Topic #1 for the Day...

It's day 2 in my world, and again, I welcome you to the Razzmission. It's my day off and I am still motivated to work on this, so a bunch of topics are being handed down.

As suggested by Adam Barelski, the salaray cap in baseball is the topic. None currently exists but there is a luxury tax for those millions spent above $136.5 million a year (2006). Well, only one team has been affected by that and obviously it means nothing in revenue terms, so it is largely useless. A salary cap, much like those in hockey, football, and basketball, would not only help control salaries but also would help even out the game. In a report yesterday on ESPN Radio, of the top 12 "big names" in baseball, 9 are in boston or new york. Is that good for the game? Is it good that smaller-market teams simply cannot compete with those with huge financial backers? Obviously, a good owner is willing to spend money but it also takes a major metropolis to balance a budget within a team. Some teams are just good and some are bad. The Marlins and Twins, never known for high payroll, have been competitive to good for several years. The Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates are hopeless regardless of how much money is spent. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels are some of the biggest spenders in the game and not surprisingly, they also have large cities to back them up. Is there hope for the little guys like Cincinatti, Baltimore, Oakland, or Milwaukee? The Brewers represent the perfect example of the need for a salary cap: last week they were "forced" to trade their biggest star, Carlos Lee, to the Texas Rangers due to the upcoming end of his contract and, obviously, the Brewers' inability to resign him simply becuase there is no way to compete in a bidding war with the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and even Mets. So, despite still being a contender in the NL Wild Card Race, Milwaukee had to deal him in an attempt to get something for him.

Currently, there are 5 players on the Yankees who make more money than the entire roster of the Florida Marlins. Obviously, extreme examples, but this is absurd. The aforementioned luxury tax is set at $136 million, yet only 1 team (the Yankees) has even broken $121 million. Thus, the salary cap. The league average for salary is $97 million, despite only 6 teams lying above that threshold (this proves how outrageous the Yankee salaries are). Therefore, a proposed salary cap of $90 million. Teams still have enough money to fire at the biggest name stars and do not need to worry about outrageous bidding wars. The Red Sox have 20 players making over $1 million; the Marlins have 2. The Yankees have 11 players raking in over $10 million this season; the next highest total in the league? 3. It is impossible for teams without unlimited funds to bid on such players. Instead, they have to build teams from farm systems and invest in the best players, not every player. To prove my point, the Yankees have over $50 million currently on the disabled list. 6 teams dont have that on an entire roster, not so coincidentally, these teams are the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, and Milwaukee Brewers. Not so coincidentally, these are all small-market teams. There have been TWO winning season among those teams for the last 5 years. How is this considered fair?

As mentioned, a salary cap will help balance this and, although some teams will always be more willing to spend more money on their teams than others (Steinbrenner will always invest more than Peter Angelos of the Orioles, the worst owner in sports). However, this will detract from certain teams hoarding all above-average players. Hell, even the Mets do it. In two off-seasons under Omar Minaya, the Mets have brought in Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Billy Wagner, Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Delgado, who, in their combined 7 years of service to the Mets, there have been 5 All-Star appearances. How do the Devil Rays combat that? The only thing these small teams can do is draft well and hope to hold onto players long enough for them to develop before they are due for a new contract. Baseball no longer is about scouting, investment and strategy, its about the Yanks and the Sox fighting for the best talent by throwing the most money at them. Yes, the Marlins, White Sox, Angels, and Diamondbacks have all won World Series recently. Yes, the Giants, Astros, and Cardinals have made it to the Series in recent memory. But how many of these teams are consistent playoff teams? How many seasons can a team sustain itself before losing talent to the Yanks and Sox? Who can lose $55 million to the DL and still lead a division?

A salary cap is a necessity in baseball to save the other 28 franchises in the league not named the Yankees and Red Sox.