Should Major League Baseball develop a salary-cap system?

Yes

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by Jimmy Duncan

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The debate has raged on since 1996. The New York Yankees began an amazing run of six, count them, SIX, world series appearances. The Bronx Bombers won four of six championships, losing in 1997 to the Florida Marlins, and in 2001 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. After a one year hiatus in 2002, the Yanks made yet another World Series appearance, losing again to the Florida Marlins. That seven fall classics in eight years, resulting in four rings.

And George Steinbrenner bought every single appearance. Infact, most of the teams that have won it all in the last twenty years to a degree have bought their rings.

Since 1988, the team with the highest total salary in baseball has won the World Series only four times. Toronto did it once, in 1993. The Yankees did it the other three times. On the other hand, there have been only four teams that were in the lower half of player salaries that won titles. Two of those teams won prior to the 1994 strike, when salaries skyrocketed. The 2002 Angels won with the fifteenth highest payroll, and the 2003 Marlins came in at 25th. That was the lowest of any championship teams. But here's the catch to that. When the Marlins won in 1997, their total salary was 47.7 million dollars, seventh overall. Fast forward to 2003, their total payroll went up only one million dollars, to 48.5. Now, is that dumb luck on the part of Marlins ownership, or savvy spending?

On the whole and overall, teams that spend money, win money. Out of the last nineteen champs, fifteen of them were on the upper half of the spending spectrum. More important than that, teams that can generate money to spend win championships. What drives revenue in baseball? Ticket sales, media rights, and merchandising. In cities like New York and Boston, this is never an issue. You are dealing with a huge fan base spaced out over a wide area, and a brand logo that carries mass appeal. The Yankees, the Red Sox. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, the Mick, Joltin' Joe, Yaz, Carlton Fisk, Reggie Jackson right up through today's stars. People will go to battle for tickets at these venues. Prices and jerseys go up into the triple digits, beers are 10 bucks, and these clubs hold their respective TV outlets by the unmentionables.

Let's take a ride down 95 south, to Philadelphia. Ten years ago, the Phils were on the bottom half of salaries, struggling to field a .500 team. With 25 dollars on any given night, you could ride down to the Vet, get good parking, a general admission ticket and have left over money for a beer and a hot dog. Enter the publicly funded stadium. Now, 25 dollars gets you a piece of rail to stand up against in straight away centerfield, right in front of the vendor row that is a waste of your time unless you are willing to enjoy a 20 dollar snack. The positive result of that is that the Phillies are now profitable. They generate revenue. They can afford to resign Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. They don't have to fire sale their talent away to pay bills every other season. And now, those lowly Philadelphia Phillies are one of the best teams in baseball, with a top 5 payroll to go along with it.

Another team buys a title.

Baseball definitely needs a salary cap, as well as revenue sharing. It's saddening that teams like Minnesota and San Diego have great fan bases that they are losing little by little because they cannot afford to keep them happy. Look at a guy like a Torii Hunter. Here's a player that you can build a future around. He's happy in Minnesota, they're starting to win ballgames. Can't afford him no more, he's off to Los Angeles and the Twins are screwed. And this story repeats itself in another small market town every season.

It can be fixed with a cap and revenue sharing. It's not particularly fair to the sucessful teams, but eventually fans are just gonna stop caring. Is baseball even America's game anymore? No shot. Football and basketball are the new national sports. And that's because every fan of those sports knows that if they spend intelligently regardless of their assets, they are on an even playing field with every other franchise and they have a shot at winning. Can you say that as a Pirates fan? Absolutely not. They can't afford the talent? How about you, Rays fan? Do you think your team can carry this rush of young talent all the way through to November? Maybe they can, but more likely than not what will happen is come the trade deadline, some AL East big spender is gonna open up the wallet once again, and grab that stud pitcher that is currently languishing in middle market hell. The Rays have spent quite a few years developing talent from the ground up, and have done it well. But ultimately, the money will prevail. And the Rays will finish third. If there was some sharing going on, maybe they are the ones grabbing C.C. Sabathia or Jarrod Washburn or Bronson Arroyo this year at the deadline. And maybe that's just enough to go over the top.

I'll leave you with this. Look at the NHL. When they went on strike, payroll was so out of hand that the owners were willing to fold the league if need me to save money they were hemmoraging. They left it up to the players. Salary cap or go play in Europe, they told them. The players sucked it up, took pay cuts across the board and conceded to a ridiculously low 42 million dollar cap. Two years later, the owners have raised the cap to 57 million themselves. Hockey is regaining it's popularity and is charging it's way back into being one of the four major sports. They were to the brink and back.

How close to the brink will our national pastime come before they realize they could be doomed to a similar fate?

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