Turbo Talks Sports: Does MLB Need a Salary Cap?

There are a lot of baseball fans that probably think I should title this article Are the Dodgers Ruining Baseball, but that is just silly.  Because if George Steinbrenner was still alive, he would be spending toe to toe with the Dodgers because he has in the past.  Baseball survived his era and will survive this one as well.  A lot of fans think that implementing a salary cap, would make it impossible for the Dodgers to spend this way, but would that fix baseball?

   Before I answer that question let’s take a look at what MLB currently has.  They don’t have a hard salary cap.  They have a luxury tax.  This means the more you spend in payroll the more you are “taxed.” So basically, you have to pay more tax the more payroll you spend.  This tax money gets put into a pot for all of the other owners to spend, hopefully, jump starting a smaller market team into spending on their team.  They way the Dodgers are kinda bypassing these massive taxes is when they sign players, they defer part of their contract for later.  When Ohtani signed his $700 million contract, he agreed to be paid $2 million a year for the first 10 years and then take the rest of his money.  This means the Dodgers are only on the hook for $2 million of his contract instead of the $70 million that he would be paid under a regular contract.  The Dodgers have done this with many of their top tier players, but Ohtani made us all scratch our heads with his contract.

   So, I think what every fan, aside from Dodgers fans, want to see is this not happen to this extent.  But is a salary cap the answer?  Let’s take a look at a different option.  This option will not limit the maximum amount a team can spend but it would limit the minimum amount a team has to spend.  A salary floor.  Again, this option would not stop the Dodgers from doing what they are doing but it would force teams to have to spend.  This would make teams more competitive and keep free agents with their teams.  Let me give you an example.  The Yankees paid Aaron Judge more last year than the entire payroll of the Tigers postseason roster.  Not to say the Tigers are a small market but they have been operating like one for a few years now.  The Pittsburg Pirates have one of the best pitchers in the league in Paul Skenes and what most baseball fans are wondering is how much longer he will be there because the Pirates don’t spend money to keep their guys there.  

   Let’s answer the question I posed earlier.  Would a salary cap fix baseball?  I don’t think so.  The Dodgers, and other teams that chose to do business like they do, will continue to defer contracts to stay under that cap.  However, a salary floor would force owners to spend on players helping keep the game as competitive as possible.  If you stop to think about it from a business perspective, to make money you have to spend money.  The better your team is the more people want to watch and buy merch so get off your moldy money and put out a good product! 

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