The Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs were the three teams to exceed the luxury tax threshold in 2019, as Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times noted over the weekend. MLBTR has confirmed that is the complete and final list of organizations identified by Major League Baseball as owing competitive balance obligations.
Each of those clubs exceeded $206MM in 2019 payroll, as calculated by Major League Baseball pursuant to the rules governing the competitive balance tax. Generally, the CBT calculation looks to the average annual value of player contracts while also accounting for bonuses and other payroll-related expenses. The CBT threshold rises to $208MM in 2020 and then to $210MM in 2021.
Last year, the Red Sox and Nationals surpassed the spending threshold and paid taxes. The D.C. organization managed to duck under the line but could again be in that tax bracket if it spends to defend its World Series title. The Red Sox are expected to try to duck under the limbo bar in 2020. Meanwhile, the Dodgers have now gone two straight years without paying after a five-season streak of tax bills.
Precise calculations aren’t yet available, but Cot’s on Contracts has estimates of the complicated CBT tabulations. Their figures show both the Nats and Dodgers over the line, though obviously those organizations were able to sneak in just below. The Astros and Phillies appear to have been the next-biggest spenders, though both were a fair sight shy of any tax bills.
The Cot’s figures allow us to make some rough estimates of the actual amounts due. The Red Sox will pay the most, as they were the only team to incur tax liability for consecutive seasons, thus raising the rate. With an estimated payroll of just under $240MM, the Boston org will pay 30% on their first $20MM in overages and 42% on the rest, resulting in an estimated bill of just under $12MM.
The Cubs also ran up a tab that came in just shy of the $240MM mark by Cot’s reckoning. They are not a repeat luxury level team and therefore pay the base rate of 20% for the first $20MM and 32% for the next $20MM in salary over the threshold. That would result in a liability of a little under $8.5MM. Cot’s credits the Yankees with $234MM of spending for CBT purposes. Since the Bronx Bombers spent a year shy of the luxury line, they also get first-time treatment and would stand to owe just over $6.5MM.
None of the three teams came close to topping $246MM in payroll, at which point they’d not only have faced a bigger tax rate on further spending but also would’ve seen their top draft pick moved down the board ten spots. But the trio does still face some ongoing impact beyond the money owed. Inking a free agent who declined a qualifying offer will cost a bit more in compensation than it would have otherwise — specifically, $1MM in international amateur bonus pool spending capacity along with the team’s second and fifth-highest draft picks. The rules also suppress the level of compensation available to teams that lose QO’ed free agents after exceeding the luxury line, though none of these three clubs issued qualifying offers this offseason.
Where are the Rays? And Marlins?? A’s especially???
Two of those three were in the playoffs, that’s where.
Which isn’t good enough for Tony Clark.
The measure of a successful season, or ball club, isn’t making the post season or winning the world series.
No, the Red sox, yankees, and cubs were the real winners of the 2019 season according to the mlbpa
Tony Clark’s job is to secure maximum for the players. Not about wins. Money. And he’s been blowing it for them for years now.
That’s why he’s investigating Alex Anthopolous for “collusion.” Next thing you know he will be saying the Braves GM is a Russian asset. Clark is mad that Anthopolous locked up Acuna and Albies for the next 7-10 years for “only” $135 million. He is just upset that Anthopolous is better at his job then Clark is at his own job. Actually, I think if the MLBPA hired Anthopolous to replace Clark, Anthopolous would be better at that, too. Anthopolous is basically better at doing every management/bargaining job then Clark is and so Clark is intimidated and wants to make AA out as the villain just to redirect attention from Clark’s own negotiating shortcomings. Don’t feel so bad Tony Clark. Everyone knows you are a better athlete than Alex Anthopolous could ever hope to be. Your days of reaping benefits of your bodies athletic ability are over though. Alex Anthopolous’ days of reaping benefits for his brain’s ability have just begun. It’s over Tony. You’re the one that signed a contract allowing the QO. You’re the one that left Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel in the dust. You’re the one that didn’t see value in you’re own prospects even though every single one of you’re constituents came from that exact same pool. Alex Anthopolous wouldn’t have been that stupid. Stop redirecting and trying to call out people who are actually good at their job just to distract people from how bad you are at yours.
Wow.. Cruel yet satisfying.
Regrettable choices are hopefully in the past, but I won’t hold my breath.
As a fan of a small market team I love it that 2 of the three big spenders missed the playoffs. Trend I’d love to see continue.
If you are a fan of the Cardinals your team is not small market.
Compared to the big markets it is.
Than you.
Never said they were up there with the big markets but there is absolutely no way they are a small market team. None
It’s a medium. A small market would be those cheap ***** in Tampa
Never said they were up there with the big markets but there is absolutely no way they are a small market team. None
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Explain why the Cards are not a small market team. St. Louis is a fraction the size of The Bronx alone.
Cardinals are ranked 19 out of 30 mlb teams for market size. That would make them in the bottom 37% of Mlb market size. But you know, facts.
Ah the classic “we play in St. Louis” speel they use to consistently get free comp picks. There is a lot more that goes into it than the size of the market. Cardinals are always a stalwart in attendance and make a lot more revenue than #19. They have made at least 3 offers of 200 million to players in the past few years. Those players turning them down has kept the narrative alive. Their market hinders them from nothing.
well if your facts are true, it aint small market either. But you know, facts….
Yes don’t let your opinion get in the way of facts.
oh great. Captain Moron and his band of incomprehensible statements are here.
This is exactly right. When you are top 10 in revenue a market exists. Its just that no one wants to live in Missouri
gotta love those cardinals fans lol
If they ranked 19th, that puts them as a mid market team as anyone ranked 11-20 is in the middle of the pack.
Being the # 12 smallest market as you say does not make you a small market. Haha so now small market is defined as bottom 37%? Oh those poor baby Cardinals.
That’s exactly what it’s defined as. MLB defines what is and is not a small market, and St. Louis absolutely is a small market by this definition. They have less opportunity to make money from the surrounding area than any of the large market teams, they have just far exceeded any other small market team at maximizing their market.
You shouldn’t punish a team just because they are better at drawing fans than other teams in their market size. That’s exactly what MLB wants.
As an addition, market size IS NOT DEFINED BY REVENUE. It never has been, these are two different things. It’s interesting that so many people get this wrong and continue to complain about it. It would take restructuring the way the rules are written to consider revenue rather than market size.
Cardinals are always a stalwart in attendance
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Their success doesn’t change the size of the market. There are some very successful teams out there, from very small cities. There are also some failures from very large cities.
Haters are going to hate Stan…the usual bunch
Yea, I understand that. And I know thats not what drives market size. What Im saying is we shouldnt pretend the Cardinals are some cash strapped team that needs a helping hand
I could care less about the Cardinals. But their fans acting like they are just a humble small market is comical. They offered Price and Heyward 200 million. They wanted to take on Stantons contract. They have no issue stockpiling big contracts. Small market is a load of nonsense
Nats won the WS and they were maybe 1-2M below the tax.
Thanks Jacoby Ellsbury and Giancarlo Stanton. Nearly $50m in 2019 payroll for nothing in return.
Only thing that levels the playing field–poor investments.
Stanton got Starlin Castro in return. And he was miserable for 2 seasons in Miami.
as far as the Marlins go, he was pretty good
Miami dumped Stanton’s contract in return. That was the real trade, a trade which no other team would do. Contrary to popular opinion, which bashed Jeter from here to the moon for supposedly doing a sweet inside deal for the Yanks, it was a good deal for Miami.
Wow. And only the Yankees had a playoff appearance to show for it
Who says you can buy a WS? On the other hand, it does look like the Sox bought the 2018 Series with a payroll of $246MM. Honestly, though, you can’t outright buy a WS; all you can do is buy better odds.
The last two WS winners had 200M AAV luxury tax payrolls.. Cubs may have also or been close in 2016.
The Cubs were over the CBT Threshold in 2016.
Really Mo??? Their once top rated farm gave them virtually entire lineup and all the tools to acquire every key player needed but Price via trade
1b: Moreland , Pearce-Traded for
2b_Pedroia Drafted, Holt-Traded, Kinsler-Traded
ss_Bogaerts-Drafted
3b-Devers-Draft
Of: Betts, Bradley, Benintendi-all drafted
c=Vazquez-Drafted
SP: Sale-Trade, Rodriguez-Trade, Eovaldi-Trade, Porcello-Trade, Price FA(THE ONLY ONE)
RP-Kimbrel-Trade
Kelly-Trade
It depends how you view the narrative.
The money helped absorb some reckless FA deals that bloated payroll, but didn’t actually go towards the roster that won the series.
Money also basically bought moncada, without which there wouldn’t be a sale.
However, had there NOT been money, then you probably would’ve seen some prospects used to clear the books of bad contracts the way smaller market teams are apt to do.
So really, I view the 2018 team as something different than the days of mercenary teams built predominantly of free agents. To me, THOSE are “buying” a championship. I also think the days of those teams are probably gone and over with much to the chagrin of the mlbpa
Obviously missing J.D.Martinez on your list is pretty big. Red Sox had over 100 million spent to free agents in 2018 and outspent the next highest team in total payroll (Giants) by almost 30 million. Of course money spent on Hanley and Pablo count towards this. The money spent does not buy championships (see Red Sox in 2019) but it does ease the impact of bad deals and allows for a wider range of mistakes to be made.
Biggest payroll in history, Butch779988/AltSoxFan. Biggest payroll in history. Can you say Evil Empire? Spin, spin, spin,,,
Butch, you cannot just say homegrown and leave it at that. How many of those players got massive arbitration raises that the Red Sox could afford with their high payroll that small market teams could not? I’m not arguing either side, but there’s a lot more that goes into it than just which free agents they brought.
Actually the Yankees are not close to the highest payroll in history. That honor goes to the 2015 Dodgers, followed by the 2016 and 2017 Dodgers. The evil empire Yankees years, they certainly spent the most in the league but not as much as the 2018 Red Sox.
the 2017 Astros. yes they had a home-grown core, but they spent heavily in Free Agency prior to that year.
Yeah totally bought it with those …. 7 home grown position players in the lineup.
Biggest payroll in history, dynamite. You’re right, they bought it…
“Buying a championship” seems to have double meanings, depending on who is doing the talking. If they dislike a team that spent big and won, it’s proof that they bought the championship. If they spend big and lose, it’s proof that you can’t buy a championship. Reality is a little more complicated. Baseball is a game of probabilities, so you can only buy a better chance to win, and as we should know from watching the game, the teams that spend more for better chances win more often.
Why does the tax limit only increase by $2 million per year. That’s trivial compared to the increasing salary demands.
Because the owners want to impose a ceiling on their spending. This way they get to claim they have to stay under a tax limit which is an ever decreasing percentage of revenue, which will always grow at a faster rate. This is a perfect example of how rich people take, not earn, what they make.
I’m fairly certain the point of the tax limit isn’t to get teams to spend right up to it. You’d be better off asking why your team is spending money so ineffectively.
Because the players have a bad head of the union who was more focused on making the qualified offer punishment less severe.
How much is each teams share of the MLB TV Contact?
The Rays payroll last year was roughly $100 M.
If the Rays wanted to spend $208 M, perhaps put a more fan friendly group of
Recognized Names on the field they might attract more fans to the Trop and a
larger Local TV contract generating over $7 Billion.( *Dodger Contract Locally).
low increases in the Luxury Tax protect the Rays, Marlins, O’s at the expense of
the Nats, RSox, Cubs, Yankees, Astros and Dodgers. If the RSox exceed $208 M
this year they will be taxed @ * 100% for every $ over $208 M.
The fans expect teams to put the best players they can on the field..
*****************************************
*The estimates are my understanding–I may be wrong.
@madmc44
Try a paragraph or two. Leave some space on the screen for others…
@Kayrall
Great question for Tony Clark! I hope the players are asking him the same thing
Yes, it’s a rate of less than one percent a year, which as we know, is close to the rate of revenue growth in baseball. Not.
Bingo.
I hate salary caps. Let the free market rule.
Yeah nothing says free market ruling like breaking Spring Training knowing 60% of the league doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of winning it all.
A solid salary cap works in every other league and the well run organizations will still be successful. But they need a salary floor so these AAAA teams quit pocketing all of the revenue sharing and don’t put anything into the on field product.
Well said Hammer. This sport needs a hard cap, and hard floor.
Thats not what would happen with a hard floor.
A hard floor would result in teams who want to tank buying bad contracts packaged with prospects so that they still get premium drafting, except also getting extra prospects for absorbing bad deals.
It also won’t make contenders spend more freely because even though you’d have a market to unload a bad contract, it’ll cost you prospects to do it.
Net outcome? DFA money just becomes traded money instead. Not a solution to anything
Gaming the system can be prohibited by the rules. The method of calculating the CBT already provides for some of that and the rules could also prevent teams from doing what you describe to work around a spending floor. It could become a solution to revenue inequities if the team owners wanted it to be one.
Yeah nothing says free market ruling like breaking Spring Training knowing 60% of the league doesn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of winning it all.
——————————————————————————
At the trade deadline, 60% of the teams were still in the running for the playoffs.
Past that, I agree, we need a hard cap and a hard floor. Now you just have to convince the players.
Of course last year it was supposed to be one of the seven superteams.
Then three of them didn’t even make the playoffs.
I hate salary caps. Let the free market rule.
————————————————-
A truly free market means no unions. Try running that by the players.
A truly free market means no antitrust exemption for baseball.
Which they have. Trying running that past the owners.
Lock them out until they come to the table.
I don’t think its unrealistic for the Phillies to go over it this year. What I love about my favorite team is that they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win and they have an owner who isn’t scared to shell out massive contracts. I can see them signing Rendon, Wheeler, Hamels, Frazier, Cishek and trading for either Mookie Betts or Kris Bryant.
they wolnt be willing to trade Medina, Howard, or Bohm. they arent getting either Bryant or Betts. and I dont imagine they will be as crazy this offseason as far as FA contracts go.
I don’t think they’d be overly reluctant to trade Medina.and if they take on a contract like Darvish or Eovaldi they have a better chance to acquire a superstar
How did the cubs exceed it. They had “no money” to spend. Luckily this winter is different with 55mil to work with After arbitration contracts
i mean being up against the tax ceiling does generally suggest having little to work with.
They weren’t up against any tax ceiling tom Ricketts refused to spend his fathers money.
John Ricketts the Founder of TD Ameritrade his company is worth 8 billion dollars and he refuses give tom Ricketts money who let’s theo and jed spend it.
There is no reason to refuse and claim they dont have money to spend..their tv network alone is worth over a billion dollars. Yet he refuses to spend money and has claimed the last two years they were broke.
Wonderful. More reason for these teams to cut payroll and not spend.
Managing the budget, while also fielding a competitive, sustainable team, is apart of the job. Cashman with the Yankees made a huge error Trading for Stanton. All the old contracts were off the books, from the previous era, of the A-Rod’s and etc, and he goes and makes a same type of detrimental move that derails their ability to add key players. Yankees needed game changing pitching, not a guy worth 300 million, or however many hundreds of millions he’s owed, when they had young controllable talent in that lineup.. Cashman just had to add the “big fish”, bad, impatience, move.
Red Sox on the other hand, even though they won the world series, flat out paid everybody.. Which you simply can’t do.
Still… For the amount of money these clubs are taking in, and for having a World Series championship to show for it, after pummeling the luxury barrier two years in a row, the Red Sox penalty is $12M-ish. To hear these guys wail and complain about the luxury tax, you’d think they were paying five bucks for every dollar over the line that was spent. A $12M penalty on a $240M payroll is 5%…
With the money being tossed around and with how valuable a championship is, a 5% penalty is a comparatively small cost of doing business. I’m gonna guess that World Series run that Boston made was worth WAY more to the bottom line than $12M.
I agree with you on that.. but it still limits their ability to add on salary in moves. Now the Red Sox may end up trading one of the best players in the game in Betts. Yankees will end up in the same hole they were from the previous era if they add on another Cole, or Strausburgh contract. They are hamstrung.. But like you said, at least the Red Sox have a world series to show for it. I don’t know, to me, just because you’re a large market team, doesn’t mean you should max out your payroll flexibility.
Mario93, a well thought out reply. I do wonder how much Betts’ being adamant about testing the free agent market has factored into the Sox considering/needing to trade him. No idea if any offers were made at any point in time, but I’d love to hear what the Sox think he’s worth, ie what they’d be willing to pony up to keep the guy in town pretty much for the duration of his career.
Hubcap, you need to leave. Intelligent and civil posts have no place here.
I don’t think it’s the couple million in tax payment that was the problem.
It’s the dropping draft position and lower slot bonus value, loss of extra picks for signing QO FAs, loss of intl bonus money for signing QO FAs,and vastly inferior compensation for issuing QOs that would be more of the issue.
@AltSoxFan
Nice summary. And this is why, despite the $208 is “a goal, not a mandate” comment, Sox fans should expect the Sox to dive down to or close to $208, so at least it’s within reach next year. They HAVE to get there.
I think (and this is pure speculation/opinion on my part) that the Yankees saw a chance to acquire a reigning MVP for pennies on the dollar, and decided to pull the trigger instead of getting into a potential bidding war for Bryce Harper the following offseason. They bowed out of the Harper sweepstakes way before they could ever really entertain getting involved, and it was probably due to financial reasons. Don’t forget, there was a potential price tag of $400m + being floated around for Harper, and the Yankees got Stanton for an average of $22m/yr (luxury tax purposes). The Marlins are kicking in $30m to the Yankees as part of the trade for Stanton, so the Yankees picked up the remaining 10yrs and $255m of Stanton’s contract (not including a $25m club option/$10m buyout for 2028) in real money. They probably didn’t see such a difference in age/production/future projected production to justify what could be, at the time, a $150m difference between Stanton and Harper.
Who are the teams receiving this welfare money and what do they spend it on for “competitive balance”?
It might help the RSox to trade Betts and his $27 M for Pederson and his $8.5.
The Dodgers need a solid RH bat and the Sox need a bat for a year to take his place.
Another option might be to trade Mookie & BradleyJr. and sign Kole Calhoon and/or Nick Castellanos.
So the Sox paid an extra 12M to play this year. (1) We don’t know how much of that 12M came back via NESN ad revenue, Red Sox Nation, etc. and (2) we don’t know how much the value of the franchise increased because they had yet another year of sustainable revenue growth.
You can argue HOW they spent the money; you can’t argue the willingness TO spend the money. And actually, from a purely business point of view, spending that money might have been viewed as necessary.
The store owner who shuts his light off at night because the electric bill is too high isn’t going to be a store owner for long.
As Eric Byrne said today on MLB, “You ain’t in Tampa anymore, Chaim (Bloom). Nobody’s sending you a check to stay open”.
It’s not just the 12m. I don’t understand why so many can’t understand the simple facts of the newer penalties for continual going over the cap.. last year the Sox went down 10 slots in the draft and effectively.. Ended up with a 2nd round pick by getting the #43 overall as their “1st” round pick.. That’s huge. Picking that low with a 1st round selection is rare to get a big hit and it hurt, especially when the guy they took (Cameron Cannon) IMO wasn’t even a decent selection and was taken because would sign for well under slot value (he did)
No penalty? Believe they can get a much better selection. this new CBA is tilted too far towards so called “small market” teams with freebie comp picks and handfuls of money for nothing which it seems they just pocket. meanwhile, the larger market teams, which national audiences tune into and ratings prove that out are the ones severely penalized. This is wrong all the way around.
Yeah I don’t think you can shed tears for big market teams. And I say this as a Yankee fan. Competitive Balance is intended to create…competitive balance.
Hey Bo-and the Sox played so well this year. Off the high horse. The issue is the next 4-5 years. Suckers signed the dumb Price deal and followed up with the stupid contract for Sale.
Now they can’t afford JD and Betts. May need to trade good parts Benentendi? to take on the contracts.
So Bob-rationalize away. This was year one of boring September baseball. Get used to it.
We will check in with you when the arrogance burns off. It’s a matter of time as you stew.
Haha
Oh ya, a team with Boegarts/Devers/JD/ and Benintendi, with a pitching staff that might be healthy, is going to lose 100 games….add in whatever Betts brings back, and they’re in the hunt (all that counts).
The Jays are a couple of years off, the O’s more, the Rays are almost guaranteed to shed payroll (because, unlike their big market brethren, that’s the ONLY way for them to make money).
No one’s crying for the big market teams, but the current system, which I truly expect will undergo some HUGE revisions with the new CBA, punishes the very teams that make their poorer relations more financially viable.
Let them underrate us. It feels like the RS are going to be the only team ever to not have an injured SP return.
Does anyone know how the additional player, the 26th player that each team is carrying will factor into this. Common sense says the limits should be increased.
I’ve been thinking about this for a little bit now as well. I’m a little surprised that when they came to the agreement on a 26th roster spot being added full time, that they didn’t also factor that into the luxury tax figures as well. They should’ve negotiated for even a marginal increase (of $1-$2m or so) on the already established thresholds for 2020 and 2021. They could have replaced the $208m in 2020 and $210m in 2021 with $210m and $212m respectively, in theory that would’ve made at least some sense.
I thought much the same as you. As a practical matter though, I decided that teams will probably use that slot for either a rule 5 type player, or, a rotating door to carry a low salary high upside reliever.
As a practical matter I think the 26th man will be a bigger benefit to NL clubs than AL.
Why? You get one more PH bat. In the AL your bullpen size is limited to a degree by the 3 batter minimum combined with the number of quality relievers you want to keep on the field that long.
I always told myself, stay out of the comments, really stay out of the comments, don’t look, don’t do it, and I always do. Then I remember why I tell myself to stay out of the comments.
Why
The MLB should really consider adopting “competition” requirements for owners. They have owners like Reinsdorf who’ve gone nearly 40 years with just one WS appearance. Obviously the incentives to win aren’t enough motivation for him and others. There should be methods to force them to sell if they’re terrible at running a franchise, and won’t spend a reasonable amount of money.
I totally agree. Bottom dwellers…
Agreed chisoxcity. Tied to a base salary floor it could be worked out and anyway.. Think the Chisox have not done as bad as several other franchises as far as attempting to compete/spend, they just have not been as successful at competing the last handful of seasons and Reinsdorf has shown he does not mind spending. compare that with TB, Pittsburgh and few others can name off. He also targets big names, has before when he had good teams in the past.
I think a team should receive some sort of salary threshold relief on players they drafted and developed.
So if a tax paying team signs a QO free agent they lose more for being in the tax but the team that lost that free agent does not get any more picks/compensation because that team’s former player happened to sign with a tax paying team or does it more compensation?
so the top 3 that will face penalties and all that, none won, or made it to the world series, makes ya think, doesnt it?
Makes you think many things. One is that the Wild Card system kinda nullifies the efforts of those teams that struggle to excel over a 162 game season. Another is that you just can’t outright buy a WS. All you can do is buy better odds.
Remember though: while the Nats weren’t among the top 3, they were only a million or two shy of the tax threshold. So it’s not like they’re like the Rays or something. They’re heavyweights, too.
These cash cow teams should be embarrassed that they pinch pennies, when their total tax is what they pay a fourth starter or a eighth inning guy. Cubs, Yanks, Dodgers, and Red Sox should be spending 300$ million if it puts a better product on the field. The Astros are the best team in the AL because the Yankees letting them. Go spend money! They passed on Corbin and company to save 6-7 million. It’s a joke!
Did you bother reading any of the posts above regarding draft/IFA penalties, understand that MLB teams basically are built from within thru a team’s minor league system and how important that is? going over the cap forces a team to drop *10* spots down on the 1st round and lose approximately 20% (2019 rate), or 1m in IFA allotted cash. It’s not like can spend as much as want on amateur talent any longer.. THIS is a more severe penalty than the tax figure, yet it seems over half the people who post here can’t get it thru their tiny heads!!!
I don’t care much over whether the bigger market teams are just over the CBT or just under it. I do care about the tanking–especially multi-year tanking. Teams in the 3rd year of their swoon shouldn’t be winning 54 games (Baltimore) or 47 games (Det). Miami hasn’t played .500 since 2009. There’s a gigantic amount of money sloshing around baseball, the cost to go to a game is always increasing, the taxpayers are handing out free cash, and teams continue to go into multi-year spirals. Fans want to see good baseball–and they should be able to at least know their team is trying to play good baseball.
Well said.
Agreed
So sick of the “Small Market” term. It is BS. Name one team that does not have a million people or more with 60 minutes of the stadium? If people are not supporting the team, either your team sucks, your promotional team sucks, or your fans suck. If you can not get 30000 into the seats, you all suck.
Wrong on every level. But too tedious to unpack it…
The owners suck. Business people are generally awful at running enterprises they don’t understand. They’re more concerned about pinching pennies than they are about the product on the field.
You think all teams have the same kind of revenue streams… yeah, okay
Teams like the Yankees and other notables should be embarrassed imo. Every single year, They are at the very top of payroll, spending exorbitant amounts of money on players. However, this clear advantage these teams have on the rest of the league every year simply isn’t matching up in the wins/pennants wins/WS appearances-wins column. Like I said, it’s actually embarrassing. When a team has TWO and sometimes THREE times more money to spend on players than other teams in their league/division, they should be winning and having success at a MUCH HIGHER rate than they actually are.
This is the problem with Major league baseball, but it probably won’t ever change because the owners make way too much money to vote to make a change. I think the last vote they had, every team but the Rays voted to continue the current workings ofthe league. Other major professional sports have a salary cap in place, and it works. I think it could very well work, but again, the owners must vote to change it. 🙁
If the MLB and MLBPA would do something besides screech at each other all the time, they could come up with a cap/floor system in which everybody wins.
Amen brother you have seen the “financial light”. Tampa had more wins than Boston in 2019 with 25% of the payroll. That’s why Dombrowski is gone and Chaim replaced him. Anybody that saw Moneyball knows that but somehow it sinks in to only a few?
Texas, Washington and Florida all have no state income tax thus allowing teams in those states to generally pay a player of equal talent less money. But there is no adjustment in the $208 MM CBT number for those states. Why?
For Red Sox fans let’s look at 3 players Pedroia, JBJ and Holt. Most would agree a healthy Pedroia at $13 MM is a better value than JBJ at $11 MM and most would agree Holt at $4 MM is a bargain relative to JBJ.
So why is the arbiter saying JBJ is worth $11 MM? JBJ is likely being forced to be non tendered by the Red Sox by “an arbiter”. It’s not fair to the team or the player. I can see how lower payroll teams would want to see an arbiter overvalue a player so that they could have a crack at getting that player for a fraction of the arbiter’s valuation after that player is non tendered.
Does anyone report on and scrutinize these “arbiters”?
So consider this. If JBJ gets non tendered and gets only $5MM from another team and Betts gets $28MM and or Brock Holt gets only $4MM is Betts really ‘worth’ 7 Holt’s or 5 JBJ’s for the next 7-10 years? Just ask the team that owns Miguel Cabrera. Yet another Dombrowski contract. LOL
Maybe, since Betts is on a HOF track, but I see what you’re saying.
BTW, I think it was Mike Ilitch who masterminded the Miggy extension just as Dombrowski was ordered by Huizenga to undergo the first fire sale of the Marlins. Though I also know DD’s MO was to go big on free agents and trade prospects for vets, you can’t deny his success.
It’s funny how the Nats appeared to be a “team” and now their 2 best players Strassberg and Rendon are parlaying that “team” victory into huge money. But I suppose the other players must feel a humbleness that they were acorns under the mighty oaks. Don’t you think? I mean wouldn’t you feel honored and humbled to tell your grandchildren you sucked but you played with baseball royalty?