Indians: Cleveland among teams that would benefit most from salary floor

Major League Baseball wants a salary floor which is good news for the Indians.

Baseball may soon take a step in the right direction with a salary floor implemented for the major leagues. The salary floor would begin at $100 million, meaning ballclub payrolls must be at that line, if not higher, every season. This would force clubs to spend more in the offseason. To pay for this, clubs that exceed $180 million – the new tax threshold proposed – will be the ones forking over the difference.

This has caused some to worry about and take the side of the player’s union, saying that this will likely be a non-starter and how it’s purposefully designed to hinder player contracts, but baseball has a money problem.

The revenue sharing isn’t anything close to what NBA and NFL teams get, where if a franchise is operating at a loss, the money from the league balances things out. It’s also the worst sport for contracts. More and more players are getting 10-year deals at $30 million and up per year, while never living up to the contract. Teams are now expected to make plays for big-money guys who never produce to the level they’re paid to, and when they don’t, fans chastise them for being cheap.

Even worse, these contracts are guaranteed. Meaning if a guy goes south at any point, and he’s on the books for years to come, the team won’t be able to move off of the contract.

Baseball needs a salary floor and a salary cap at any costs

The Indians would be aided by better revenue sharing. The team would then spend money, hopefully, responsibility, to keep their talents and players would no longer price themselves out of markets by setting a price that only a handful of teams can afford. This would make teams more balanced, keeping competition up, and adding more parity to all facets of the game.

Not only that, but it’ll force clubs to be just as good at signing proper free agents as they are drafting and developing prospects. Making it a far more balanced league, with far more balanced clubs.

All of that is good for the Indians, who have shown to be very good at developing, identifying, and trading for talent. If they’re a regular competitor for the playoffs, with their well-built and well-managed front office, they’ll be able to better sell free agents on the advantage of playing for the Indians.

It’ll also allow big-name players to better develop in a mainstream sense, as they’ll be on better teams top-to-bottom. Guys like Mike Trout could actually make a name for himself, as hopefully, the Angels would actually be competitive. Baseball is far more of a team sport than any of the other major American sports, so you could be the best player in the world and not make the difference people expect others to make in their respective sports. Trout is someone who has benefited financially from the current system but has seen his legacy been hindered by a lack of postseason action.

Granted baseball would only be at 56% of the threshold, according to Royals Review, which is far below the NFL’s 80% and NBA’s 90%, but it’s a start. For a sport so ingrained in the past, it’s a breath of fresh air to do anything different.

Baseball needs to be better balanced for the sake of the fans, because interest in the sport is waning, and fans are growing impatient with the status quo.