Is overall payroll increasing at the same rates?

[accinfo]

I ask this just out of curiosity.  I know that Harper, Machado, now Cole have gotten three huge contracts the last couple of years but it seems this big money is going to a much smaller pool.  Maybe overall it is still increasing but it appears that that a small pool of 30 or so players are going to end up with the majority of the pool of money out there.  The only way to stop that is putting in a salary floor for each team so they are compelled to spend a certain amount of money.  The players have long fault a cap but they may have to thinking about conceding on this issue if the owners agree to spend a certain minimum.  Teams like the Orioles have no reason to pay anyone while they are "rebuilding"  That is bad for competitive balance and for the overall pool of players.  Attendance seems to matter much less to each team because most the revenue is derived from TV rights etc. There has to be a middle ground here. 

[MurphDogg]

Payroll has decreased the last two years. The only decreases since the strike have been in 2004, 2018, and 2019. We will see whether it increases this year, and whether it tops the previous high mark in 2017.

[Satyr3206]

Spending and winning have some things in common sometime. Just not always. Not a big fan of telling people to spend money even if the results aren't there.

[accinfo]

2 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Payroll has decreased the last two years. The only decreases since the strike have been in 2004, 2018, and 2019. We will see whether it increases this year, and whether it tops the previous high mark in 2017.

Thanks for that information.  To me that makes the argument that an NFL type situation in baseball may benefit both sides and more importantly competitive balance for all the franchises.  

[accinfo]

4 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

Spending and winning have some things in common sometime. Just not always. Not a big fan of telling people to spend money even if the results aren't there.

I get that and agree just spending money isn't a solution.  However, is there any question the 2020 Orioles would be a better team with Villar and Bundy on it?  Now maybe we got something for Bundy, maybe, but if there was a floor there is little doubt they still be on the team.  It has worked in the NFL.  No one is going broke and teams don't in general go decades without being competitive.  Of course the Redskins can't overcome horrible ownership.  

Edited December 12, 2019 by accinfo

[Scalious]

Revenues are up, but the % of MLB players getting that is shriking and in-equality in pay is raising between players.

The system is broken, younger players are way under-paid. Which gives teams a silly amount of surplus value to use. They have to invest it somewhere to make it matter. That is why you see bonkers FA deals for top talents.

This broken system is why re-building is much more en-vouge then it was before. Its so freaking profitable to stack up on guys who are talented and give you 3 years of pre-arb. Then 3 more years of escalating 1 year salaries based on merit.

The way to stop is a re-model of the arb system and let the youth that are actually winning the games get more $$$

Edited December 12, 2019 by Scalious

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, Scalious said:

Revenues are up, but the % of MLB players getting that is shriking and in-equality in pay is raising between players.

The system is broken, younger players are way under-paid. Which gives teams a silly amount of surplus value to use. They have to invest it somewhere to make it matter. That is why you see bonkers FA deals for top talents.

This broken system is why re-building is much more en-vouge then it was before. Its so freaking profitable to stack up on guys who are talented and give you 3 years of pre-arb. Then 3 more years of escalating 1 year salaries based on merit.

The way to stop is a re-model of the arb system and let the youth that are actually winning the games get more $$$

Young players have always been under-paid. It's more obvious now that teams and their analytics departments have come to realize just how terrible an investment 30+-year-old players are.  So they still have the big young player discount, don't spend nearly as much on declining free agents, so the end result is an ever-smaller percentage of revenues going to the players.

This will probably be a point of strong contention in the discussions about the new CBA.

[MarCakes21]

Theres actually a really good article in my opinion on the ringer about this exact ask.

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/12/6/20998574/free-agency-mike-moustakas-zack-wheeler-yasmani-grandal

 

Quote

Moreover, there are some signs that the free-agent spending downturn began before it came obvious, which would raise the bar for believing that free agency is back in full force. Based on 1989-2019 salary data from eBIS (supplied by an agency source), suggests that teams started cutting back on financial commitments in future seasons before the average current-season salary sank. 

 

[weams]

15 hours ago, accinfo said:

I get that and agree just spending money isn't a solution.  However, is there any question the 2020 Orioles would be a better team with Villar and Bundy on it?  Now maybe we got something for Bundy, maybe, but if there was a floor there is little doubt they still be on the team.  It has worked in the NFL.  No one is going broke and teams don't in general go decades without being competitive.  Of course the Redskins can't overcome horrible ownership.  

Chris Davis assures that the Orioles will be above any floor for the next few seasons.