Hard Salary Cap: Would this work?

[rexrowland]

I am in year 2001 in a fictional league that began in 1876, and I am finally toying with the idea of implementing a hard cap. I use the setting for having the financials change with each coming season.

Since I can see basically see in the financial settings what the average payroll would be 15 years in the future, it seems to me that I should be able to come up with a hard-cap figure based on these future payroll numbers, implement the cap immediately, and just let the salaries catch up to the cap figure over the next decade. The thinking is there would be no sudden jolt to the financial system, as no teams (and no players with 15-year contracts) will be affected for quite awhile.

Does this make sense?

[Pelican]

I think your gradual approach to a salary cap does make sense. As far as what a hard cap will accomplish, that's a tough question - in OOTP and IRL. The players argue that a cap will penalize the best individuals, without promoting parity or even raising other salaries. A cap does not force cheap teams to spend. The Dodgers and the Yankees might not be as dominant, but the Pirates and the Rockies won't be any better.

A hard cap will likely lead to more long-term deals, if your financial structure permits it. Teams will avoid the annual salary cap by spreading money over more years, even after the player retires.

I would prefer a system that comes closer to paying a player what he is worth, when he is worth it. That would be a big change to absorb. Instead of arbitration and free agency, a top rookie would get many millions of dollars. Aging veterans though would not have to get paid more in their declining years. It would be radical for baseball, even though other sports work more that way. Front-loading contracts does accelerate costs for the MLB team balance sheets. I wish I could devise such a scheme in OOTP.

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by rexrowland

I am in year 2001 in a fictional league that began in 1876, and I am finally toying with the idea of implementing a hard cap. I use the setting for having the financials change with each coming season.

Since I can see basically see in the financial settings what the average payroll would be 15 years in the future, it seems to me that I should be able to come up with a hard-cap figure based on these future payroll numbers, implement the cap immediately, and just let the salaries catch up to the cap figure over the next decade. The thinking is there would be no sudden jolt to the financial system, as no teams (and no players with 15-year contracts) will be affected for quite awhile.

Does this make sense?

If you have a league that started so long ago then this probably goes without saying, but create a backup of your universe or a quick start and test it first. I haven’t put a salary cap in the game in several versions but what I used to find was that teams simply ignored it. Moves were not made to stay under it. Your gradual approach sounds like a sound idea though and maybe that will be what the game needs to make the feature work. Good luck.