Should baseball have a salary cap?
February 11, 2009
By Michael Omenazu
Sports Writer
Usually when teams win titles their accomplishments are followed by the cliché “Defense wins championships.” With recent financial transactions (especially in light of current economic circumstances) this saying will change and defense will be replaced by money. An example is evident in the New York Yankees who have spent close to a half-billion dollars in free agent signings, causing many to believe that their deep pockets and wallets will result in a deep playoff run and World Series championship.
The Yankees are one of sports’ most recognizable franchises and are equally as decorated. In 39 trips, they have won 26 times, which includes a dynasty of 4 titles between 1996 and 2000, and two World Series appearances in 2001 and 2003. Some of baseball’s greatest and most famous players (ex. Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio) have donned the pinstripes.
The organization prides itself upon winning and recently has operated under the philosophy of spending big money on acquiring free agents rather than building a strong minor league system of young prospects. This approach has widely been criticized as their payroll at times has exceeded $200 million. Some individual players have single season payouts that are larger than some entire team’s payrolls.
This off-season New York continued their financial trend by adding arguably the top free agent pitcher and hitter. C.C Sabathia, former Cy Young winner, was traded midseason to the Milwaukee Brewers and carried the franchise to its first playoff berth in over 25 years. Sabathia’s contract raised the free agency bar for pitchers as he signed for $161 million. Mark Teixeira, a switch hitting, gold-glove defensive first baseman for 8 years and $180 million.
Teixeira contract per year is close to the total Florida Marlins’ payroll. Marlins’ general manager, David Samson criticized New York in the Palm Beach Post by stating that, “"I very much feel like the producer of an independent film trying to compete with a big-budget studio blockbuster…that's hard. The only way to do it is to have a low-budget film that is actually good that people will watch. We are very much like Juno going up against The Dark Knight.''
Samson’s sentiments are shared by many others who have cried out for a salary cap to limit the amount a team can spend and thus even the playing field. There are currently restrictions as teams who spend over a specific amount are charged a luxury tax which is spread out and shared on other teams.
However, looking at the lists of champions in leagues with a salary cap, research actually suggests such a restriction results in the creation of dynasties. The NBA has only had seven champions in about the last thirty years with two teams only winning once (Heat and 76ers). These runs have included the Bulls winning six titles in the nineties separated by back-to-back wins by the Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers winning in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
The NFL has had a dynasty in each decade including the Steelers in the seventies, Niners in the eighties, Cowboys in the nineties, and Patriots to start off this century.
While a salary cap limits how much money a team can spend and evens out the field financially, thus theoretically evenly distributing the amount of teams winning titles, it actually creates dominant franchises, contrary to popular belief.
