Salary cap in baseball?

Question

I was watching ESPN the other day and heard rumors of a salary cap coming to the MLB in future years. What exactly is a salary cap? I know it's a spending limit, but I would like something more in depth. Also, why doesn't the MLB have a salary cap now? If they do make a salary cap in baseball, will it help the smaller market teams?

Answer 1

your right about it helping smaller market teams. a team like the Nationals can use a boost in their roster just like many other teams. if players keep on getting high priced contracts like A. Rodriguez and M. Ramirez, i think a salary cap in the MLB is in the near future.

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Answer 2

The union has been so strong that they've never been willing at all to have a salary cap. Going back to the '94 strike it's been an issue. What Bill78 is describing is the salary floor that the NFL has in addition to the cap. That's what really helps the smaller market teams be competiive. The idea is that the big teams seem to always make the playoffs every year (Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc). But that's not always the case.

It might be something that would have to be piecemealed in. Doing a lockout like the NHL did won't do any good. When they threatened a strike in 2002 the fans openly rebelled. And now the NHL is pretty much permanent second-tier sports status in the United States, as several teams are on the verge of bankruptcy, like in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Phoenix.

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Answer 3

I don't think it would be a realistic thing to happen. The only way to do that is if you had a year long lockout and revamp the labor agreement much like the NHL did a few years ago. You would then set a salary cap and everyone would be a free agent basically, giving the team previously having the players contract the 1st shot at signing him. I just really don't see the players union allowing that to ever happen. Look how long it took them to admit that there was a steroid problem. It took an act of congress to even get them to start testing players.

I think the short term answer is to have a minimum salary number so that the bottom feeders that refuse to sign anyone have to put a team together that might make people come out to the games and create revenue through ticket sales and shirts, banners etc.....

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