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The World Series of Wage Supremacy

11.05.09 12:32 pm by Pat

Before the 2009 Major League playoffs officially started, I was listening to ESPN Radio and Bud Selig was being interviewed on the Mike and Mike in the Morning show about the season and the upcoming post-season action. At one point he was asked about a salary cap as well as an international draft to prevent the inevitable bidding war that takes place between Boston and New York on the top international prospects. He was all in favor of the international draft which would allow all teams a shot at those players. He, however, was still opposed to a salary cap and said that it was not necessary to keep the league competitive and pointed out that since 2000, 23 of the 30 MLB teams have made a post-season appearance. A few weeks later on ESPN Radio I heard Colin Cowherd go on a rant on how a salary cap won’t help MLB and how more money just leads to more problems. Colin lost me somewhere between comparing team spending to income levels for families and how teams (if a salary cap were put in place) would just spend the money on scouting, coaching, facilities, etc. I could go on all day on how much I disagree with the sentiments of both Bud and Colin, but that isn’t the point of this article. I have always been a believer in leveling the playing field in professional sports and think that spending limits are needed to keep “small market” teams competitive. Hearing the stat about 23 out of 30 from Bud made me think about my stance on the salary cap. I decided that I needed to do a little more investigation into the numbers behind it to help support, or perhaps debunk, my thoughts on the salary cap and MLB.

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