Elephant Rumblings: Salary cap fight may be brewing

MLB news roundup

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

“I’ll take sports economics for $500, Alex.”

“Sports economics it is: They’re blue and white and rolling in $335 million dollars.”

“Boy, sure ain’t Dr. Evil. How about...who are the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers?”

$335 million dollars. That’ll buy a lot of Dodger dogs, and that is the Dodgers’ projected payroll per Cot’s Contracts. Meanwhile, the A’s say they intend to pump their 2025 payroll all the way up to $105 million.

Granted, the A’s deserve their reputation for being cheap. But few teams can keep pace with big market behemoths like the Dodgers and Mets, who are free to spend as much as they please as long as they’re willing to pony up for the luxury tax. And now that top tier free agents like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto have contracts worth in excess of half a billion dollars, it should be no surprise that team payrolls are ballooning to previously unimaginable levels of corpulence.

The NFL, NBA, and NHL all have salary caps—not MLB, though it certainly has been discussed. But Evan Drellich at The Athletic suggests that team owners might be willing to dig in and hold out for a salary cap in 2026, when negotiations on the next Collective Bargaining Agreement with the player’s union will take place.

Major League Baseball is a nightmarish microcosm of wealth inequality, a winner-take-all economy where top stars command obscene levels of compensation while minor leaguers often struggle to make the most modest living wage.

I will generally side with the players when conflicts arise with ownership, but the top earners are overdue for a haircut. The savings shouldn’t go into owners’ pockets—better wages are richly deserved and desperately needed for minor leaguers, stadium workers, and everyone else working hard to make a living in baseball outside of the spotlight.

Equity matters to many of us, but the lions share of any spoils from a salary cap fight will likely just be divvied up between millionaire players and billionaire owners. Still, a salary cap could improve the competitive balance in MLB. Drellich’s piece considers the potential consequences of a salary cap fight, and how it might play out.

Have a wonderful weekend, AN.

A’s Coverage:

• Athletics reportedly sign Gio Urshela
• Athletics 2024 Season In Review: Mason Miller
• Could the A’s and the Minnesota Twins strike a deal for this pitcher?
• Howard Terminal could get a stadium after all? Oakland Roots, Soul make their pitch ($)

MLB News & Interest:

• The big question looming over MLB: Will owners take up the fight for a salary cap? ($)
• Sammy Sosa acknowledges ‘mistakes,’ moves closer to reunion with Cubs ($)
• Jurickson Profar Reportedly Seeking Three-Year Deal
• Michael Lorenzen Being Marketed As Two-Way Player To Circumvent Roster Limits On Pitchers
• Luzardo Talks Between Cubs, Marlins Have Reportedly Cooled
• Where have all the power-hitting first basemen gone? ($)
• Diamondbacks, Cristian Pache Agree To Minor League Deal
• Latest On Nolan Arenado
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Pache gets around the league like a hot potato.

A blind eye, indeed.