This week has been the first big action that the world of baseball has seen since the World Series ended in October. Which, for the record, was one of the best World Series contests I have seen in my life. Both teams wanted it badly and earned everything they achieved.
The action has revolved around the annual Winter Meetings for Major League Baseball, which are typically held around the second week of December, 2 months after the season has concluded. The
meetings give General Managers and Owners of teams to speak with agents and the players that they represent, with the hope of signing a free agent or negotiating a trade to help the ballclub. Along with various MLB personnel, reporters of the major media outlets are also invited to attempt to keep track of everything that is going on.
With that out of the way, I will now begin the actual rant. As you probably know, the big free agents this offseason are A.J. Burnett, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and Francisco Rodriguez (to be known from this point on as KRod).
Before the season even ended, the baseball world was anticipating the circus that was about to happen when these players became available. As always, we knew that Boston, New York, and LA would be the big teams going after these players. They are the biggest markets in the country, and therefore have the most money. This money COULD go toward things like making ticket prices cheaper for fans or stadium upgrades. Nope, not quite.
Instead, what we are witnessing is a dramatic overspending for players that are good, but not worth the money they are being paid. In fact, NO ONE is worth that amount of money. So far, the Yankees have been the biggest greedy bastards, because they have offered the most lucrative deals. Other teams have also gotten into the mix, but most of them are focusing on one particular free agent, such as the Washington Nationals with Mark Teixeira. The Yankees offered 3 of those 4 free agents deals that averaged $20 million per year! Yes you read that right. In comparison, the average salary for an Orioles player is just below $2 million/year. Not bad. The average salary for a Yankees player before this offseason? $7 million/year. Neither team made the playoffs. But we'll get to that. Here are some stats to wrap your head around:
2008 Winter Meetings Free Agent Signings
C.C. Sabathia: Signed by the Yankees at 7yrs/$161 million
A.J. Burnett: Agreed to sign with the Yankees at 5yrs/$85 million
Mark Teixeira: Unsigned so far. Current offers:
Yankees - Believed to be 8yrs/$160 million
Red Sox - Believed to be 8yrs/$160 million
Orioles - 7yrs/$140 - $150 million
Nationals - 9yrs/$180 million
KRod: Signed by the Mets at 3yrs/$37 million
J.J. Putz: Traded to the Mets for no one worth mentioning
Cezar Izturis (who?): Signed by the Orioles at 2yrs/$6 million
See what I'm getting at?
The 2009 New York Yankees payroll will be somewhere around $200 million. For the year. The next closest team? The Detroit Tigers at $140 million. I know, it's ridiculous.
Therefore, here is my plan: INSTITUTE A SALARY CAP IN BASEBALL
For those that don't know, a salary cap is the amount of money that can be spent on players in a given year. For example, if the salary cap of a team is $90 million and the team is currently paying its players $80 million, they could only afford a contract that will be less than $10 million per year. What this does is limits a team's spending. A team like the New York Yankees would not be able to offer every free agent big money because they would simply not be allowed to. Big players would scatter to lesser teams like the Royals and Pirates, where they can be afforded. This would give those small teams a chance in hell at possibly winning a championship within the next 50 years. By the way, Red Sox fans: I am currently laughing at your expense thanks to the 80-some years it took you to win another championship.
There is already a "luxury tax" in baseball that penalizes teams for going over a certain predetermined figure. That figure has changed, so I'm not entirely sure what it is. The important part is that it's a significant amount that most teams should not hit. Notice I said "most." And what is the penalty for exceeding that limit, you may ask? Paying more money. Ooooooooooh.
The New York Yankees had a payroll last year of $208 million. They paid an estimated $24 million in luxury tax. Look at their current spending in this offseason. Have they learned their lesson? Didn't think so.
The problem here, which baseball has obviously acknowledged since they came up with the luxury tax, is that the Yankees have TOO MUCH money that enables them to spend freely. Making them pay more of that money is not going to hurt them at all.
Oh yeah, for the record: You know that $24 million in luxury tax I just mentioned? Do you remember the amazing year that the Tampa Bay Rays put together? They made it to the World Series, in case you didn't notice. Their total payroll for 2008: $43,820,598. Not even double the amount of money the Yankees paid because their payroll was so high.
Now, I know that this doesn't really help my argument. You could say that we should just let the Yankees spend their asses off and get whoever they want, because it obviously does not work. I mean, they didn't even make the playoffs!
I don't want to watch that happen though. I want to see the Yankees do what they did between the years of 1996 and 2000, when they brought players up through their farm system like Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill, and Tino Martinez. Yes, I hated them just as much as any other Oriole fan, but at least they beat us the right way. They gave those young players a chance to grow in their organization and become World Champions. THAT IS BASEBALL, ladies and gentlemen. Baseball is NOT having a player play really well for a small market team, just so that he can become a free agent and sign the biggest deal in the biggest city (see: Carlos Beltran).
So the idea is simple: set a payroll limit. Let the Yankees have one high paid player and let the Royals have another. And then another can go to the Reds. How about one to the Nationals? Holy crap folks, we might actually see some ballgames instead of watching the Nationals lose 200 games in a season (I am aware that there are only 162 games in a season, this is just how much it hurts to watch them play). Some of these teams are ONE great player away from turning around their franchise. But that's a whole different story that we will get to another time.
That's all for now. Please comment on this and let me know what you think. If you do, I may end up loving you.
I am 10000% agreed. The game is so much more fun when you have homegrown young guys playing their whole careers in one town as well. Not only the 90s Yankees but both the Phils AND the Rays this World Series were almost completely homegrown! The Phils only major signing was Lidge, who was a trade anyway! The Rays biggest free agent? Cliff Floyd? Come on! Baseball NEEDS a salary cap. Not just to make it more fair and equal, but to make it more fun!
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