Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Salary Cap in Baseball: Part II

Based on numbers from the USA Today, it is evident that there is a link between a team's payroll and their success (see Salary Cap in Baseball).  The higher the team's payroll, the more games the team will win.  This is no surprise, because, with a higher payroll, a team will have better players.  However, small market teams are unable to afford these payrolls and cannot compete with large market teams.  Consequently, baseball should implement a salary cap to even the playing field.  

A salary cap would prevent large market teams from dominating free agency.  With a salary cap, small market teams would be able to pay free agents, because there would be a limit on spending.  Therefore, larger teams would not be able to constantly outbid them.

Furthermore, small market teams would be able to re-sign their players, instead of losing them.  In the current system, players will grow up in a small market team's farm system and become stars in the majors.  They stay with the team for a few years, because they are under contract.  However, once they are free agents, they leave on the first flight out and the small market team cannot afford to replace them.

If small market teams are able to sign free agents, then they will become better.  At the same time, this means that the larger teams are not getting all of the stars, so the gap between the teams will narrow.

Ultimately, a salary cap would give small market teams a chance and would lead to a more competitive league.

Please feel free to leave your comments!

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