MLB Payroll Spending

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Radbird
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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

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AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Regardless, since we're talking about payrolls and strikes in this thread, I'd sum up my thoughts by saying that MLB used to be highly regarded wrt to other professional sports leagues due to 1) guaranteed contracts, 2) players being paid well into their 30s, and 3) not having a salary cap.

However, recently, regarding point 3) I think it's pretty clear that the luxury tax is acting as a de facto salary cap. Further, regarding point 2) it's also clear that teams are spending less on 30+ year old players as Fat noted in another thread. And, while contracts are still guaranteed, they are becoming more lean in favor of the owners. All the while, there are talks about shortening those contracts.

So, all the headway that the players union made to get those points are now kind of crashing down on their heads, unfortunately. I don't know what the players/union/owners are thinking, but I certainly understand why the players are frustrated as they appear to be.

Bluesman1111111111 makes some interesting points. Shorter contracts would prevent teams from handcuffing themselves well into the future with bad contracts. However, it would also very likely reduce the amounts of top end contracts. In order to go that route, I really believe they would need a salary floor to prevent all the benefit being the owners under a new deal. Further, going to 1 year contracts would completely negate the fact that they are guaranteed as a catastrophic injury or just poor performance would leave a player without the money they would otherwise be owed.

One thing I think we all agree on are those long 10 year contracts that players like Pujols and Zambrano and whoever else signed are bad for the teams almost always. And, it's prudent for teams to avoid them. But, if they're going away, then the owners need to give something in return. Rather that is shorter mlb control over the arb/pre-arb players, salary floors, higher salaries for controlled players, higher salaries for minor leaguers, revenue sharing, higher luxury tax limits, etc, I'm not sure nor do I have the energy to form a position on what should be done.

But, in the end, I think we can all agree that the owners have manipulated the CBA to benefit themselves greatly and it needs to be re-worked to benefit players more. Obviously, that's a broad statement, but one I feel pretty comfortable making.

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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

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Sean Doolittle posted all of Waino's tweets in screenshots. Doolittle's a big labor supporter. Worth following on Twitter if you're into that.

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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

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I already respected Wainwright; now, even moreso.

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ndistops
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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

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Jocephus wrote:
He could've just said 'we have a budget we have to meet and we didn't feel like we could blow past it' or some such nonsense, but no, the guy has to flat-out lie. Good lord.

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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

Post by sighyoung »

ndistops wrote:
Jocephus wrote:
He could've just said 'we have a budget we have to meet and we didn't feel like we could blow past it' or some such nonsense, but no, the guy has to flat-out lie. Good lord.
I just hope he makes it to the plasma bank so he can pick up some ramen noodles on the way home.

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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

Post by Joe Shlabotnik »

ndistops wrote:
Jocephus wrote:
He could've just said 'we have a budget we have to meet and we didn't feel like we could blow past it' or some such nonsense, but no, the guy has to flat-out lie. Good lord.
The John Galts of the world aren't hiding any more. They are flaunting their disdain for all of us unworthy of their time and effort.

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Jocephus
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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

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Re: MLB Payroll Spending

Post by Fat Strat »

Several times in recent weeks I have encountered a discrepancy in payroll numbers reported by tracking websites. In almost every case, the discrepancy in question came between the old standby - Cot's Contracts, which is now over at Baseball Prospectus (find it here) -- and Spotrac (find it here.

While I cut my payroll tracking teeth over at Cot's, I've done some looking around Spotrac and I'm pretty impressed with its layout and ease of use compared to old-school Google doc's database style that Cot's provides. That said, I want to offer a word of caution to posters like me who like to talk payroll and use either of these excellent resources: make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Opening day payrolls (which is what we are essentially discussing now for the 2019 Cardinals) are never close to final payrolls.

So, if you go to Spotrac and compare the Cardinals payroll right now it shows us at about 161M in total payroll. Cot's right now has us at $159M. However, change the database to 2018 at Spotrac and the Cards payroll was $177M -- it looks like we've cut payroll $16M compared to last year. But, if you go to Cot's homepage for the Cards and click on the previous years, you end up with a doc that says the Cards' '18 payroll was $159M. About the same as what we are today.

What gives? Opening day payroll and end of season payroll are totally different numbers. They vary based on player movement during the year -- trades, releases, call ups, bonuses, incentives etc. So, final payroll is always significantly higher then opening day payroll. Cot's has both opening payrolls for every season and final payrolls. Spotrac only has current payroll from current season and final payrolls for previous seasons on their main page. It would not surprise me if there are ways to dig deeper than that on Spotrac, but I didn't look very hard.

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