MLB don't need a Salary Cap...really

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Good Morning Team,

Major League Baseball does not need a salary cap.

And before you go and argue that baseball is broken because of the gap between the A’s and Dodgers is bigger than the Browns and the Chiefs, understand that you’re being fed straight bullshit about the notion that a salary cap would fix that issue.

What you’re thinking about is a better revenue sharing model. Not a salary cap.

Simply put, the argument for the salary cap is about wage suppression. It’s about being anti-labor. The only true purpose a salary cap serves is to provide cost certainty to team owners, some of whom are absolutely allergic to spending money.

Today, we have Deuce Prince helping us out with his take on the current state of baseball.

He is one of the best follows on SportsTok.

@deferittothegame

BOBBY FOR PRESIDENT!!! #kansascityroyals #royals #mlb #baseball #majorleaguebaseball

Owners and their crappy system…

Here is a look at the current revenue sharing system that preserve the astronomical gap between teams like the A’s and Dodgers…

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1. Guaranteed Income - Teams get paid regardless of record. Every MLB team gets something like 200 million dollars annually in combined national TV revenue. It’s an unconditional tenet of owning an MLB team.
   
   Note: This something the NFL/NBA have in place too. But we’re trying to build context so stay with us.

2. The “Nutting” incentive (LOL) - So the shared money that teams get before selling a single ticket is meant to improve performance on the the field. Guess what? There’s no enforceable way to do that, and therefore no consequences as a result of pocketing the cash.
   

3. The Draft Lottery - Much like the NBA and NFL, there’s a great big check you get from revenue sharing, but you also draft higher with a losing record. The multi-year tank is very real in baseball. This is a tough one, because the NBA is also having a huge problem with this.
   
   

4. Large Market Manipulation - The revenue sharing model is based on the ‘net local revenue’, which bigger markets can massage in a couple different ways, but the notable one is having equity in their local broadcast partners. That way, they can report whatever revenue they want to (so to speak), which would decrease the amount of money paid into the pool.
   

5. No Salary Floor - no binding minimum payroll. A team can literally just spend the  bare minimum without any consequence. 

6. The Competitive Balance Tax is a Joke - The CBT is meant to act as a giant toll both to try and introduce some semblance of spending parity. But if you’re a well capitalized owner, the tax just ends up being an investment decision rather than a deterrent. Aside from paying the luxury tax, there’s some draft pick reordering that takes place. But it’s nothing like the NBA has with its salary tax aprons.

What should happen, then?

Well, a few things can change. Now, while we’ll admit that a lot of these things are already present in other leagues with less inequality, there are problems specific to baseball that should be fixed first before adding a salary cap.

Collective National Media Rights

This one needs to be fleshed out a little more, but it’s time that baseball teams explored tying their fates together into one national media rights package.

Will it be hard? Yes. Bigger teams have sweet ass media rights deals that pay them incredibly well, and they’d argue they give enough to revenue sharing so lower market teams can eat.

Also, this wouldn’t be some sort of silver bullet. You could still imagine teams leach off revenue sharing without having to lift a finger to improve on field performance, but cheap owners dragging their feet would now have the added pressure of facing the stronger owners in the room.

A Promotion and Relegation System

This wasn’t our idea. It’s all Deuce here:

Higher CBT Penalties

This is the most obvious one. If you’re gonna have a toll both to try and maintain some semblance of balance, constraints should be placed on the teams that go out and spend vigorously. The Celtics had to unload an enormous amount of money this year in order to gain some flexibility down the stretch for the season and this upcoming offseason. Why shouldn’t the Dodgers have a few constraints for throwing a 3 quarters of a billion dollars to Shohei?

Have a great week!