Posted on 05/30/2026 9:37:09 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Major League Baseball owners proposed a hard salary cap to players as part of the next CBA on Thursday, their first firm cap proposal since 1994.
Under the proposal, presented in a meeting with union officials, each team would need to maintain a payroll of at least $171.2 million without exceeding $245.3 million, starting in 2027. That includes player benefits, just as it does under the current competitive balance tax system.
If the sides can't negotiate a new CBA before the current one expires Dec. 1, owners are likely to "lock out" the players until a new deal is in place. In that instance, players will have no contact with their teams, and league business involving players -- like trades and free agency -- will come to a halt. The sides are likely to meet again in the coming weeks after each has digested the other's proposals.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
Tigers players should pay the owner.
Tigers players should pay the owner.
No kidding.
What they need is another strike.
If the cap includes deferred money, it will leave the Dodgers with Ohtani and five players.
I gave up on MLB during that strike.
Never looked back.
Go dodgers! How can we cheat with salary cap booo. I say we ban celery totally from the game. Pay them in corn
“If the cap includes deferred money, it will leave the Dodgers with Ohtani and five players.”
They are just a face in the crowd. The New York Yankees have exceeded Major League Baseball’s luxury tax threshold (often referred to as a salary cap) in 18 seasons since the penalty system was introduced in 2003 to include the last four seasons. But during that time other teams were guilty of the same thing: Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Chicago Cubs.
So putting a cap on MLB is no different than what they had and ignored. And the owners make the rules. Think they will hold themselves to it and punish themselves? Not likely.
wy69
Almost every other sport has a salary cap. And those caps are routinely enforced within the rules.
It would ultimately come down to whether the cap is based on actual payroll (like the NFL) or the average contract value (like the NHL). The NHL system is interesting because a team can be “overcharged” in some years and “undercharged” in others when computing salaries for cap purposes. If a team, for example, signs a player to a three-year contract where he’s paid $10 million in Years 1 and 2, and $4 million in Year 3, then the player’s cap hit is $8 million each year for three years. So this works well for the team in the first two years but hurts them in Year 3 when they’re allocating $8M of cap space to a guy who is only getting paid $4M.
Y’all keep talking about the cap, but what about the floor? It would force teams like Tampa Bay to double their salary costs, when their media revenue is in the toilet and they can’t get 10k to come to a game unless it’s fans of the other team (Yankees, Red Sox, etc.). Even with the new owners it wouldn’t take long before they move to a larger market and become, say, the Nashville Parthenons or the Richmond Gerrymanders.
Why not restrict salaries? It’s all staged like WWE wrestling anyway.
Do not step in the way of the Dodgers buying more World Series.
The article mentions a floor
The New York Yankees have paid approximately $415 million in total luxury taxes (Competitive Balance Tax) since the penalty’s inception in 2003, making them the highest-paying franchise in MLB history. They paid over $61M in luxury in 2025 alone. But through their TV network gaining in network broadcast rights fees and as part-owners of their broadcast home, the YES Network, they cleared over $400M last year. Seems the penalty for busting the tax, better identified as like a cap, has actually generated money in the application.
“And those caps are routinely enforced within the rules.”
If the owners are the ones establishing the cap and paying the penalty, it’s kind of like city hall fining itself. They just cross the funds and no one is hurt, actually helped. Major League Baseball’s luxury tax (officially the Competitive Balance Tax or CBT) is disbursed into two main buckets: player benefits/retirement and a discretionary fund for smaller-market or revenue-sharing teams. Even the penalty is an investment. (Or a joke)
wy69
The article says there is a floor.
As for Tampa Bay, I think moving over to Tampa instead of being in St. Pete will help. My cousin lives in Tampa and had season tickets the first year, but he didn't renew because it was too much trouble to go to St. Pete for the games.
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