Salary Cap

[MrTPlush]

World Series Set:

#1 Seed $509mil

vs.

#5 Seed $255mil

#1 and #5 seeds outspent their opponents (#15 and #22) $764 million to $285 million to purchase their World Series appearances.

Dodgers will be playing another Top 5 payroll and will still be doubling that opponents payroll.

[SF70]

The Dodgers aren’t going to stop spending.

They figured out they don’t need to make a yearly operating profit when their franchise value just increased nearly $1.5B in ONE (1) year. That’s where their focus will be  —  increasing the value of their franchise. Another WS victory should get them within shouting distance of the NYY, and a couple more years of the Ohtani show should get Japan even more gaga over the LAD and push their franchise value well past the Yankees in a relentless pursuit of being the most valuable team of any sport.

[Jopal78]

13 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

No, something very practical can be done, you're just making an assumption that Japanese players would refuse to play here.

We WERE one of Sasaki's choices... but it was pretty obvious we weren't going to get him over the Dodgers. We've also had Japanese players here. A player like Sasaki who wanted to play in the Major Leagues SO badly that he couldn't wait another year when he would have signed a record setting deal(provided he stayed healthy this year in Japan).... you think he would have just not come over vs coming to Milwaukee for whatever time frame he was looking at?

A draft... is very much a practical solution. 

Why would the NBA be bringing players from France and all over Europe to San Antonio or wherever, but that wouldn't be the same in MLB? I believe you'd be able to make the same argument about the Dominican Republic. Though... most kids in Japan grow up learning English... so you could argue that it's an even bigger culture shock for kids from the DR. They leave at 16, they're playing Stateside by 18, 19... if they have success. 

You’re wrong for a couple reasons. First of all NPB team control a players rights for 9 years. They can agree to post them earlier like Sasaki but are not required to. So the number of Japanese players worth drafting in an international draft format would be incredibly small (More Nori Aoki’s than Yamamoto’s).
 

Next, you’re not realizing  star players in the NPB like Yamamoto, Ohtani, even Imanaga already made millions of dollars during their years playing professionally in Japan.  
 

Do you honestly believe a millionaire Japanese born baseball player is going to come to America and play for a salary, team or city that they have no say in? Maybe you’d get a few again like Nori Aoki or Tadahito Iguchi, but there’s a reason nearly every star player from Japan has ended up on the West Coast, New York or Chicago.

And that’s why it’s apples and oranges with kids from the Dominican who are not bound to local clubs for almost a decade and are looking at their first ever big pay day when they sign a contract as a 17 year old. 
 

 

[MrTPlush]

1 hour ago, SF70 said:

The Dodgers aren’t going to stop spending.

They figured out they don’t need to make a yearly operating profit when their franchise value just increased nearly $1.5B in ONE (1) year. That’s where their focus will be  —  increasing the value of their franchise. Another WS victory should get them within shouting distance of the NYY, and a couple more years of the Ohtani show should get Japan even more gaga over the LAD and push their franchise value well past the Yankees in a relentless pursuit of being the most valuable team of any sport.

There is no way the Dodgers aren’t running a profit. Their TV deal alone equals their payroll…and that’s assuming it was evenly weighted for all 25 years, it probably isn’t.

[mudbutt]

Right franchise values are irrelevant.  The big thing with the Dodgers is they are owned by a massive investment firm so they simply invest the team's profits and use those proceeds to fund an even higher payroll.  And why they absolutely love deferred deals because they know they can outpace those payments with investment earnings.

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

There is no way the Dodgers aren’t running a profit. Their TV deal alone equals their payroll…and that’s assuming it was evenly weighted for all 25 years, it probably isn’t.

The Dodgers are printing money - word has it they've recouped the entirety of Ohtani's $700M contract in roughly 1 year exploiting the Asian market.  Think of that - in a year the Dodgers had to pay Ohtani $2M in actual dollars, their direct partnerships with Japanese company sponsorships, merch sales, and ticket revenue netted them $700+M...and I believe that doesn't include their share of leaguewide broadcast and national-level sponsorships revenue from Japanese markets that is split across MLB.

[patrickgpe]

On 10/15/2025 at 11:44 AM, MrTPlush said:

1) Players union would have a fit. And what exactly would they gain? Is a salary floor really a huge gain to the players union? You would have completely abolish arbitration all together I would think.  Three years and then FA. Probably have to fix service time manipulation. Maybe league expansion could be a bone to throw?

Honestly, the brewers would benefit more from keeping arbitration rather than a salary cap IMHO. But I agree, the PA would start there. 

[adambr2]

As others have said — what good exactly is the salary cap alone going to do for the Brewers? It’s not like it’s going to be capped at 120M — it would be several times that. So a 300M theoretical cap doesn’t change the fact that we are only going to spend about 120M. Limiting any other team to “only” 300M of spending doesn’t move the needle in their tactical advantage over us, especially if it comes with other undesirable concessions.

Better revenue sharing is the only real way. Fun fact: the NFL had only one season in the modern era of free agency where there was no salary cap: 2010. Incidentally, that was the season the smallest market in sports in Green Bay won it all.

[BrewerFan]

11 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Do you honestly believe a millionaire Japanese born baseball player is going to come to America and play for a salary, team or city that they have no say in?

Yup. I wouldn't have made the argument otherwise. 

The best players in the world... want to play in the best LEAGUE in the world;

Quote

“Ever since he joined the team, we have heard from him that he dreamed of playing in America,” Chiba Lotte GM Naoki Matsumoto said. “After making a comprehensive judgment over the past five years, we have decided to respect his wish. We hope he will do his best as a representative of Japan. We are rooting for him.”

 

 

So... that's absolutely what I think would happen. They would go to whoever drafted them and then play out their contract. 

As for not "having to post a player," they still seem to get posted. 

[BrewerFan]

10 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

There is no way the Dodgers aren’t running a profit. Their TV deal alone equals their payroll…and that’s assuming it was evenly weighted for all 25 years, it probably isn’t.

I don't know if I said this here, but Forbes estimates... which are just that, estimtes(though, I'd lend them more credibility) had the Brewers taking in a net revenue of 21M in 2024 and the Dodgers 25M.

 

So... they can spend like that and still put more money away than the Brewers. 

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, adambr2 said:

As others have said — what good exactly is the salary cap alone going to do for the Brewers? It’s not like it’s going to be capped at 120M — it would be several times that. So a 300M theoretical cap doesn’t change the fact that we are only going to spend about 120M. Limiting any other team to “only” 300M of spending doesn’t move the needle in their tactical advantage over us, especially if it comes with other undesirable concessions.

Better revenue sharing is the only real way. Fun fact: the NFL had only one season in the modern era of free agency where there was no salary cap: 2010. Incidentally, that was the season the smallest market in sports in Green Bay won it all.

No, but it may have required Blake Snell to sign with another team... or made the Dodgers more leery about paying Tyler Glasnow a ~30M a year, the first of which so he could rehab... to come and play for them. 

I suspect they'd also have to add about 60M to the payroll this year as Ohtani and Yamamoto wouldn't be able to defer such a large chunk of their payroll, so you're looking at another 50-60M. 

 

Even in your 2010 example in the NFL, it was uncapped... but it really wasn't uncapped. Dallas and... someone else got big fines and lost future salary cap space. 

The owners, even when they want the salary cap to keep prices down, they still want to go over that cap.

[MrTPlush]

Revenue sharing is even worse than a salary cap. A salary cap at least forces some teams to spend less. Revenue sharing can just go straight into the owners pocket. I think Attanasio does miles better than someone else would in Milwaukee….but thinking he is going to get $40mil more in revenue sharing and spend it…is, a pipe dream. Mainly because that’s how it works and also the fact he is not a sole owner.

 

 

[Jopal78]

13 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

Yup. I wouldn't have made the argument otherwise. 

The best players in the world... want to play in the best LEAGUE in the world;

 

 

So... that's absolutely what I think would happen. They would go to whoever drafted them and then play out their contract. 

As for not "having to post a player," they still seem to get posted. 

 Why do Americans who don’t cut it in MLB go to Japan, because they’ve always wanted to play in an inferior league? No, they play for money. Don’t confuse the highest paying league with the best league. Players come to America to play for the money, not for  the cache that comes with being able to say back home that they played for the KC Royals. 

And of course they’re going to give the rah rah PR lines: want to play against the best, for the love of the game, etc. etc. That’s marketing. 

More importantly it takes two to tango. I suspect to most involved in Japanese baseball the system is not broke so why fix it? 

A Japanese superstar nears the end of team control, team posts him and gets a huge infusion of cash when they ultimately sell them off, player ostensibly gets to select where they play in America and for how much. What’s not to love?

 

[adambr2]

2 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

Revenue sharing is even worse than a salary cap. A salary cap at least forces some teams to spend less. Revenue sharing can just go straight into the owners pocket. I think Attanasio does miles better than someone else would in Milwaukee….but thinking he is going to get $40mil more in revenue sharing and spend it…is, a pipe dream. Mainly because that’s how it works and also the fact he is not a sole owner.

 

 

Well, that’s why it has to be regulated and structured to enforce minimum spending of shared revenue on payroll. You can’t just have a giant pool of shared revenue and let the owners do as they please with it. 

[wntrtxn21]

Restructuring of the game has to be done in a 3 tier manner to work. Revenue sharing, hard salary cap, and a salary floor. None of the three will work alone.  A stated portion of the revenue has to go to players to force a salary floor. Penalties for teams who are at the minimum for more than 3 years in a 10 year span. Salary cap is figured on AAV basis. There may have to be some grandfathering on a short term basis. 

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Why do Americans who don’t cut it in MLB go to Japan, because they’ve always wanted to play in an inferior league?

You quite literally answered your own question. BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T CUT IT IN MLB.

I'm not arguing this anymore. I think it's an asinine premise that Ohtani would have just stayed home if he would have been subjected to the draft, or Sasaki, again, a guy who cost himself 300M+ by not waiting ONE MORE YEAR.

2 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

More importantly it takes two to tango. I suspect to most involved in Japanese baseball the system is not broke so why fix it? 

I suspect to most involved in the Euro leagues, European Basketball, the system is not broke so why fix it...

 

Though, to be fair, I have yet to hear anything suggest that we fix the Japanese Baseball leagues. I HAVE seen it suggested that IFA's should be subject to a draft... and you think the best players in the world WOULDN'T come over, make exponentially more money to play in the top league(as they have in Basketball)... if they didn't get to play in LA.

Well... except for the ones who have. 

 

[Brewluver]

1. New York Mets, $323,099,999
2. Los Angeles Dodgers, $321,287,291
3. New York Yankees, $293,488,972
4. Philadelphia Phillies, $284,210,820
5. Toronto Blue Jays, $239,642,532
6. Texas Rangers, $220,541,332
7. Houston Astros, $220,217,813
8. Atlanta Braves, $214,836,398
9. San Diego Padres,  208,909,333
10. Chicago Cubs, $196,288,250
11. Arizona Diamondbacks, $195,294,235
12. Boston Red Sox, $193,629,093
13. Los Angeles Angels, $190,508,096
14. San Francisco Giants, $173,019,524
15. Baltimore Orioles, $162,314,278
16. Seattle Mariners,  $146,793,414
17. Detroit Tigers, $143,193,033
18. Minnesota Twins, $142,762,022
19. St. Louis Cardinals, $141,455,581
20. Kansas City Royals, $130,001,503
21. Colorado Rockies, $120,693,976
22. Cincinnati Reds, $115,466,833
23. Milwaukee Brewers, $115,136,227
24. Washington Nationals, $107,653,761
25. Cleveland Guardians, $100,522,729
26. Pittsburgh Pirates, $87,645,246
27. Chicago White Sox, $82,279,825
28. Tampa Bay Rays, $79,216,312
29. Athletics, $73,118,981
30. Miami Marlins, $67,412,619

The discrepancy is way too large between top & bottom

Not a level playing field at all

 

[Jopal78]

2 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

You quite literally answered your own question. BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T CUT IT IN MLB.

I'm not arguing this anymore. I think it's an asinine premise that Ohtani would have just stayed home if he would have been subjected to the draft, or Sasaki, again, a guy who cost himself 300M+ by not waiting ONE MORE YEAR.

I suspect to most involved in the Euro leagues, European Basketball, the system is not broke so why fix it...

 

Though, to be fair, I have yet to hear anything suggest that we fix the Japanese Baseball leagues. I HAVE seen it suggested that IFA's should be subject to a draft... and you think the best players in the world WOULDN'T come over, make exponentially more money to play in the top league(as they have in Basketball)... if they didn't get to play in LA.

Well... except for the ones who have. 

 

The straw man is back! Too bad I didn’t say Ohtani or Sasaki would’ve stayed home. What you continuingly fail to recognize is players play for money. Already earning millions of dollars a year in Japan, their players typically do not come  to America just “for the love of the game” or “to play against the best”, they’re coming here to make even more money. I’m willing to bet not a single one crosses the pacific without first having a guarantee that they’re making much more than they could in Japan. Plus, whatever costs are required to get the Japanese team that holds their rights to give them up. Unless you believe superstar ball players don’t generate revenue in Japan like they do here in the States. 

You’re the one with the idea for an international draft. How do you get a player who’s making millions of dollars a year to give it up to come to the US and play for a team or city they don’t want to when they always have the option of staying in Japan and continuing to get real paid?  

Even assuming for the sake of argument, MLB has an international draft. Who is going to use their choice to secure the rights of a Japanese player should they ever choose to come to America and play when they can select a kid from the DR who would jump for  a six or low seven figure bonus. Or how do you do an international draft where salaries for international players are cost controlled for the teams without players from wealthy foreign leagues scoffing at it. Back to my original premise there’s no practical way to do it.

And I don’t know why you keep bringing up European league basketball when they’re paid pennies on the dollar compared to NBA salaries. That’s a better analogy to baseball players from the DR or Mexico. Of course, they’re going to come to the States the minimum is more money than nearly all are making locally. 

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

You’re the one with the idea for an international draft

LOL... oh, no...no, no I am NOT.

This has been an idea for a VERY long time and I simply agreed with someone else who mentioned it. 

This has also LONG been discussed and the MLB and MLBPA decided to "table it" Until 2026. 

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Who is going to use their choice to secure the rights of a Japanese player should they ever choose to come to America

Yeah... I mean, how does an MLB team draft players when that player as an alternative option to signing with them?

I'm sorry, how does the Major League Draft currently in place work with MiLB players? Oh... that's right. They have to communicate with players they're interested in and decide!

You're right. It's... impossible. There's no way they could do that. 

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

The straw man is back! Too bad I didn’t say Ohtani or Sasaki would’ve stayed home.

Yeah... ya really kinda did though. 

By saying if it wasn't the team THEY picked, they'd... well, I'll just use your quote;

Quote

Do you honestly believe a millionaire Japanese born baseball player is going to come to America and play for a salary, team or city that they have no say in?

And I said.... Yes. I "honestly believe" as much. That's... why we're having this argument that's going nowhere and you're treating the notion of an international draft as this CRAZY idea, but ALSO claiming this is my brainchild... which at the very least, it should be common knowledge this has been a pretty significant point of discussion. 

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Back to my original premise there’s no practical way to do it.

Cool. Don't agree. 

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

And I don’t know why you keep bringing up European league basketball when they’re paid pennies on the dollar compared to NBA salaries.

.... are you serious? There are players making MILLIONS playing over there. So they're "Millionaire" professionals who enter a draft and come to the US. 

And second, are you saying there is comparable pay in the Japanese professional league vs MLB? 
LOL... no, pennies on the dollar there as well. 

 

5 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Of course, they’re going to come to the States the minimum is more money than nearly all are making locally. 

....right. So you ARE saying you don't get paid substantially more in MLB than Japan? I'm pretty sure you're just dug in and arguing at this point without.... any real point. So... I don't really care that much, this wasn't my dog, I just agreed with it and you can scream to the heavens how there's no way to put players in a draft because... they might not sign(JUST like every high player in the current draft has the choice to do). 

[Team Canada]

22 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Already earning millions of dollars a year in Japan, their players typically do not come  to America just “for the love of the game” or “to play against the best”, they’re coming here to make even more money

Are we trying to make this an either/or instead of both/and?

Of course they're going to make a bunch more money here, but the money is here because (to some extent) that's where the talent is. These are insanely gifted and competitive athletes. We can debate how much of the decision making process is "I want to compete against the best" vs "I want a bajillion more dollars than I can make in Japan," (and that's going to vary by player), but the former is absolutely a factor here. It seems like you're saying it's not, and I think you're wrong.

[Fear The Chorizo]

3 hours ago, Team Canada said:

Are we trying to make this an either/or instead of both/and?

Of course they're going to make a bunch more money here, but the money is here because (to some extent) that's where the talent is. These are insanely gifted and competitive athletes. We can debate how much of the decision making process is "I want to compete against the best" vs "I want a bajillion more dollars than I can make in Japan," (and that's going to vary by player), but the former is absolutely a factor here. It seems like you're saying it's not, and I think you're wrong.

When the two of them get rolling, even Dante himself doesn't have enough circles to pull a thread out of the doom loop.

Any salary cap in MLB would need to have healthy revenue sharing plus a salary floor that forces the shared revenues into player salaries, and id be a proponent of also having it be a cap for teams' Opening Day 40 man rosters - which would allow for teams to take on extra veteran salary via in-season trades or adjustments for guys who begin the season on IL coming back and avoiding that team having to make a trade/cut elsewhere just to get them on the active roster.  Those things would allow for some flexibility in-season, but at least put a limit on what huge market teams can do to stockpile/load up their roster in the offseason and even the free agent playing field a bit.

[wiguy94]

7 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

When the two of them get rolling, even Dante himself doesn't have enough circles to pull a thread out of the doom loop.

Any salary cap in MLB would need to have healthy revenue sharing plus a salary floor that forces the shared revenues into player salaries, and id be a proponent of also having it be a cap for teams' Opening Day 40 man rosters - which would allow for teams to take on extra veteran salary via in-season trades or adjustments for guys who begin the season on IL coming back and avoiding that team having to make a trade/cut elsewhere just to get them on the active roster.  Those things would allow for some flexibility in-season, but at least put a limit on what huge market teams can do to stockpile/load up their roster in the offseason and even the free agent playing field a bit.

I think the only way we will get a salary cap passed is if team control is reduced or changed. Instead of 6+ years of full team control, maybe replace arbitration with restricted free agency. Think restricted free agency is a nice middle ground between players being able to get paid earlier and teams still maintaining team control. I'd also be down for term caps on contracts like the NHL and NBA have.

[Fear The Chorizo]

4 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

I think the only way we will get a salary cap passed is if team control is reduced or changed. Instead of 6+ years of full team control, maybe replace arbitration with restricted free agency. Think restricted free agency is a nice middle ground between players being able to get paid earlier and teams still maintaining team control. I'd also be down for term caps on contracts like the NHL and NBA have.

Yeah, a reduction in service time/arbitration that includes restricted free agency is a good idea

[Jopal78]

19 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Yeah, a reduction in service time/arbitration that includes restricted free agency is a good idea

A salary cap and full revenue sharing  will never happen. For 3 main reasons:
 

1. Players will likely never give up the right to sell themselves to highest bidder. If they were not willing to do it in 1994 when the largest salaries were 6 million per year, why would it be given any consideration now when the average salary is approaching 6 million per year. 

2. The large market teams have no interest in Kansas City, Cleveland or Milwaukee being on more even financial footing and potentially making the competition  stiffer. It wouldn’t expand their market, improve their market share or tap into any new revenue sources. 

3. Small market owners would never agree to a salary floor (a condition precedent for both full revenue sharing and salary cap). The thought of being forced to spend money on talent when in the down side of a success cycle, instead paring payroll to the bone is as repugnant to those owners as a cap is to the players. 
 

Maybe 30 year ago they had a shot at this, but the strike and intervening CBAs since then have made it impossible. 

[GAME05]

Any salary floor agreement probably has to come with a guaranteed positive income stream for ownership, like getting a specific percentage of gate receipts. That way you have a motivation to put an exciting team on the field every year and not the need to keep a payroll low for the sake of additional profit. And if your star players are still low-paid, maybe there's room to shift money toward some other player-focused thing.