Ever get the feeling in baseball that the same teams are always in the conversation for post season play? Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers… it hasn’t changed all that much in the past 10 years or so. I’m not even old enough to remember when the Pirates were good, and barely remember Toronto when they were good in the late 80′s. Point is, this wild spending in baseball needs to be corralled. Look at the following chart – Five out of Six division leaders are also the team that has the highest payroll in that division.

With only a week luxury tax to prohibit rampant spending, teams in large markets able to generate able to generate revenue from non-profit sharing avenues are able to negate this cost quite easily. Further, any team not in contentino by the trade deadline trades away talented players for prospects so they can ‘rebuild for the future’. How well is that working out for the Nationals, Pirates, and Royals?

What we need is a fresh look at a legitimate salary cap, but with one major exception which would give advantage to the best run scouting and general management in the league, not the teams with the biggest pocketbook.

Institute a soft cap similar to the NBA where the cap is a percentage based on league revenue. This would encourage teams to do as much as they can to make money, something that shouldn’t need to be done, but its still a great incentive. Other exceptions built in are very advantageous to the teams which know how to use them well. Its mind boggling so just visit the wikipedia link to learn more.

The big idea I have is to reward teams with a keen eye for scouting and player development. Any kid a team signs to a minor league deal from the draft, or as a free agent, does not count against the salary cap in any capacity so long as the prospect remains with the club. What this does is place a bigger emphasis on player development and makes your young guys more valuable. A practical example of this is Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox.

Old people tell great stories

They signed im out of Arizona St and brought him up through the minors. An AL Rookie of the year, followed by an AL MVP award show the Sox were both wise and committed to this player. The league should reward them by not counting his contract under the Sox salary cap.

There are flaws to this idea, and we could get into a whole debate about how effective this would be (would teams sign their home grown players to absurd contracts to keep them away from the big fish? how would free agency and trades in general be effected?) Bottom line is that in the current system the rich get richer and the poor need to rely on miracle seasons to compete.