Salary Cap in Baseball? Another Strike? | Evan Drellich

[@Bryan45552]

I'm a Brewers fan, and while fans complain that we don't spend enough, as the smallest TV market in baseball, they actually can't spend $500 million on a player and field a competitive team. Meanwhile Green Bay has no issue reaching the salary cap for the NFL year after year. Without a cap, the Packers probably are forced out of the NFL for being too small to be profitable. Something has to give. Small market fans are giving up.

[@ShyGuyLoveSongs]

Agreed

[@michaelbaucom4019]

Need a salary FLOOR more than a salary cap

[@GrandAdmiralPosey]

One comes with the other

[@michaelbaucom4019]

@GrandAdmiralPosey salary floor gets rid of el cheapo owners, ask fans in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tampa, Miami, Minnesota, Colorado about what benefits a salary floor could bring--not to mention fans of the team formerly known as the Oakland A's. While big market teams overspending is a problem, teams that can spend--but WON'T is the bigger problem

[@GrandAdmiralPosey]

@ again……one comes with the other

[@michaelbaucom4019]

@GrandAdmiralPosey submit 3,127 examples of how a salary cap makes teams that won't spend money spend money. Why 3,127? Because 3,128 would be hyperbole to make a point...

[@GrandAdmiralPosey]

@ dude, seek help. You are blind to common sense

[@DeanHenry-hm9bd]

They need to at least have a salary floor, especially with cheap, shitty owner’s like John Fisher who won’t spend money on improving the team, but at the end of the season, pockets a big fat revenue sharing check is not right.

[@alcostello6114]

Owners don’t pocket that much revenue from owning a team lol. Owning a team is actually a shitty business practice in general. Most revenue goes towards team payroll and OPERATING COSTS. Ever heard of that?

[@Mr91Jmay]

@@alcostello6114lmao Fisher made at least $150MM last year owning As. $250M revenue vast majority shared from other teams and a $60M payroll. If it wasn’t profitable then they wouldn’t do it. Owners make absolute bank. Idiotic comment.

[@brandondillman5841]

You cannot have 1 without the other. Their needs to be a hard cap, hard floor and equal revenue sharing between all 30 teams. Every other professional sports league operates this way. It's about time MLB got with the program if they want their sport to grow.

[@DeanHenry-hm9bd]

@,I agree with you hundred percent you make some good points there in your post.

[@NewyorkRican2191]

This qualifying offer rule has to go. It's free agency with strings attached.

[@samuelsandate9804]

That's exactly what stops the big markets from trying to sign everyone. The Dodgers for example aren't signing players with the Qualifying offer because they're trying to save international pool money for Sasaki and they don't want to give up extra draft picks. Same with the Mets and Yankees. After signing Soto and Fried, they're not that interested in signing another QO because they don't want to keep losing picks and international money. That's what teams need to build up their farm system.

[@nathanreynolds6459]

@@NewyorkRican2191 It’s the MLB’s version of the NFL’s franchise tag; there’s no problem with it. At the end of the day it’s the player’s choice whether to take it

[@davidspreitzer2165]

Why not just set a cap that's higher than any team's current salary? A cap of 350-400m wouldn't affect players or owners right now, but in 10-15 years it'll slowly start to transition the league into a more competitive landscape, and the growing pains would come slowly instead of all at once. Players would still get the full free market effect until then, so they wouldn't have to strike

[@MikeD_]

What's the corresponding floor? In the NFL it's something like 2/3rds of the cap. The "small" markets would rebel, demanding more revenue sharing. I was listening to Evan, but I don't understand why the big markets would go for this at all, not because of the cap, but because Manfred seems to be advocating the sharing of all revenue. The Rays then get the same percentage of the pie as the Dodgers? Four or five large teams have no advantage to owning a major market team, yet they're required to carry the rest of the teams who are only bringing in a fraction of the smaller markets. The NFL is a true national game, so equal sharing works. MLB is a regional game. Different financial situation. The devil's in the details, but I don't see how it will work.

[@BigMcFlips]

​@@MikeD_ maybe MLB is second fiddle to the NFL because it's a regional game and not a national one...

[@MikeD_]

@@BigMcFlips If you're a baseball fan, which of course you are since you're here, then you understand the difference between the two sports. A salary cap won't make baseball a national sport. Set a $300MM cap, with a $150MM floor, then the cheap owners will simply navigate to the floor, pocketing the rest. I'm actually ambivalent on a salary cap, but I do recognize it will simply make the owners wealthier without improving the product all that much on the field.

[@MarkKahn-wd3mb]

You aren’t getting a floor without a cap……..

[@samuelsandate9804]

The small market owners don't want a salary floor. You think these greedy billionaires owners want to be told how much they need to spend ? Why can't they spend now without being forced to? Exactly because they don't want to and they're greedy

[@brandondillman5841]

@@samuelsandate9804 this is why the revenue sharing needs to be changed drastically. All league revenue has to be split evenly between all 30 teams like it is in every other professional sports league. The big market teams aren't going to like it because they lose their competitive advantage over the small and mid market teams, but it's really the only way to run a league if they're expected to be taken seriously.

[@SuperReviews4you]

A salary cap is not needed. Only a couple teams regularly go over the luxury tax because the penalties are already very high. When they implemented the Cohen tax they should have implemented a salary floor of 125M and that would solve a lot of problems.

[@brandondillman5841]

Can't have one without the other. Won't solve anything. The bigger issue is revenue sharing. In the NFL, NBA and NHL all league revenue is split evenly between every team in the league. Gives every team an equal chance to compete. How baseball has gone this long without doing this is truly mind boggling. How can you have a professional sport in the US where certain teams have a massive competitive advantage simply based on what market they're in.

[@Hogtownboy1]

I've been saying this for over a year. The small market owners and ED Rodgers has been setting up to have as few contacts at the end of the current CBA. they will be willing to give up their anti trust protection to do so.

[@kyleloney4191]

Problem with the baseball is that it needs a cap. A salary floor is hard to justify besides the league minimum. A salary floor means baseball has to completely upend the salary structure and I don’t think the owners or MLBPA want the younger guys to make more money

[@1977bjhaas]

LIV Baseball will happen if a salary cap is imposed. Saudi Arabian Baseball league is what we’ll have. Why would a player stay in the MLB?

[@GrandAdmiralPosey]

Money is strong but how many players want to go play in Saudi Arabia? The Japanese and Korean players could go home. The Mexican league would get players too all before that. Now young guys or older guys yeah the Saudi thing maybe

[@kingrama2727]

There is no baseball league in Saudi Arabia and there won’t be lol

[@mqproductions]

Oh sure. The players will flip out over the thought of a cap. There's no way they go for that.

[@ScottyBraun-FoulTerritory]

FLOOR please. Obv never gonna happen w/o cap but there's essentially a soft cap (luxury tax) without a soft floor. Profit munching owners are holding back so many great baseball towns while others actually give af

[@brandondillman5841]

I like the idea of a soft cap like the NBA has. You can exceed the cap only to resign players you draft and develop.

[@eros587]

Salary Cap comes with salary floor.

[@brandondillman5841]

Yep. Hard cap, hard floor and equal revenue sharing. It's the only way.

[@eros587]

@brandondillman5841 the only possible way.

[@educationalempowerment8610]

As soon as there is an income cap on Owners… aka taxes… I will not be bothered by the need for a Salary cap! #PERIOD

[@bobloblaw9362]

I just don’t want a strike.

[@wildbillwilmoth98]

Hard Cap is a no. NBA Salary Cap would be a good model. A Floor of 130 would be great.

[@fortherestofmylife66]

After what the Dodgers have done, how can there not be a salary cap? If the players don't accept a cap they are massively culpable in the death of the sport

[@alcostello6114]

14:18 Bro is so full of shit. Not every team has a chance at a player like Juan Soto. Geography and franchise revenue play a big role in this. Geography can keep a player from a city, and teams operate based on their total revenue for the year.

[@Mr91Jmay]

How does a cap change the geographic location of a team?

[@alcostello6114]

@ it doesn’t. I’m not saying it does😂 it’s just bullshit to say every team has an equal chance at getting a star player. Revenue generation and geography (ie less desirable cities with smaller markets) will not be able to compete with big teams in NY, CH, or LA

[@brandondillman5841]

This is why arguing over the cap and floor is just nonsense. The real issue is revenue sharing. The MLB's revenue sharing system is a total joke. 100% of league revenue should be split evenly between all 30 teams. This is how every other professional sports league operates and it's the only way to ensure every team has a chance to compete.

[@Wo1fLarsen]

I'd love to see a floor. $100 million below the luxury tax.

[@rickINcali1]

The deferred salaries have to go.........

[@Duststorm51]

There needs to be a deferment cap not a salary

[@Jaay_562]

The players do not want a cap and neither do the owners. A cap will never happen. A floor, maybe.

[@ki2726]

They likely won’t agree to a cap but I can see them implementing some stuff like the nba did with the first and second apron. Maybe like raising the luxury tax brackets and penalties and further penalizing owners for spending passed a bracket and maybe doing stuff like taking away a teams international signing money and make it difficult for that team to make trades if they pass a certain threshold I can see something like that happening.

[@TheEWFX29]

The owners definitely want a cap. They would make more money. Players get crazy contracts in the other leagues, except hockey. Quarterbacks are making $50 mil a year. Basketball players are making $50 mil a year so players wont balk either in the end. If 3 or 4 teams start buying up all the best players the sport will die. The smaller markets are already playing to half empty stadiums now. If they have no chance and all the stars in these markets will be gone during their free agency fans will really stop caring. Before the last couple of years I would say there wouldn't be a cap but seeing the strategies of the last couple of years if all the stars are playing for the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees the interest in the game will plummet farther than it already is, especially with no TV deals happening anymore. I couldn't imagine being a fan of the Pirates or Reds and know that your favorite player will be gone in a few years because they can make $40 or $50 mil a year with those teams and other teams playing with rookies or lesser players. There is only so much really great talent around and if its concentrated around 5 teams even that isnt good for the game. I would like to see players make money but if tickets are $300-500 dollars a piece out in the nosebleed seats because of these salaries the game will dry up within a decade or two. It would cost hundreds of thousands for season tickets. How will the game grow that way? It has to end somewhere. Sports are going to have a reckoning soon. People arent going to be able to afford to go to these games and it will suffer. The music business is going through it now with streaming and exorbitant prices.

[@haitiyouyou76]

@Jaay_562 - - These wages are getting outrageous. Does a player like Soto who has a lifetime batting average, worth close to 800 Millions. Just read that Vlad is probably looking for 600 Million contract. In a few years, a player will eventually demand 1 Billion dollars to play baseball. 😅. Where does it ends?

[@brandondillman5841]

Can't have one without the other. Perhaps a soft cap like the NBA utilizes where you are allowed to exceed the cap to retain the players you draft and develop. The bigger issue is revenue sharing. All league revenue must be split evenly between all 30 teams. The NFL, NBA and NHL all do this and it's by far the best way to run a professional sports league.

[@eggs1813]

Todd has taken too many fastballs to his head.

[@MrBeyondbelief]

Somehow, the NBA has a max deal in place. Greedy ass players! You don’t see any of the NBA players walking out over a “max deal”!

[@shawnfitzgerald818]

I don't know why these small market owners don't want to invest more money in order to lose money. They are rich so they can afford to reduce their wealth.

[@pyromaniac6617]

Alll this cheap owners who are billionaires crying because now there fan base pressuring them to spend

[@mebite839]

These "reporters" are delusional if you think players ever want a salary cap. Look like Soto's contract, you think other players don't want that? Athletes are the MOST competitive humans on the planet, they have to be to even make it to the show. Once a cap is established NO TEAM will pay a player 50 mil a year. Do you think players want Soto to be the last player being paid the big bucks? Owners CHEAT a lot. Even if there is a cap/floor, owners will ABSOLUTELY cheat and report false income and find ways to not pay $$$. A cap/floor will only be a loss net for the players.

[@wilbertmatthews]

Cap will happen. Clark is just dumb. Others sports are thriving with caps while baseball struggles