Should Baseball add a Salary Cap?

[Galactoid]

Agreed. Heck, just lowering the cap by ten million could do so much more for the country. And the players would still have plenty to live comfortably.

[Oryon20]

I am not in favor of a cap whatsoever.  We live in a country where you have the freedom to work where you want and make as much as possible.  If millionaire and billionaire owners can, why can't players?  Every person who watches a baseball game, attends a game, buys a hat or shirt, or any type of MLB merchandise is contributing to the salaries.  The more popular the game is, the more money is going to be made.  The owners don't go out and perform, players do.

Most people don't know that MLB has a luxury tax.  Teams like the Yankees and Red Sox pay penalties every year for spending over a certain amount, which then gets distributed to smaller market teams to use.  There also is revenue sharing.  The problem is, a lot of the other teams which receive this money DON'T use it towards acquiring players.  There have been reports of it being used towards Christmas bonuses or just pocketed by owners to make their bottom lines look good.

If you are a Yankees fan, how can you not love how the Steinbrenner family spends their profits to put a great team on the field, when they could easily just pocket it?  Conversely, if you are a Pirates fan (a team which consistetly receives revenue sharing and luxury tax money), how can you condone an owner who touts how his team is "profitable", yet sells/trades off players and won't sign even B level free agents?  They haven't had a winning season in over 10 years. Yes, baseball is a business, however if you are an owner of a team, shouldn't being competitive be your number one priority?  As long as you break even and don't lose money, all baseball profits should go back into your team to make it better, not back into your pockets.  If you can still profit enough to pocket, great.  But, if you're a team like the Pirates, do your fans really want to hear each year that at least you're profitable?

Look at the NFL where there is a cap.  Look at the massive TV contracts and licensing.  With a cap, who is getting that excess money?  The owners.  While retired players, who made the league what it is in popularity and money for the owners, are having myriad health issues from abusing there bodies in organized body to body combat week after week.  Were they well compensated?  Of course.  But, what did the owners do more to get a much the bigger slice of the pie for all these years?  Just remember, if the NFL salary cap was so great, the NFL wouldn't be looking at labor issues coming up, and the real threat of a work stoppage.

[angel379227]

Obviously no pro athletes in here lulz. Good stuff Oryon.

[Eclipse98RS]

Without a cap, the team with the most income will have the best players and the game just isnt fun to watch.

[Oryon20]

Without a cap, the team with the most income will have the best players and the game just isnt fun to watch.

Doesn't have to be that way.  Let's use the Pirates again as an example.  Say they have a payroll of 60 million.  Without any money coming in from luxury taxes and revenue sharing they are breaking even in all operating expenses (players, office staff, equipment, ballpark, etc).  Now, say that they are going to receive 40 million in revenue sharing/luxuary tax money.  Explain then why the owner needs to take that money to put in his pocket instead of making his payroll 100 million to get a couple more really good players?  He spends that to up his payroll, the team maybe gets better, more fans come to games and buy merchandise, and the profits will then be there at the end.  Everyone is a winner... fans, players, and owners.  The Atlanta Braves under Ted Turner's ownership were super competitive for years.  Once the AOL Time Warner merge happened, and they took full control, all they cared about was the bottom line.  Once the profits weren't to their liking, they wanted out.  Detroit is one of the most down trodden cities in America.  Poverty is all over the place.  Yet, their owner has spent openly to field a good team, putting winning over profits.  They have pretty much acknowledged that they are happy breaking even.

You also don't need to spend to win.  Good drafting and scouting is huge and can effect you for years to come.  Teams like the Marlins have proven good scouting/drafting alone can make you have a very competetive team, although there's no debating that they don't spend nearly enough.  Imagine if they did.  Still, they beat the super powerful Yankees in the World Series in 2003 with a comparably miniscule payroll, didn't they?  You could argue it's just as fun watching these Davids get into the playoffs and beat Goliaths.  Just remember... for the over 1 billion dollars the Yankees spent between 2001 and 2009, they only won a title once.  Spending the most money doesn't guarantee you anything.  Just ask them.

And for those who also would argue that it doesn't matter because they have won 27 times, consider this.  The bulk of those 27 happened way before the wild spending of free agancy.  So, how did they get such great players to win all those titles?  Yup, great scouting and drafting.