"Bail Out the Small Market Teams"

The following is an article I wrote for school (the original format was not in orange): 

Bail Out the Small Market Teams

After many years of a system that supports grossly over paid stars and gives large market teams an advantage during free agency, it has become necessary for Major League Baseball to create a salary cap. As of late, a few teams such as the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics, and Washington Nationals have been at the bottom of the league’s payroll list and as a result, they have not shown that they can be competitive on a consistent basis. It has been argued that the money of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (as well as other high payroll teams) gives them a considerable advantage over small market teams due to their ability to spend large sums of money on the league’s best players. Meanwhile, small market teams aren’t financially capable of matching them. A salary cap shouldn’t be overlooked because if teams with small payrolls are incapable of fielding teams that can compete with those of teams with high payrolls, then why bother keeping everyone in the same league? A team with a small payroll is only able to sign players of a certain talent level, and when there is a poor free agent pool, most of the top-flight players are grabbed by the teams with the most money.

As of last year, the MLB minimum player salary was $390,000. The Florida Marlins’ average player salary in 2008 was less than twice the league minimum ($661,712). Small market teams like the Marlins and Rays have had to develop strong farm systems because they are unable to afford big-ticket free agents. Both of these Florida based teams have been successful in raising and acquiring top prospects however, it has become a pattern for many small market teams to raise the league’s talent and large market teams to buy it up when player price tags inflate. The current system is cruel because it often prevents small market teams from holding onto their talented home grown players due to their inability to match the massive offers of large market teams. Therefore, small market teams must choose between trading their stars away for new prospects or letting them hit free agency, where they will ultimately be signed by a large market team. The system is cruel and doesn’t allow small market teams to remain competitive for long stretches.

The Tampa Bay Rays were a huge surprise last year when they won the highly competitive AL East and made it all the way to the World Series. However, due to the absence of a salary cap, in a few years, when the young studs that made it to the ’08 World Series with the Rays hit free agency, Tampa Bay may cease to compete with the league’s top dogs. When it comes down to where a player goes, it usually has very little to do with anything but the money. Because money is so much of a factor in where players go, large market teams tend to drag in all of the big names.

When Cleveland Indians starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia had a breakout year in 2007, it became apparent that his team would be unable to resign him in 2008 when his contract expired. The question became whether to keep an ace as a bright spot on a bad team or trade him away for prospects. The latter option prevailed and Sabathia was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers for four players including the 7^th pick from the 2007 MLB Draft, outfielder Matt LaPorta. After exploding in the National League with the Brewers, everyone knew a large market team would pick up Sabathia when the season concluded. Knowing this, Milwaukee milked him for all he was worth. After barely making the playoffs, the Brewers were quickly eliminated in the NLDS by the Phillies, ending their hopes of a playoff run along with the probability that Sabathia would ever take the mound for them again. Heading into the off-season, teams tried to make a run at Sabathia, but they were trumped by the New York Yankees’ record setting price of $161 million (for seven years). A salary cap could potentially prevent this problem because it would limit how much money a team can afford to offer a single player.

Small market teams often have All-Star players that they want to keep as cornerstones of their franchise but can’t afford to. Those players tend to bounce around the league until they hit free agency, like Mark Teixeira. In his fifth season with the Texas Rangers in 2007, the organization realized they could no longer afford him, so Texas struck a deal with the Atlanta Braves in which they received four prospects along with catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Despite this trade, Teixeira didn’t stay put in Atlanta and by the end of ’08, he went west to the Angels. Although you would expect a large market team in Los Angeles to lock up Teixeira, especially after he hit .358 for them with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs, LA was unable to due to a long list of players with hefty contracts. During the off-season, Teixeira went up for sale and multiple teams made a bid but were outdone by the Yankees’ offer of 8 years and $180 million. New York wrapped up Teixeira with Sabathia and top notch starting pitcher, A.J. Burnett ($82.5 million contract).

Contrary to what the MLB may think, the luxury tax, a tax placed on teams for the amount of money by which they exceed their payroll, isn’t preventing big spenders like the Yankees from fishing around. The tax is an after thought for a team that can dish out an insane $423.5 million on just three free agents in one off-season. With the Yankees’ off-season spending spree, you could pay for more than the 2008 bottom nine teams’ payrolls (over 230 single-season player contracts). If some clubs can spend unmatchable sums of money on top tier players, how can small market teams stay competitive?

Although 20 different teams have one of the last 29 World Series titles, you can’t account for teams that over and under perform regardless of payroll. For example, the 1989 Oakland A’s had a very strong roster even though the A’s are a small market team. Since then, times have changed and player salaries are increasing, so the number of different World Series champions in the past two to three decades should not factor into a salary cap factor. There has yet to be solid evidence proving small market teams have been able to compete at consistently high levels in recent years and back when the A’s and Reds were winning the World Series 20 some odd years ago, money wasn’t what it is now. 

With huge pools of talented young players spread all throughout the league this season, it’s a shame to think many of them may end up confined on a few select teams some day. Over the top large market spending is clearly a disadvantage for small market teams. If MLB Commissioner Bud Selig wants to ensure that his league remains competitive and profitable for all of its organizations, he should give great consideration to a salary cap to level off team spending, prevent teams from monopolizing the sport, and give hope to small market teams that desire to be competitive.