Dilemma for Yankees: a salary cap
by Travis G on Jan 14, 2009 11:20 PM EST
in Analysis
14 comments
Some owners recently revived the idea of a salary cap. It's a dilemma for us Yankee fans: we love that the Yanks have an automatic advantage over most (if not all) teams, but for the long-term good of the game, would a cap be beneficial?
There are lots of practical problems with trying to introduce a cap. For starters, it caused the strike in 1994. The MLB Players Association is the strongest union in pro sports (causing multiple work stoppages over the years), which is the reason a cap hasn't already been instituted. How ardent would the fans and owners be? Would we be prepared to lose another World Series or an entire season (ala the NHL)?
For all the talk of how the current fiscal situation destroys parity, it's a false accusation. A greater number of teams have won titles in MLB over the past 30 years than in the NFL, which is supposedly the King of Parity.
Not to be forgotten is the free market. Is the supposed greater enjoyment of fans worth taking the freedom of occupation from ballplayers? I don't know. A Royals fans might say yes. A Yankee fan might say no. The NFL salary cap can prevent players from signing with the team they want to play for (even if the team wants them) because it would put them over the cap (e.g. Joey Porter, Derrick Ward, Alan Faneca, Reggie Torbor, etc).
I'm not totally comfortable with the MLB draft - how an amateur has to play for the team that drafts him; he has no choice as to where or who he works for. The rest of us have that choice - why shouldn't pro athletes be afforded the same right?
Another aspect is the free market of MLB, which motivates amateur athletes to pursue baseball over other pro sports. CJ Henry and Drew Henson (despite failing at baseball) are examples. Dave Winfield, CC Sabathia and (hopefully) Austin Jackson are successful examples. It's also part of the reason Latin Americans pursue baseball; the other pro sports don't allow 16-year-olds, but MLB encourages teenagers to sign into pro organizations. There's no question that the money ML teams can offer (at a younger age as well) is a prime motivating factor in bringing the best talent into baseball. Don't we enjoy watching the best athletes the world has to offer?
What would help the game more would be a salary floor. From my point of view, a bigger problem than teams 'overspending' is teams like the Marlins and Twins who 'underspend'. Their owners take the luxury taxes that the Yankees pay and pocket them instead of improving their teams. Right now, there's nothing that forces teams to spend even a single dollar on their team.
On the other hand, I totally understand and empathize with small market fans who go into every season having no hope whatsoever (I'm a Knicks fan afterall). Despite all the reasons listed above, I would not be totally averse to a cap. It would (probably) make things like ingenuity, management, hard work, scouting and evaluation more important than money. Let's face it: the Yankees' money allows them to take a lot of chances small market teams cannot (like sign an injury prone pitcher to a 5-year, $82.5 million deal, or sign a Quadruple-A/Japanese pitcher for $46 million!). But I'd only accept a cap if it came with a floor.
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OK, but
With a salary cap comes…… Owners opening
the books
(so fan can see what the teams really make/don’t), floor for the min, and how about the same ticket price at all the parks.
by tony10r10 on Jan 15, 2009 12:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Anti-salary cap
I see salary caps as a strict transfer of wealth from players to owners with no benefits necessarily accruing to fans. Now extensive revenue sharing coupled with a salary minimum (say $80 million) is something I could support in order to facilitate competitive balance. Not that I’m willing to believe that baseball has a huge competitive balance problem when 8 teams have won World Series this decade and 7 have won NBA championships since 1980.
A nice argument can be found here: http://umpbump.com/press/2008/12/26/salary-caps-are-a-bad-idea/
by stusviews on Jan 15, 2009 8:08 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
With a salary cap
comes a salary floor. Teams like the Marlins, Twins, Rays, etc. would be in a position where they had to add $20 million in salaries just to meet the floor.
BAD idea.
by 3460kuri on Jan 15, 2009 8:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I hate the NBA's Salary Cap
I hate what the salary cap and guaranteed contracts have done to the NBA. It forces teams to trade for players they don’t want or don’t intend to keep for long term “cap considerations”. It’s Machiavelian. I hate it. For example, in the Allen Iverson trade between Detroit and Denver, Detroit included Antonio McDyess in the trade. Everyone knew Denver didn’t want him, everyone knew Denver was going to cut him, everyone knew that McDyess was going to go right back to Detroit and sign as a free agent. Which is exactly what happened.
Teams acquire players they don’t want so they can release them and acquire other players. Sensible trades that would help both teams are impossible because the salaries don’t match up. It’s perverse.
The world is convoluted and confusing enough. I want sports to be where I go to follow things that are simple and straightforward.
By the way, this kind of nonsense doesn’t happen in the NFL because, unlike in professional basketball and baseball, football contracts aren’t guaranteed.
My dying words will be 'Go Giants!'"
by wankerboy on Jan 15, 2009 9:54 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
purely as a fan
i like that NFL contracts arent guaranteed, but it would never, ever fly with the MLBPA. they’re like the Teamsters.
by Travis G on Jan 15, 2009 2:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
My biggest problem
with the owners bitching and moaning about the Yankees’ spending is that they are acting like the Yanks are winning it all every year. Any Yankee fan can remind them that it’s been almost a decade since the Yanks were champs.
And the gall of the jackass owners who pocket the revenue sharing money rather than putting back into their teams is ridiculous. I agree that a salary floor may be even more important than a cap. When are these owners going to realize that they are going to have to invest in their team if they want to put a product out on the field their fans will want to come out and see? Sure the Rays made it to the series last year, but the were still playing to crowds of 25,000 into September.
I think the Yanks have built up such a solid fan base- because of the winning tradition, sure, but also because the fans know ownership is going to go out and get the guys that will bring people to the ballpark. Do I wish the Yanks hadn’t dropped a fortune this off-season, giving the the nay-sayers more ammo? Sure. But am I excited to see these guys in Pinstripes next year? Hell yes I am.
The Jayfiss Report ...one fan's rants
by NumberSeven on Jan 15, 2009 11:43 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
exactly
and good point with the NFL parity thing. The Rays last year, at least I though, would have silenced the advocates of a salary cap. But the Yanks try to win next season, so they buy 3 of the most expensive players out there, and the talk comes through again. Baseball already has the free agent type rules, and I think those already represent a “salary cap”.
by moose35 on Jan 15, 2009 1:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
one thing i should add
is that the Yankees almost HAVE to go after the top free agents, because it’s the only way to get proven stars.
In the foreseeable future, the Yanks wont ever have a top 10 draft pick, meaning they’ll never get a can’t-miss prospect like Justin Upton, David Price, Josh Hamilton or Arod. the only way they can get those guys is to buy them as FAs (or trade lots of other prospects for them in their walk year).
by Travis G on Jan 15, 2009 2:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Baffling...
The Yankees should NEVER apologize for having the kind of financial resources they have. George Steinbrenner bought the team and immediately started renovations on the stadium and reworked the roster. His efforts to better the team were not confined to the field either—he marketed the hell out of the franchise (shirts, jackets, candy bars —yes, I bought the Reggie Bar when it was first released…, etc.). The Yankees were his passion, not simply the writeoff or simple hobby other teams seem to be for their owners/syndicates. It took 3 years to get the team back into the division race and 5 to win a World Series. In the 90’s he created the YES network, led the formal recruiting and marketing efforts for MLB and the team in Asia, and worked a deal with the Cowboys for catering their respective ballparks. He has created more money for his team that any other owner, ever. Sure, NYC is a huge market. The team has such a winning tradition (for almost a hundred years!), but the current ball club is poised financially because of good management and critical, out of the box strategy. The team’s success has always been about creating the best, most satisfying experience for the fans. Other owners could learn something from this lesson in good business.
by boys of summer on Jan 15, 2009 4:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Agreed
If you can afford to own a MLB team. I believe that you have the money to have at least a 100 million dollar pay roll. Poor teams fans should yell at their owners not the Yankees. Plus as Michael Lewis so aptly put it in Moneyball. The fans come to see victories. If you win with nobodies the fans will come to the ballpark. Lose with stars and the fans don’t come. then the stars become nobodies and the nobodies become stars. Don’t complain about not being able to afford stars. Use the draft and make your own
by sdhman11 on Jan 15, 2009 4:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I'm all for a salary cap ...
Provided:
-Owners open up their books and show 100% transparency to the fans.
-Do away with the luxury tax
-Put in a salary cap floor—in other words if there’s a maximum to spend, there also must be a minimum to spend.
I believe there are too many owners who like to cry poverty, like to cash those big luxury tax benefit checks and then dump the money right into their bulging pockets. I simply don’t think for a moment they would embrace transparency. I don’t think for a moment they would want their beloved luxury tax taken away.
"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will
by Ronster22 on Jan 15, 2009 4:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
For a salary floor to work
it would have to be high enough to force owners to pay to field a competitive team. I can envision substantial resistance by small-market owners crying poverty, once a cap was put into place and luxury tax payments from big spenders like the Yankees ended. I suspect there would be a push on that end for NFL-style revenue sharing, but the rich teams will never let that happen.
by django48 on Jan 16, 2009 9:56 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Forget a salary cap. Assuming that owners are not trying to lose money there must be a reason why they spend the way they do
Here is a copy of an earlier post I made:
So everyone is screaming about the Yankees’ spending ways. So I decided to take a look at how they rank against other clubs using the following methodology:
2008 Payroll divided by 2008 attendance divided by Cost of Living Index and the Yankees rank 22 at $22.70 per attendee. Here are the numbers. Am I wrong with this analysis?
Payroll Rank Team Attend. MM Payroll MM Payroll / Attend Cost of Living Index Payroll / Attend / COLI COLI Rank
8 Detroit 3.2 $138.7 $43.30 98.6 $43.92 1
16 Chicago Sox 2.5 $121.2 $48.44 110.8 $43.72 2
14 Atlanta 2.5 $102.4 $40.44 96.5 $41.91 3
20 Seattle 2.3 $118.0 $50.65 121.5 $41.69 4
23 Cincinnati 2.1 $74.3 $36.08 90.8 $39.74 5
29 Kansas City 1.6 $58.2 $36.89 96.1 $38.39 6
25 Texas 1.9 $68.2 $35.07 91.9 $38.16 7
22 Cleveland 2.2 $79.0 $36.40 99.3 $36.65 8
12 Houston 2.8 $88.9 $32.00 90.9 $35.20 9
7 Chicago Cubs 3.3 $118.6 $35.94 110.8 $32.43 10
10 Boston 3.0 $133.4 $43.78 135.4 $32.33 11
4 St. Louis 3.4 $100.6 $29.33 91.8 $31.95 12
28 Pittsburgh 1.6 $49.4 $30.68 98.9 $31.02 13
24 Baltimore 2.0 $67.2 $34.46 118.6 $29.05 14
9 Milwaukee 3.1 $81.0 $26.40 100.3 $26.32 15
15 Arizona 2.5 $66.2 $26.38 101.0 $26.12 16
13 Colorado 2.7 $68.7 $25.91 103.8 $24.96 17
6 LA Angels 3.3 $119.2 $35.73 145.4 $24.57 18
26 Tampa Bay 1.8 $43.8 $24.61 100.5 $24.48 19
21 Minnesota 2.3 $62.2 $27.01 110.6 $24.42 20
5 Philadelphia 3.4 $98.3 $28.71 124.1 $23.14 21
1 NY Yankees 4.3 $209.1 $48.64 214.3 $22.70 22
3 LA Dodgers 3.7 $118.5 $31.77 145.4 $21.85 23
18 Toronto 2.4 $98.6 $41.10 188.8 $21.77 24
17 San Diego 2.4 $73.7 $30.35 140.3 $21.63 25
27 Oakland 1.7 $48.0 $28.80 147.6 $19.52 26
19 Washington 2.3 $55.0 $23.69 137.2 $17.26 27
2 NY Mets 4.0 $138.3 $34.21 214.3 $15.97 28
11 San Francisco 2.9 $76.9 $26.85 169.5 $15.84 29
30 Florida 1.3 $21.8 $16.36 115.4 $14.17 30
by jpoppejr on Jan 21, 2009 9:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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