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In the past two years, we have seen lockouts in 3 of the 4 major sports in the United States.
One of the major issues in the lockouts for the NFL, NBA and NHL was how the salary cap would be implemented. It affects not only how much money the players can make each season, but also the length of their contracts.
Major League Baseball has avoided all of these issues in their collective bargaining agreement negotiations simply because the league does not have a salary cap. In other words, there are no restrictions for how much and for how long a player can be signed, a rule that should no longer be in place.
New York Yankees star third baseman, Alex Rodriguez, signed a 10-year, $275 million contract in 2008, the largest professional sports contract of all time. With his yearly salary of more than $27 million, he is making nearly $170,000 per game or $59,000 per at bat.
Even though he was regarded as the best player in baseball at the time, he is now a burden for the Yankees, who are trying to rid themselves of the remaining $100 million they owe him. Many other teams, such as the Chicago Cubs, find themselves stuck with large contracts that do not reflect the players’ abilities.
While the markets have expanded and there is much more money in baseball today, that does not necessarily mean these players are worthy of eight-and nine-figure contracts.
This is one of many arguments for why the MLB is long overdue for a salary cap. Many teams in the past decade have signed players to long and extremely lucrative deals and then find they don’t live up to expectations. With a salary cap in place, teams would be less likely to make deals like this because a salary cap would require every team to spend a certain amount of money, but without going over the cap.
A salary cap would also benefit the MLB because it will level the playing field as far as competition across the league.
Teams with the most money such as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels can easily outmatch the small market teams such as the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins, clubs that have all lost many of their better players to teams that can afford to overpay.
Fortunately there is a solution for the small market teams. Mathematical genius and baseball fanatic, Bill James, created an algorithm that takes multiple statistics to show the true worth of a player.
The basic premises of sabermetrics is to evaluate a few key statistics such as on base percentage plus slugging percentage (OPS), adjusted OPS and wins above replacement (WAR).
OPS calculates how often a player gets on base and how much power he has compared to other players. Adjusted OPS incorporates how well the player would likely perform at the team’s home stadium. This is important because some ballparks are pitcher-friendly while others are hitter-friendly.
The last major statistic, WAR, takes numerous statistics to predict how many more wins one player would give a team than another.
Sabermetrics have been used in the MLB for the past 10 years and was originally made famous by Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane. Michael Lewis’ popular book, “Moneyball,” about Beane and the A’s was eventually adapted for the big screen.
After the 2001 season, the A’s lost three of their best players who signed for more money than Oakland could offer. With a budget of under $40 million, Beane’s use of sabermetrics proved successful and the team tied with the Yankees’ $126 million roster for the best record in baseball.
However, just because sabermetrics has worked in the past does not mean that teams should be forced to live or die by it to be successful.
The salary cap is essential for the MLB because it will level the playing field for all teams and their ability to keep their best players from leaving for huge contracts. It would also spread the superstars across the country, which would likely increase the league’s popularity.
Team salaries have been the reason for success, as well as failure. Most years, the teams with the highest salaries are near the top of the standings, while the teams at the bottom normally have lower salaries.
Over the last 10 seasons, just three teams have won the World Series with a payroll of under $100 million. Money buys success in baseball and it is time for a change.