can't force a team to sign guys to reach the amount they want spent by the club, because that would obviously be foolish.

So here we are, thats just the way it is. All you can do is sit back and hope that when the Yankees give your team $10 million, they use it on their young star instead of trading him away for nothing.

The sad thing is that with the Yankees new stadium, they are being given an incredible break on revenue sharing for the next couple of seaosns...so expect teams to spend even less than they are now if that is possible.

[Basketball Jesus]

Grrr

[heemer]

My point is that the rules are the problem. The fact that the Yankees are playing within the rules but are generating an enormous advantage over everyone else means that the rules are flawed. Despite this, they are driving up the average and total salary figures throughout the league by bidding up free agent contracts and forcing other teams to spend more and more money just to keep up a little bit. Im not saying theyre cheating, Im just saying that there is a better way to operate this league so that the Yankees and a few other teams dont just win and win year in and year out while a whole load of teams can never make any serious run, nor maintain their rosters once they actually find success.

Sure the Marlins won 2 world series recently, but each time there was a certain element of good fortune in their runs, and each time they had to firesale their team rather than keep it in tact and compete again the next season.

Revenue sharing can still occur under a system where salaries are more equalized. People often act as though the only way to keep poor teams alive is by letting the big money teams spend and thats obviously not the care. Also, has anyone thought that maybe the Marlins arent worth keeping alive? If they are in such a sorry state its not helping baseball any.

Each of the other pro sports leagues in North America have a hard cap. Basketball's cap isnt the usual hard cap, but has measures to slow down the advances of the big spending teams while still allowing some variability in spending. Each of those leagues has more pairity than MLB.

It is especially difficult for the poorer teams to see any measurable success in MLB since there are far more games in the season and fewer playoff spots. Over a longer set of games there is less variability and there are fewer suprise teams.

Also, teams like the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers and Angles dont even have to rebuild in the classic sense. They can make a couple deals in which they take on unwanted salaries from other teams. They can pay out to a couple key free agents meaning that teams with the biggest payrolls are always competitive, while the middle level and poorest teams have to go through rebuilding cycles and down periods.

[heemer]

[quote="nykgeneralmanager"][/quote]

You are fully focusing on the wrong aspect of problem. Its not a "how can we make some teams spend more" problem. It has more to do with some teams spending far far more than others. Check out the difference in spending even in the top 20 teams. The yankees spend double what the Blue Jays do for instance and Toronto is actually trying to field a team that will legitimatly compete for a championship.

The luxury tax is also ridiculous since a) the Yankees dont care, they have enough money to pay it anyway b) It doesnt increase in substantially enough at higher payroll levels and c) it's been set too high in the first place!

If there isnt going to be a hard cap there should at least be rookie maximum salaries and bonus limits (so the rich teams dont end up getting the best players in the draft anyway because the poor ones cant pay the high bonuses) and other measures, maybe like in the NBA where teams over a certain point cannot sign free agents. It would be great if this summer's big name starting pitcher FA was available to teams outside of the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox.

[Basketball Jesus]

The rules aren

[Basketball Jesus]

For some reason fans think that we should reward the dumb franchises by leveling the playing field, mostly in the form of some kind of salary cap. That

[VinnyTheMick]

The problem isn't that there is no salary cap, its that owners are allowed to own a team without making any strides towards competing. All owners have money. You think the Marlins don't have money? They do, the are just cheap.


I also find it hilarious that you say this kind of overspending stinks because it puts more pressure on smaller markets to draft well. Yeah, focusing more on drafting prospects is a terrible way to operate a franchise.......

btw- Yankees spending money isn't widening any gap. Last time I checked, there is a lot of parity in baseball. Yankees were the only team to make the playoffs last season that were in the playoffs in the 06 season. Not to mention they haven't gotten out of the 1st round since '04. You must be young because you talk as if the Yankees have been good forever. You must not remember the 80's when Yankees had to overpay players to come to NYC because no one wanted to play there. All the money in the world won't make a good team. If it makes you feel better, the Yankees will shed about 80 million in salary after this season.

You want change? Make the league change the rules for international players coming into the league. At least then you'd have an argument.

[meatball sub]

The Yankees haven't even really been active in the free agent market over the last 2 years, they haven't been bidding up on anybody. Teams like the Angels, Royals (actually spent SOMETHING) and Mariners hand out 50+ million to guys like Gary Matthews Jr, Gil Meche and Carlos Silva. Mediocre players having career years just so they can get paid is what drives up annual salaries, not the Yankees.

[heemer]

How can you not see the problem if the median salary is $80M but NY is spending close to $210M? The Red Sox and a few other teams are over $130M!

Also, forget the damn Marlines! They are a clear and sorry exception. There are plenty of other teams out there that are spending reasonable amounts and trying to field a competitive team but have been unsuccessful largely due to the salary imbalance.

With a salary cap the "stupid" and "cheap" teams will still be stupid and cheap and will continue to lose. And rightfully so. The smart teams will win, and rightfully so. The difference is that teams will no longer be able to set themselves apart based on spending. It will mean that all teams MUST be smart and have good draft picks to survive and compete. No longer will any team be able to gain advantage by simply spending more. Because right now the big spenders can smooth over a few stupid moves and make up for a couple unlucky or bad decisions while others cannot.

Of course putting extra pressure on drafting and player development is a challenge! A few teams out there can still remain competitive every year without ever pulling decent draft picks out, while other teams will be burried for years to come if 1 or 2 picks dont work out. Just look at the list of busts out of Tampa. Sure its partially their own fault for bad choices, but they havent made any strides since they came into the league because they cant compete for top or even 2nd tier free agents.

The Yankees have made the playoffs every single year under the current salary system. 13 straight years. There are only 4 playoff spots per leauge. Talking about the 1980s has no weight on how things work today.

[heemer]

The Yankees haven't even really been active in the free agent market over the last 2 years, they haven't been bidding up on anybody. Teams like the Angels, Royals (actually spent SOMETHING) and Mariners hand out 50+ million to guys like Gary Matthews Jr, Gil Meche and Carlos Silva. Mediocre players having career years just so they can get paid is what drives up annual salaries, not the Yankees.

I would consider the Angles a big spending team. Everyone was quick to rip on the Gary Matthews Jr deal especially. So I would say.. Exactly!

[a-rod]

The problem isn't that there is no salary cap, its that owners are allowed to own a team without making any strides towards competing. All owners have money. You think the Marlins don't have money? They do, the are just cheap.


I also find it hilarious that you say this kind of overspending stinks because it puts more pressure on smaller markets to draft well. Yeah, focusing more on drafting prospects is a terrible way to operate a franchise.......

btw- Yankees spending money isn't widening any gap. Last time I checked, there is a lot of parity in baseball. Yankees were the only team to make the playoffs last season that were in the playoffs in the 06 season. Not to mention they haven't gotten out of the 1st round since '04. You must be young because you talk as if the Yankees have been good forever. You must not remember the 80's when Yankees had to overpay players to come to NYC because no one wanted to play there. All the money in the world won't make a good team. If it makes you feel better, the Yankees will shed about 80 million in salary after this season.

You want change? Make the league change the rules for international players coming into the league. At least then you'd have an argument.

I couldn't have said it any better.....

[Basketball Jesus]

How can you not see the problem if the median salary is $80M but NY is spending close to $210M? The Red Sox and a few other teams are over $130M!

There are only four teams in baseball over $130MM: Yankees, Sox, Tigers, Mets. Two of these teams are in the same division, which necessitates arms-race spending to win the division.

Also, forget the damn Marlines! They are a clear and sorry exception. There are plenty of other teams out there that are spending reasonable amounts and trying to field a competitive team but have been unsuccessful largely due to the salary imbalance.

By definition 80% of the teams in baseball are unsuccessful, if we

[Ayt]

-= original quote snipped =-


Which brings us to the point of the issue: imposing a salary cap is only going to affect two teams in baseball

[heemer]

Look at the AL here. 3 of the 4 teams to make the playoffs last year were in the top 5 in league salary. The Tigers missed and they are one of the teams you listed as spending over $130M. That said, were not looking at one year. The Red Sox, and Yankees are consistently competitive. The Tigers fell off last year, but didnt have any trouble retooling by grabbing a guy that 70% of the league probably couldnt afford to add.

The Clevlands, Arizons and Colorados of the world come and go. Its a select group of teams that have had continued success year in and year out and its not suprising that the are some of the teams with the highest payrolls. Do you honestly believe the Yankees would have made the playoffs for those 13 straight years if they could not spend any more than other teams?

An example off the top of my head is Giambi. How many teams could afford to pay him that kind of money for that kind of production? Its a horrrible deal! hes a productive player and not a waste of a roster spot, but hes getting paid as an MVP caliber player. This sort of thing would cripple some franchises but it doesnt seem to hamper New York and that allows them to make up for poor personel moves.

And what of this arms race in the AL east. How are the Jays, and Rays supposed to compete unless they shell out the money to join the race? As it happens, neither of them can, so where is the equity? The likly AL wildcard winner is whatever AL East "outlier" doesnt win the division so the impact is felt further than just in that division. It creates a wildcard arms race where wild card contenders now have to match talent of the Yankees and Red Sox. Even if a cap would only really effect those two teams, it would be positive. There should not be any ONE team that has a perminant advantage over others.

Regardless, whats the problem with putting a cap, or spending restraint system into place? It's argued that there isnt a big problem in the league right now and thats fine, but what possible problems would arise from ensuring that everyone has to spend within a certain budget? If money has no bearing whatsoever on success as you believe then a cap would not be to the detriment of the league. However if money does make a difference, then will the league not be more competitive than now?