The business model hasn’t changed. They still have a soft cap, which thus means if they decide to pay the player X they just go ahead and do so. All the soft cap does is add a hidden cost, that if they pay that player X it will actually ding their bank account X+Y%, but they’re still free to pay the player X. Hard caps change the business model, in a hard capped league (NFL, NHL) if they want to pay the player X and that will put them over the cap they have the choice talking that player down, or getting rid of other good players.
The point of a cap is to make is so the richest teams don’t get to hoard the players with the highest perceived value. A soft cap doesn’t do that, all the soft cap does is make the richest teams spend a bit more, which isn’t really a problem for them, because they’re the richest teams. Which is why the soft cap is just a suggestion, it has no actual meaning, it makes no change to the business function.
The Yankees are NOT trying to get under the cap. They’re dumping antique players that should have retired years ago. It’s a side effect that they’ll also get under the cap for a few months, but not the goal. They’re chasing no free agents because they already have too many over aged formerly talented players. They need roster room for youth.
The MLB cap is a joke. Period. Sorry you can’t see it. Have fun.
It’s a tax — a soft cap, not a hard one like in the NBA. The MLB Players Association will never permit a soft cap. In fact, they won’t even allow a minimum payroll, as they view that as a step towards a salary cap.
IMO, the Players Association is too powerful. The owners should offer free agency after three years (which is when arbitration kicks in). The MLBPA will never allow it, as it would glut the market, but some players would want it.
A luxury tax does serve as a disincentive to “hoarding”. And if you think that’s going on, please explain the Royals, Astros, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, and Pirates? all but the D-Backs were playoff teams, and the D-Backs have just spent a bunch of money to contend.
So I’m to take your word that the Yankees aren’t trying to get under the cap, rather than that of the Yankees? They have some big contracts expiring after 2016 and more after 2017. Those players are not likely to be replaced with more big-money players. They’ll be replaced with younger, more athletic talent, which is also talent more likely to win. This is how the Yankees did it in teh 1990s and also how the Indians were a power in that time period.
They’re combining that with the Oriole model of working a few young players into a veteran roster, a bit at a time, to keep a flow of young talent while still contending for titles.
That’s a much more cost-effective way to win. Watch them get under the cap in 2018.
BTW, the NBA “hard cap” has an exception you could drive a truck through: you can go over the cap to re-sign your own guys. so if your team has a name free agent, you sign all the other guys you want first, then go over for your own player.