Free Market Capitalism Is Destroying Baseball

If my liberal arts education gave me one thing other than crippling debt, it is the canny ability to identify when capitalism sucks. Although my mother would be fired up to read about me fighting the patriarchy, I am here to support a particular cause. One that even my cowboy boot-wearing, Ford F-150-driving, Trump-loving cousins can get behind: ending MLB’s free-market capitalism.

For wisdom on this subject, I turn to the Sultan of Stoke, Karl Marx.

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“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed. ”

Right on, Karl.

For those of you who didn’t understand this, let me rephrase it for you. Essentially, Marx said that the history of all hitherto MLB is the history of class struggles. Yankees and Pirates, Dodgers and Orioles, Red Sox and Marlins, in a word, oppressor and oppressed. For too long, Major League Baseball has tolerated this class warfare. As a proletariat member, I demand the redistribution of wealth.

Here are my demands.

Demand No. 1: Create A Salary Cap

Look, comrades. It is no secret that some clubs have significantly more spending money than others. This offseason, SP Trevor Bauer signed a deal that gave him more money than the entire roster of three teams.

In 2019, the Chicago Cubs’ year-end 40-man roster payroll ($220.3 million) was nearly four times that of the Tampa Bay Rays ($67.4 million). Accounting for salary adjustments in the 2020 season due to the ongoing pandemic, the New York Yankees’ opening day payroll ($108.1 million) was the only organization to top $100 million. It was also nearly five times the opening day payroll of the Pittsburgh Pirates ($23.7 million) and the Baltimore Orioles ($23.7 million). And in 2021 it has hit its most disparate point, with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ projected 2021 Opening Day payroll ($244.9 million) sextupling the Pirates’ payroll ($40.5 million).

Now, of course, none of this matters if spending money does not equate to wins. Unsurprisingly, Neo-Libs — like Commissioner Rob Manfred — want to convince us that you don’t need to spend money to win. They aren’t exactly wrong. Teams like the Rays have proven that you don’t need to spend a ton to win. Yet, what is also true is that it is tough to lose when you spend money. In 2019, 11 of the 13 teams who spent above-average money had winning seasons.

Additionally, over the past four years, seven teams have consistently posted above-average records. Of those seven teams, six of them had above-average payrolls. There is a legitimate argument that spending more does not mean you are better. However, consistently spending more does equal a more consistent product that teams like the Pirates and Miami Marlins cannot always compete against.

Demand No. 2: Create A Salary Floor

Listen, Dodgers fans, I know you are sensitive after winning seven division crowns without a championship until you finally broke the cycle last year. However, I will cut you some slack here. Teams like the Dodgers and the Yankees are not at fault for the wealth disparity in MLB. If you have the money, you should pay high-end free agents and build the best team you can. Bigger market teams are products of a system that allows this. Sadly, this system also allows the other end of the spectrum to exist.

As I mentioned in the previous demand, teams like the Pirates, Rays and Marlins pay their players up to a sixth of what the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs pay their players. It’s not like players on smaller market teams are getting nothing, but why should a company exist if they can’t pay their employees? The Pirates are running the sweatshop of MLB and using cheap labor to reap a profit. Again, they are the product of a system, but it is time this system changes. MLB cannot allow teams like the Seattle Mariners to purposefully put a lousy product on the field just for some lazy owner to reap a profit off of the stadium’s parking lots.

The Mariners and the Pirates pretending to be major league teams is false advertising. Walmart-brand hot dogs can’t say on their packaging that they are real ballpark hot dogs and then charge people the ballpark hot dog’s price. Yet, for some reason, the Pirates can put a minor league ball club in PNC Park and call themselves a major league team. Statistically speaking, the team is hardly above replacement level! MLB must set some standard that forces MLB teams to pay MLB players so that each team has a legitimate major league-caliber product on the field.

Demand No. 3: An Adapted Revenue Sharing System

There are a couple of gaping holes in the arguments above that need to be addressed. First, there is the counter-argument that players will be paid less because teams cannot spend as much. The second argument is that the salary floors and ceilings will disproportionately harm small market teams. Due to the nature of the salary limits, large market owners will keep more money than they will have to pay the players. Small market owners, conversely, will make less money because they must spend more money. Both of these issues are not as legitimate as one would think because of the possibility of a robust revenue-sharing system.

MLB already has a revenue-sharing system in place that should help smaller teams pay more to big-name players while earning a substantial profit. It also should ensure that MLB players get fairly compensated. However, this system is not working correctly. MLB forces teams to turn over 48% of their local revenue, then distributes that revenue equally to all 30 teams. This system isn’t great compared to those of the NFL, NBA and NHL. Improving this aspect of revenue sharing to ensure more money to small markets is essential. However, even with enhanced revenue sharing, the problem will not be fully solved because small market teams typically refuse to spend. That needs to change.

In the NFL, teams must pay players between 47% and 48% of their gross revenue. The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement ensures that players receive between 49% and 51% of basketball-related income. Major league players’ salaries, on the other hand, totaled roughly 56% of revenue in 2002, but they have decreased to less than 40% in the decade and a half since. Meanwhile, total revenues have doubled. This lack of a minimum payment requirement is resulting in players earning less money. With the salary cap implemented alongside an innovative revenue-sharing plan, players will make more money, teams will be more competitive and small market teams can still produce a substantial profit.

This change is necessary and will not take place unless there is severe pressure on MLB to change. Sadly, I do not see them doing so anytime soon, especially with Manfred and the current state of the MLBPA. Regardless, the time has come for a socialist revolution within MLB.

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“Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. ”

Amen, brother.

Commissioner Rob Manfred. Cover photo courtesy of LM Otero/AP Photo