Annual salary cap increase each season.

[New York Yankees]

NYM owner has suggested that we have an increase to the salary cap annually.

Is this a good idea, and what amount should it increase by?

[Arizona Diamondbacks]

I think we discussed this before and if I remember correctly we didn't feel the need for an annual increase. The $150M we have in place is already extremely high. The majority of the league doesn't even have to concern themselves with the salary cap and increasing it any further will only create less chance of parity.

For example, my team is unfortunately a juggernaut. That makes everything less fun for everyone, myself included, when one team is clearly superior. If we increase the salary cap every year it makes it far more likely I can retain all of my star players as their salaries increase. As it is right now it is unlikely I will be able to retain all these players for the next several years. Within the next couple of years I will be looking at significant raises from the likes of Albert Pujols, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Justin Verlander, Adam Wainwright, and Yovani Gallardo. I could even add players like Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Cano to that list. Their current salaries, $15M and $6M respectively, are nowhere near where they will max out at on their current contracts. Cabrera will get up to $20M+ and Cano $10M+ in the coming seasons. Same for Hanley Ramirez and his current $5.5M, that will go above $10M soon.

In short, I will have to make some decisions in the coming years. There is a decent chance I will have to sacrifice some players to stay under the cap. It hopefully won't be the ones I mentioned above, but other veteran quality players who carry big salaries will most definitely get the axe. If we increase the salary annually I'll probably be able to keep everyone and so would every owner in this league. The teams would basically stay the same year to year and so would the standings.

What's the point of having a salary cap if no one ever has to worry about it? I would even argue the opposite in that it is currently too high.

[Kansas City GM]

I agree on this. Keep the salary cap where it is, as it makes teams have to think and prepare for future seasons, not just continue to have the best team. I know I cut a ton of salary this year to get younger, just a strategy I hope can win down the road. I am hoping to be a team in the running for one of those big names/contracts down the road too, so keep me in mind, lol.

[Chicago Cubs GM]

I agree with what Arizona has said. I think the $150M is already too high. What's the challenge in a salary cap league if you never have to worry about your cap?

[New York Yankees]

I think the $150M is just about right because I think the amount used in Mike's (Chicago) KNJL league is a little too small, where the 150M gives just enough room to really make moves but does require an owner to jettison those high salaries at some point. I am for leaving it as is.

We could go with some sort of money award based on team finishes like the KNJL uses, but from what I have seen of that, tends to be the rich getting richer.

[New York Mets GM]

I wasn't suggesting to do it every year. I wanted to have it be something we should leave open as a possibility; look at my old thread showing the increases over time. If we keep this league going for another 3-4 years 150M is going to be tiny.

[LA ANGELS GM]

I agree with the Mets...it may be something we just have to do in the next few seasons, but I am okay with where it is for now.

[Arizona Diamondbacks]

I'm all for leaving it open as a possibility in the future if we happen to need it. I don't know how long down the road that would be and it would be a bit difficult to decide when to make that call, but it's something I'm not ignorant to. Salaries have increased over time so it stands to reasoning that eventually our cap will become outdated and too low. As was said before, though, it should be fine for now and the short term future.

I don't have any statistics, but I'm curious how the current economic situation has impacted MLB salaries. I haven't followed all the contracts being given out that closely, but people have been saying for a while now that the contracts being out are shorter for less than money than before. Other than the superstar players who will always get theirs, all the other players are getting lower salaries. If that is all true I wonder how it will impact our league. Since fantasy leagues are mostly built around the superstars it may not have much of an impact at all, but I'm curious to see if it starts getting more affordable on average to fill out our 25 man rosters in the next couple of years. If it doesn't, there are always plenty of young players available who get paid peanuts.

[redsoxgm]

We should keep it at 150. Tom makes a good point, the high salaries are being curbed a bit, so our number should be good for a while. While the superstars are still being paid at the same rates, the marginal players, and even good players salaries have gone down a bit, as teams have been more cautious with their spending. I know I haven't even come close to touching 150 in the 1.5 years I've been in the league, and I'm sure that is true for others. While we could always change the cap in a few years, right now it is good.

[New York Mets GM]

Jan 19, 2010 16:49:30 GMT -5 redsoxgm said:

We should keep it at 150. Tom makes a good point, the high salaries are being curbed a bit, so our number should be good for a while. While the superstars are still being paid at the same rates, the marginal players, and even good players salaries have gone down a bit, as teams have been more cautious with their spending. I know I haven't even come close to touching 150 in the 1.5 years I've been in the league, and I'm sure that is true for others. While we could always change the cap in a few years, right now it is good.

Look back to the stats I gave last year. Using real numbers I showed how drastically salaries have increased and that is even before the Yankees/Boras have ruined it for everyone. The average player salary in 1990 was 600k, in 2000 it 1.9M and in 2009 it was 3.15M. If things continue at even a slower rate than this we can expect to see 5M average salary not to far down the line. And since we are cutting out players who aren't being payed well, since this is a fantasy league, is it far fetched to think that the average salary of a fantasy player could be 7-8M? If we keep the salary cap where it is now in the future expect to see big names on the free agent heap as no one in the league can afford them. Think of what the next generation of player's A-Rod or Bonds is going to get paid... $45M..... $50 higher? Not too crazy to think about considering A-Rod is getting paid $33M and people 10 years ago would have thought that was absurd or unbelievable.

I think the salary cap raise in inevitable. Every real league with a cap has changes it each year based on income; we don't have income so we would have to base it on players.

[Arizona Diamondbacks]

I do wonder about that. Salaries have certainly increased and quite sharply. However, I did read something interesting on the ESPN message boards today. I didn't verify if it was true, but someone posted this and no one disputed it.

"Not so fast. In 2003 the players received 63% of baseballs total revenue in salary. That number has dipped to 51-54%. Salary is coming down. The division in salary structure is broadening immensely. In fact, 14 of the top 25 contracts were dished out in the early 2000's. There is a finite percentage that owners are willing to pay out. When that goes down, like it has with the economy, player salaries go down. The top tier might not feel it as much, but they still feel it. See the top contracts again. All from the steroid hay-day."

If any or all of that is true salaries may not be a huge worry for us in the near future. Down the line we may still have to do something about the salary cap, but as I was hoping it may be we don't have to even worry about it for the short term future. Only time will tell. That's why it's smart to certainly leave increasing the cap in the future as an option, but I'm hopeful it's not something we'll have to worry about for at least 5+ years. And who knows, this league may not even still exist at that time.

[New York Mets GM]

Not so fast. In 2003 the players received 63% of baseballs total revenue in salary. That number has dipped to 51-54%

That doesn't prove anything; that could simply mean teams are making more money. Look at actual salaries instead of percent of revenue.

[Arizona Diamondbacks]

I don't know, I don't really know anything about it. Whether that part is true or not isn't really important anyway. The part that I was most interested in was when he said 14 of the top 25 contracts were given out in the early 2000's. Again, I have not confirmed anything and I have no desire to because it makes little difference if what he said is true or not. I would hope that other than the Yankees, teams are generally giving out fewer ridiculous contracts like ones that were given to Todd Helton several years ago. I don't know if this is fact, it's just wishful thinking backed up by absolutely nothing.

It doesn't really matter if any of what that guy said is true or not since we can't change anything regardless. I think we're mostly all in agreement that nothing needs to be done right now but something may need to be done down the line. All I did was offer the slightest bit of hope that "down the line" may be later rather than sooner. Only time will tell.

[New York Yankees]

Issue is closed...there will be no salary cap changes for now. We can relook at the issue in future seasons.