Monday, January 5, 2015

Would a Salary Cap Actually Help the Yankees?


No, seriously. Would a salary cap instituted in Major League Baseball actually help the New York Yankees? I say yes, why not? With a cap on spending you would also have to see a salary floor which would also help New York in a huge way, the removal of the luxury tax threshold. With so many teams, maybe not so much in the last few seasons, spending barely more or sometimes less than what the team is receiving in luxury tax and pocketing every merchandise sale, television deal, ticket sale etc. it makes the game more of a business and less of the game that we all know and love. With all the money in the game now with television deals and attendance on the up and up a salary cap may be at least discussed when the new collective bargaining agreement expires in 2016.

Most Yankees fans think that a cap would hurt the Yankees because it takes away our biggest asset, our ability to out-spend everyone, but I don't think that's so much the case anymore. The Dodgers are already out-spending the Yankees by a large margin while teams are passing the luxury tax threshold every single season. The new CBA has already restricted the Yankees ability to throw money around in the draft and now in the International market and honestly a cap would only help.

It's a well known fact that the rumors and hot stove season can be annoying if you're a Yankees fan. New York could have three Albert Pujols' in his prime playing first base, backing up and playing DH but if a fourth came up on the free agent market the Yankees would be "interested." The Yankees aren't interested our name and monikers are thrown around to simply drive the price up. With a cap no longer could teams do that and no longer could agents like Scott Boras give the team "the last call" to squeeze a few million out of owners and teams. With a cap if a Max Scherzer wanted $30 million a season and the Yankees had $15 million to spend it would really help the fans and these teams see through the bull crap and see the real rumors and interest.

Also, believe it or not, there are still players around Major League Baseball that actually want to be Yankees. There are still MLB players and veterans that want a chance to play for a World Series before they retire. Much like you see in the NBA a lot the Yankees could use this to their advantage while they maneuver around the cap. If New York has around $10 million to spend on the cap and a couple of key and productive veterans want to come over to chase a ring they could/would sign for exponentially less for the opportunity to play in October. The same could be said for players like Troy Tulowitzki who wants to be a Yankee if he were a free agent, if he is asking for $30 million and the Yankees only have $20 million he would be more inclined to take a discount or a back loaded contract to fulfill his dream and fill the shoes of Derek Jeter.

Many fans around the league want a salary cap and if it happens, as a Yankees fan, I say bring it on. This is only going to help the Yankees and their aura and tradition may give them the step up above the league that they once had and have lost in recent seasons. There can't be anything wrong with that.

8 comments:

  1. nd the Yankees had $15 million t

    You raise a good point about players being against a salary cap. While it's been said that they wouldn't want a cap because it directly restricts how much they can make, it also restricts how much they make because their agent can't pull the ole "the Yankees are willing to pay this much" trick.

    I don't see a cap happening

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    1. I don't either but I'm not scared if it does.

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  2. A cap will probably never happen, because the union is just too strong. Truth be told, I don't care one way or another if a cap exists. What I would like to see happen is some, not all power taken away from the players and agents during negotiations. It's ridiculous that an agent can claim he has a certain offer in hand to strong arm a GM, but a GM can't call another GM to see if it's true. The other thing that bugs me is 100% guaranteed contracts. I wish it was more like football contracts where an underperforming player can be cut.

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    1. perhaps a clause in contracts that says while a player can be cut, they will still be paid a certain amount. Sort of like an option to buy-out an option.

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  3. Something like that. I'm not suggesting owners can irresponsibly go out and sign every free agent on the market and cut them the following season. I'm talking about somebody like Arod. Somebody who had a 10 year deal, opted out and got another 10 year deal. Then proceeded to admit to steroid use, had 2 hip surgeries, and produced at a replacement level player. Just to show I'm not being biased, I'll also mention Josh Hamilton, Prince Fielder, Carl Crawford, and the now expired contract of Barry Zito. That's just a small sample of the many players that were signed to be franchise altering players and failed. If players can get no trade clauses and opt outs worked into their contracts, then I feel there should be some protection for teams as well.

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    1. I absolutely agree with you... a player vastly underperforming should not keep getting paid like he was. However, I don't agree that they should just be cut and lose that money. There has to be a middle ground, such as the idea that a player can be cut, but will still be paid a certain percentage of the money remaining on his contract.

      But, in order to be cut, and lose a percentage of their money, there has to be solid evidence. Failed drug tests, convictions and not just allegations of criminal activity, etc. As for poor performance, perhaps numbers could be exchanged such as "if your batting average falls below .230 for two or more seasons, the team can decided to cut you."

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  4. I like the idea of non-guaranteed contracts or at least not guaranteeing them no matter what. Especially for players who retire, Albert Belle, and get paid for the next 10 seasons crippling a franchise.

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  5. I disagree with you. The Yankees need to buy their way out of Cashman's mistakes like they did last year even though we didn't see a return on our investment yet. Remember when you have no farm system you need to spend

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)