Player contracts in Major League Baseball are out of hand. This weekend the Washington Nationals signed pitcher Max Scherzer to a $210 million, 7 year contract. He also received a $50 million signing bonus. Going into the 2015 baseball season, the highest paid players are Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, and Cliff Lee. Clayton Kershaw’s base salary is $30 million, Justin Valander $28 Million, and Cliff Lee $25 million. The highest paid position player is Ryan Howard who will be paid $25 million this year. The biggest problem with baseball is that there is no salary cap. Every other major sport has a salary cap to level the playing field.
The 2015 Major League Baseball season isn’t far off. The Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest payroll. Their total is $244,250,000. The team with the lowest payroll is the Miami Marlins with a total of $54,725,000. That is a difference of $189,525,000. There is a big gap between the top spending team and the lowest spending team. It’s harder for a team like Miami to sign free agents. It’s easier for the Dodgers since they choose to spend more. Other sports have fixed this problem with a salary cap.
In the NBA, the salary cap for this year is $63.065 million. Teams can spend up to $76.829 million. This is the luxury tax amount. If a team’s salary is over $76.829 million, the owner must write a check for each dollar over that amount.
The NHL salary cap is set at $69 million this hockey season. Teams aren’t allowed to spend more than that. The floor cap, which is how much you must spend, is at $51 million. There is only an $18 million difference between the highest paid teams in the league and the lowest. With this cap, teams can sign free agents.
One of the most popular sports to watch on television, the NFL, has a salary cap. The salary cap is at $133 million. Teams can’t go over this amount. Each team theoretically has an equal chance of signing players since the cap is the same for each team.
Baseball teams can choose to spend their money however they want. A salary cap for every team would give each team a chance at winning the World Series. The lowest spending teams such as the Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, and San Diego Padres would have the same opportunity of signing a quality player on their team as the highest spending teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox. It’s time for baseball to look at a salary cap. Each team deserves the opportunity to go to the postseason. We may have a different World Series champion each year if this happens.
How should the salary cap be imposed in Major League Baseball?
Leave a Reply