Potential Mets owner Alex Rodriguez said that the MLB should have a salary cap.
While the NBA, NFL, and NHL have all implemented a salary cap Major League Baseball has resisted implementing such a system. Instead, the MLB has implemented a luxury tax which gives the team’s a reason to not spend over a certain amount of money on player salaries, but it doesn’t stop them from going over the tax.
Rodriguez’s comments come on the heels of his bid to try and buy the New York Mets. Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez’s bid for the team has gotten bloated as they have invited former and current pro athletes to join their bidding group.
This comes shortly after it was revealed that Steve Cohen a Mets minority owner has reentered the bidding after a deal involving Cohen fell apart shortly after the Wilpons announced they were intending to sell the team. Rodriguez and Lopez are recruiting other athletes because Cohen can outbid their group at the current time.
Rodriguez’s comments about a salary cap should raise concerns.
If Rodriguez is struggling to buy the team he might have a problem getting big players to sign with the Mets, or resign current team stars like Pete Alonso.
A salary cap might be Rodriguez’s only way to be a successful owner. Many a fan could see a parallel to Derek Jeter’s ownership of the Miami Marlins. Jeter joined a bidding group that had a lot of money and Jeter became a minority owner, and was named CEO of the team. The Marlins have struggled to spend money since Jeter’s term of CEO began.
Instead of a salary cap baseball needs a salary floor which would be the opposite of a salary cap.
This opinion has been proposed by a lot of MLB writers as a way to create parity in the league.
Teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox among other big market teams spend well above other teams like the Twins, Rangers, and Rays. Now there are teams like the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals that always seem to be in contention, but they are the exception, not the rule.
A salary floor would force teams like the Twins, Rangers, and Rays to have a specific amount in player salary.
A combination of a salary floor with the luxury tax would create an artificial salary cap, but wouldn’t hinder the richer teams from spending as much money as they want as long as they don’t mind paying the luxury tax.
Featured Image: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
