MLB Labor Situation

[Clay Dreslough]

Here's an article on the current MLB labor situation:

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0224/demause.php

One section I take issue with:

>"Owners have proposed a $45-million-a-year "salary floor" to
>encourage teams to spend revenue-sharing money instead of
>just pocketing it, but as Pappas points out, "the devil is in the
>details. It could effectively force bad teams to do things like sign
>Derek Bell just to get their payroll up."

I think it's dumb to imagine that a team like the Royals is going to overpay just to spend payroll. If they are forced to spend $45 million on payroll, they will field the best team they can -- because winning teams (and playoff teams) make more money.

Clay

[Jim]

I believe a better way to do it is to set aside the money that has to be spent on player salary. The team wouldn't have to spend it if they didn't think player's were worth it, but they couldn't spend it on anything else. Instead, the money would sit earning interest and allow the teams to build up a "war chest". This way, bad players wouldn't get paid more than they are worth; but the money would be there for the good players when they come along.

[Clay Dreslough]

Originally posted by Jim
Instead, the money would sit earning interest and allow the teams to build up a "war chest".

I like that idea -- allows for long-term strategy and raises some interesting ideas for "modes of play" in Baseball Mogul if I ever had time to program them.

Clay