MLB Salary Cap: Fair or Foul?
After adding CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and their final addition Mark Teixeira to their roster, the New York Yankees have refueled the salary cap dispute. As with everything, there are two sides to this story – the side that is completely against the idea of teams who finish first being paid the most, and the side that feels that the winning teams are merely being paid for doing their jobs better than everyone else… like a bonus of sorts.
For Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett, the Yankees paid a combined total of about $423.5 million. Now, it seems, for many, that the fact that the Yankees have $400 million available to grab up any and everyone who becomes available is extremely unfair. As a fan of the Boys in Blue, my perception of the situation might be a bit lop-sided when I say that those in favor of the cap are probably die-hard fans of teams that don’t ever make it very far in the season.
However, I am not so brainwashed that I cannot sympathize with these people. I understand the sting of repetitive defeat, as I also happen to root for the Giants (don’t get me started) and the Knicks. So the idea of being able to possibly prevent any further heartache by forbidding “more fortunate” teams from creating a monopoly would be a consideration.
I can see where people with less fortunate teams would think that a salary cap would be a quick fix, however, what many fans fail to realize is that a salary cap is more complex than simply cutting off the spending amount of teams.
Firstly, a salary cap would, essentially, remove money from players’ pockets and put it in the pockets of the team owners. How many players would agree to that?
Second, the ability to purchase players doesn’t ensure a winning team, as the Yankees learned in 2000. Also, the Mets, who have the 3rd highest payroll, still can’t seem to buy their way to a Championship.
If it weren’t for the Yankees and their luxury taxes, these other teams wouldn’t have a leg to stand on as far as team salaries.
Face it, MLB needs the Yankees. The Yanks are the international poster team for baseball.
My suggestion – instead of putting all your energy into whining about what the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox are doing, pay more attention to teams like the A’s and the Twins, who have mastered the art of stretching their dollar and utilizing the draft. I mean, look how far Tampa Bay made it with a fresh team!
Bottom line, there are pros and cons to implementing a salary cap. Money can buy a team, but money can’t buy guarantees; you either have it or you don’t.
by: Jonnine Yarbrough
I understand the idea of giving the better teams more money, since they are overall doing a better job, but would other teams do better if they got paid more? One could ask, are the players on the “better” teams playing better since they get more money? Or are they just actually much better players than everyone else and deserve the money? If the other teams’ players would do better with more money, then maybe there should be a more even playing field when it comes to the players’ salaries.
Amy B.,
I think that’s one of those questions that will never be answered, like “Which came first – The chicken or the egg?” Maybe MLB should experiment one year and just give a team like the Rays or the Pirates a larger salary and see how well they do. You may have just sparked a sequel to my blog…hmm….
Not sure if its “fair or foul.” However, I think having a salary cap will make more youth focus on getting educational scholarships than sports scholarships. Knowing that they will only be able to make a certain amount of money playing a game (even if its in the milions) will push them to have a backup plan.
Lovely,
WOW! You shocked the office with that comment…I think that’s an excellent point. But do you think that the youth will ever be able to overcome the “right now” thought process? Will they see that the money they’d make long-term with, say, an engineering degree would outweight immediate millions from a pro-league (not to mention that the millions are only guaranteed as long as they’re healthy…)?
Jonnine,
While they may not see that immediate money as an engineer, etc, knowing that they would only be able to make so-and-such playing a game (no matter how long they play it for) may have them rethinking.
There is no doubt that most would still choose to participate in sports. However it would help to prick a notch in a belt for those who want children to realize their potential- intellectually.
i am personally not a fan of baseball…it’s too slow and too long of a season for me.
i am most a fan of the nfl (mls is 2nd). both of those sports have a salary cap. do i watch them because they have a salary cap and it makes the league more fair for all teams? no, i enjoy watching the sport. but i do think the salary cap allows more opportunity for parody. it seems with baseball (no salary cap), the teams with the higher payrolls are in the hunt every year…whether they win the championship or not is a different story, but they usually make up the teams with the better records. can teams with low payrolls still have a good year? of course…look at tampa bay (as you pointed out). they have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, yet they made it to the world series. will they compete year in and year out? not after the higher payroll teams buy their better players. the reason why tampa had a good year because they consistantly finished with one of the worst records in all of baseball year in and year out…thus giving them a good crop of players from their high draft picks.
as you pointed out…no player will want a salary cap…it does not benefit them. but as a fan, i enjoy the salary cap because of the parody…i enjoy the nfl because any team can compete with any other team.
i’m from the new england area, so i grew up with the boston teams…it’s much more rewarding for me seeing the patriots win 3 superbowls in an era where the teams are more equal than the red sox buying 2 world series championships when they’re only equal with less than half the league.
Bert,
I see your point. However, do you think that even if the cap was implemented, that the “better” players still won’t want to go to teams such as the Yankees or the Red Sox? These teams are still the more popular in the league…salary cap or not.
Jonnine,
well…the patriots are a good example. don’t you think everyone would want to be on the patriots, whom have won 3 superbowls this decade and who are in the hunt year in and year out? just like in any other job…if someone has an opportunity to get more money, they’re going to go where they can get more money. so, if you’re on the patriots and you want more money and they can’t pay you more money because of the salary cap, then you’re going to go to another team that will pay you the money you’re looking for.
unfortunately, we as fans look at sports differently than other businesses, while most players look at their professional sport as a business (which it is), and they’re going to look out for themselves. it is a rare case that a player will stay with the team he wants to and take a paycut…we’d like to all think we’d all do that, but i’m sure you put us in the same boat, we’d go for more money.
I dont think a salary cap would solve the problem of fairness, I think you need to add a 2 teams to make it 32 teams. Add 2 playoff spots so there is 12 of 32 who can make the playoffs and instead of restrict a players earnings realign teams based on payroll spent. example:
Yanks, Red Soxs, Mets, Phils in one division and Teams like the Pirates, Nationals, Indians, Reds in another. This would ensure teams with lower payrolls can be represented in the playoffs. As you spend more you change divisions. This would keep the schedule fresh and teams like the Pirates and Royals would have a chance to play in October.
check out the plan at:
http://thefairball.com/mlb-realignment-plan/