Royce Lewis' Quotes Are Half-Right about Baseball’s Contract Structure

[Peter Labuza]

Image courtesy of © Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Of all the next generation of potential Minnesota Twins stars, none has created a flurry of debate more than Royce Lewis . Like many recent Twins, part of his story has been one of perpetual injury, limiting his play. But when he finally arrived, few could deny the sheer talent he quickly demonstrated. An overall #1 draft pick, Lewis’s initial numbers succeeded beyond any other recent prospect promotions in the club. He also cemented a legendary status with his two home runs in the first Minnesota Twins playoff win in 18 years. 

More so, Lewis has acted like a star. He has an effervescent smile and charisma that lifts the team up. Before the 2024 season, Jake Mintz of Cespedes Family BBQ declared him the most likely MLB player to appear on The Bachelor. (Royce is happily married; don’t expect to see him there.)

But as Lewis’s struggles became less a product of unfortunate injuries and more prolonged as an issue of technique, he has also made comments that have raised eyebrows. Rather than simply dismiss the comments as those of someone who perhaps could use more media training, they deserve nuance to understand the context in which a player like Lewis has come to see the system in which all he can control is his swing.

First, the comments. 

September 2024: As the team collapses and plays its way out of a playoff berth, Carlos Correa suggests that several players failed to step up. Lewis retorts to the media, “It falls on the players, but I didn't think it fell on just us” further qualifying, “especially the young guys - the cheap guys is the best way to put it." During these final two months, Lewis slashed an abysmal .207/.265 /.337 .

February 2025: During the offseason, Lewis appears on Inside Twins. A harmless fan question asks about whether Lewis would make “day in the life” TikToks as Bryce Harper has done (though many of us have concerns due to Harper’s interest in Raw Milk). “If I was lucky enough to sign a contract like Bryce, I’d love to do stuff like that…maybe for me I’ll join him one day, but for right now I’ll focus on baseball.” The implication is that, as a rookie with concerns over arbitration, Lewis must focus on developing his earning potential, while stars on contracts like Harper can do whatever they want.

August 2025: After a trade deadline that sent away 38% of the active roster, Lewis was suddenly hoisted into a leadership role despite his young age. His struggles are continuing through all 2025 with starts and stops of promise. Although his defense had significantly improved, cameras caught Lewis bashing his helmet after another flyout to the left field fence against the Athletics. 

Lewis hit a grand slam and make a highlight reel worthy throw to the home to tag out a runner the next night, but his mind earlier in the day was on changes to his swing. As he tells the media scrum, anxiety over arbitration and how the Twins might use it against him are concerns:

Quote

It’s always hard. I know (Michael) Harris (II) just did a significant change. Being under contract probably helps because he knows what he’s making that year and the year after. For someone like me, I’m fighting (to take) care of myself and my family. I don’t want to put any of those stats in jeopardy. I’m trying to do what’s best as fast as possible. But feeling like I’ve been on an island, it’s kind of tough.”

To break down these incidents, I want to consider this from two angles. Is Royce right about what matters to Royce? But more so, is Royce right about what matters to all baseball players and the league?

On the personal performance, it’s strange to think Royce would feel worried about trying to adjust his swing. He spent the entire offseason improving his defense, enough to cement that as his position for some years, especially after the team tried to push him into learning second base on the fly. And given that so little of his swing has worked this season, what’s a week going to do in arbitration? Obviously, due to his previous injuries this year, a week of plate appearances does represent a significant amount of work. But as Aaron Gleeman noted, “It doesn't even make logical sense to avoid adjustments and help.”

But the bigger question in all of this is how Lewis seems to believe his entire career is in peril without an extension. Michael Harris II was looking like an all-time dud earlier this season before turning it around—and notably did it by adjusting his swing. But for Lewis, it’s a secured contract that would enable such a choice.

This is where Lewis remains generally right about baseball: new rookies emerge every year and often outplay the rest of the league. Until the recent bonus pool was added in the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the most they could earn over three years was approximately the minimum salary. While arbitration years finally see increases, the process remains notoriously contentious. Attorneys on both sides argue before someone who might never watch baseball, much less understand advanced statistics. Josh Hader famously discussed how the Milwaukee Brewers used the “Blown Save” stat to lowball his salary despite an otherwise stellar record.

At the same time, numerous teams have shifted their strategy toward early extensions: rookies such as Jackson Merrill, Jackson Chourio , and other players not named Jackson have seen extensions even before seeing a single pitch. These players essentially trade away the worries that Lewis continually has called out—having to feel the weight of responsibility to perform while knowing each swing could determine your earnings—in exchange for losing likely millions by forgoing the free agency payout. (Notably, Lewis’s agent is Scott Boras, who has consistently pushed his players to go to free agency rather than sign an extension.) And yet, the Minnesota Twins have not engaged in this trend with pre-arbitration players since Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler. Instead, they now trade players before they can each the second year of arbitration.

Free agency remains a quandary for baseball; players on monster contracts rarely play better than their arb years. On average, Harper had better seasons in Washington than he has in Philadelphia. Beyond the fact that contracts like Harper’s are meant to cover half the years with the back half as a prayer for average play, the real issue is that teams should be paying much more during those arbitration years that set up their contracts in free agency. And unless players fight for the best numbers possible, it can limit other future free agents. Pair this with an impending CBA fight after the 2026 season where the owners seem dead set on limiting free agency through the use of a salary cap, and it only adds to the complication.

Baseball’s experts have often discussed ways to fix this system, whether getting to free agency earlier or—as Travis Sawcheck noted—revisit an old idea proposed during the 1994 strike to essentially turn arbitration offers into an open market. Dave Cameron once proposed a safety net for players as a way to avoid the whims of arbitration.  And there does seem to be a growing divide in player sentiment between the union’s focus on the top 1% and those players belonging to a shrinking middle class, playing season to season on one-year deals. 

But the question is how to fix the issue. The obvious answer would be for Royce to go back to doing what he did in 2023: smash a record number of grand slams again. More importantly, none of us should be out there criticizing Lewis for speaking out on the issues that concern him. For every media-trained player who only sees it as their job to say the most boring comments of all time, Lewis is speaking to what—intentionally or not—many of us worry about: player treatment in the league, especially on a team that has more often than not valued cheapness rather than the quality of their play. And for Lewis, every play can be another highlight to be played during a trial that his own trusted confidants, who are the ones trying to “fix” his swing, might use against him.

However, if Royce wants to find a solution, there is a way: it involves thinking beyond himself. His Pittsburgh Pirates colleague Paul Skenes , who is currently on minimum salary on an equally ownership kneecapped team, ran for and won a spot the MLB Players Association negotiation committee for the upcoming CBA. (Pablo Lopez currently serves as the Twins' player representative.) Players like Skenes realize that Lewis’s problems are not just those of his own unfortunate circumstances; they represent those of all players—not to mention more and more workers among all trades—who live in a state of precarity. If Lewis wants to secure a more stable future, perhaps the answer lies beyond his swing.  

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[The Mad King]

Royce needs to worry about staying healthy and avoiding slumps. His compensation issues aren't really anything he's going to get sympathy for.

[Fatbat]

Great article!  Baseball does indeed need a salary fix for its young players. Some sort of built in way to force a bridge contract to buy out arbitration years. 

much like rule 5, a certain # of players with ( x ) amount of mlb time could elect free agency thru a rule (y) draft but teams could protect (z) amount of players by signing them to a bridge contract thereby keeping them out of the draft. 

[tony&rodney]

Lewis was drafted #1-1 in 2017. He signed for a bundle, $6.725M. Even if he was only able to pocket half the money he should have made a few investments where his signing bonus worked for him. 

The MLBPA will have its hands full negotiating the next CBA. One would think they could see long term benefits of increasing the compensation for first year guys and/or decreasing the years of control for players. The balance will be both interesting and precarious. Hard to say what tact each side will take in the conversations. 

If a person making $1.6M has trouble taking care of their family, money might be the least of their concerns. 

[terrydactyls]

I think that Lewis makes a very valid point that a mid-season tinkering with his swing might cause a downturn in his performance for a period of time.  And that downturn could easily be used against him in an arbitration.  The whole process of bad-mouthing a player in order to force him to accept a lower offer seems counterproductive to me.  Actually the entire salary system seems out of whack.  In order to afford free agents that might help your team, the owners have two choices:  1. Pay your younger players minimum wage where a player like Paul Skenes has the same salary as SWR, or 2) be willing to shell out whatever it takes to get a prize free agents.  I have no answer to this conundrum.  But it needs to be addressed in the CBA.

[Mike Sixel]

It's not true numerous teams have done big early extensions. There have been thirty in the history of the game. 

[thelanges5]

MLB could also use a salary floor. This may help alleviate the gap between the Lewis's and Harper’s of the world. 
 

Royce should make $2.5-$3mil in arbitration this offseason? If he can improve his offense the same way he did his defense and stay healthy, he and the Twins will benefit in 2026. 

[Rod Carews Birthday]

A far bigger concern, and a much easier group to empathize with, would be the players who were NOT high draftees with big bonus money.  Royce should have real money in the bank.  Not sure Julian or Varland or most of the members of the AAA team can relate.  

[jkcarew]

Only themselves to blame. The union is…and always has been, dominated by the top-end of the money earners. The guys who have made it to their max payday. They’ve never prioritized the young major leaguer or the minor leaguer in negotiations. In fact they’ve done the opposite, conceding to ownership on issues related to the those players to ensure top $ potential for the top-end veterans. This seemed to change ever so slightly with the last CBA. But will it continue?

No problem with Royce speaking his mind on it…although his 2025 production and the massive bonus at signing don’t make him the most sympathetic actor to raise the topic.

[Dman]

I tend to agree with Royce at least on changing your swing mid season, not the money part.  I seem to remember both Aaron Hicks and Buxton getting so much swing advice it made them worse. In the end they needed to think less and react more.

To change a swing it takes ton's of reps and you need to maintain timing etc.  That seems best worked on in the offseason to get it all down rather than bat horribly as you try to figure it out in season.

While I get what he is saying money wise.  He might have larger issues than arb raises. There is competition for his spot not far away.  If he doesn't perform he might not be a part of this team and might have trouble catching on somewhere else.  It all gets fixed though if he just hits better and while he had some good months in June and July his August numbers have been miserable.  Maybe don't change the swing mid season but it sure looks like something has to change or he loses value altogether. I think we can find someone who can do better than a .664 OPS.

It still feels like he pressing to me.  When he first came up the confidence was there and he let the game come to him.  He was more selective at the plate.  He just hasn't been the same this year.  I still think he could have a beastly bat, but he needs to be a tougher out than he has been and he needs to barrel more balls.  If I'm Royce I'd do whatever I can to get better.

[TNtwins85]

Minimum salary is $760000 per year. Paid over 6 months. That’s $4k per day. If he’s worried about taking care of his family on his salary he’s not getting any pity from 95% of the population. Sounds like he needs to stop taking Boras’ calls and just play baseball. It’s crazy how much money goes to the top players but come on. These guys are better taken care of than most CEO’s of major corporations. I understand the business of baseball but if he was doing what he’s supposed to do the money aspect falls into place. Let’s be honest. The money a team and player argue over is a couple hundred thousand on a million dollar salary. What they argue over is life changing money let alone the actual salary.

[Pat]

Interesting.  He can't take care of his family on $760,00+ a year plus per diem.  That is certainly hard to swallow. That is more like my lifetime income. 

[JADBP]

Royce’s problems all start in his head.  He has plenty of talent and skill.  He has a problem harnessing it.  
 

I agree. He’s already a made millions and is going to make millions more.  Little sympathy for trying to take care of his already wealthy family.  
 

I agree the union has the wrong focus.  BUT—The owners pay nearly $Billion contracts then complain that contracts are too high (and complain that small market teams don’t pay their players enough).  The owners need to police themselves. 
 

Both orgs, the ownership cartel and the Union, are complicit is their greed.  Owners in big markets want to make ever more profit and win ever more WS. And the top players all want that $300 million contract. This makes is increasing challenging and unfair for teams like the Twins, TOR, Rays, PIT, etc to succeed.  
 

ALL OF THIS IS RUINING BASEBALL!!  
 

What sense does it make to pay someone $30-40-50 million a year when many players are making $1 million or less?  
 

Sure, everyone in a while KC gets on a good run. But how many bad years are there in between runs?  
 

Compare this to the NFL or NBA.  The salary cap seems to be the one thing that can allow a team like the Vikings or Golden State to compete.  And those leagues are much better for it. I am guessing more players will get into the $millions faster with a cap.  We just need to even out the playing field.  And quit the Billion dollar contracts.  That’s just insanity.  

 

If the players and agents can’t see this, then too bad.  it could be a long strike but it has to happen. They can take zero if they don’t like competitive baseball. 
 

When will the many small market teams ever stand up the The NYY, METS and LAD?

 

Greed is the cancer that is ruining baseball.  

[darin617]

I'm so tired of all these Royce Lewis articles. If he was mashing the ball he wouldn't be talking about an extension because Scott Boras is his agent and would not entertain any contract talks until free agency.

It just shows you that Royce knows he's washed up and is wanting an extension to collect on all that free money.  If Royce is only concerned about money it will only continue to get worse for him. 

The smart thing would be to trade him if they could get a decent return. He's clearly not a team player with his unwillingness to work on his swing now.

[TheLeviathan]

An NHL style contract system would do baseball a world of good.

[DocBauer]

There's just way too much to unpack here so it's bulletpoint time.

1] I personally don't feel, generally speaking, that MLB mistreats their players. A rookie minimum salary of around $775K is downright envious. Add in daily meal allowances, treated like a king with quality travel/hotels, and other perks, they have it pretty good.

2] The minimum built in raises per year for a young player seems fair to me as well. They are still young, and many of them are still proving themselves for the long haul. I don't like debates that talk about early mega deals for someone that is a STAR right out of the gate. I've seen too many guys shine early only to then fail, or become hurt.

3] I'm not a fan of the arbitration process. While it's not always the case, it can be destructive in team/player relationships. As the system works TODAY, I'd rather see larger built-in increases for young players with riders such as games played, production rankings, All Star game selections, etc, to more greatly reward those younger players that truly excel. 

4] The NFL, and the NBA as well I'd say, though their various clauses and ceilings are crazy...prove the health of a league should be based on a more neutral financial "playing field".

In MLB, there are too many owners who just accept FREE MONEY from the current revenue sharing and just pocket it and seem to care very little about the on the field product. I'm still flabbergasted to this day how the MAJOR MARKET teams just seem to idly stand by for this. Though a few teams, the A's as a recent example, have been FORCED to add payroll just to allow this free welfare program to continue. 

But I remain just as flabbergasted as to the union being so absolutely BLIND about the health of the league and it's lesser players that aren't MEGA paid All Stars. The sport grows with better competition. Better, more exciting competition drives fans to watch, and increases IN HOUSE revenue as well as makes the MLB product even more desirable for TV deals.

There ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BE A SALARY CAP in baseball. But that cap could be $300M! But there ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE A CAP FLOOR along with greater overall revenue sharing. Maybe that floor is $150M? I'm just spitballing those numbers as they should be tied to a fair and equitable revenue sharing for all teams. Like in the NFL and NBA, revenue splits will vary sometimes due to TV deals and the such.

Should there be some sort of moratorium on delayed future contracts? Maybe. That's not where my concern lies currently.

I want a more level, financial playing field where it's up to the TEAMS to actually run their organization better. When you draft and development better, when you manage your roster and cap better, when you run your entire organization better, you can win. Yes, that sounds a lot like the NFL. But that's the model MLB should be following. 

The GAME is better when you even the odds at the beginning. Your team gets old, or top players get hurt, you guess wrong on some prospects, you might have a downturn, just like in the NFL or NBA. But if you run your team/organization well, you can be back in competitive mode in a couple of years.

A] There's still room to reward TOP players and FA and they still get PAID.

B] The lower tier players get paid better overall, partially because smaller market teams now HAVE TO, and also have the $ to do so.

C] Rookie minimum wage might bump a little. And I have ZERO problems with teams still having 5-6yrs of built in control, but you can ELIMINATE the whole mess that is arbitration with higher yearly bumps, potentially with escalator clauses as previously mentioned, and you might even cap control by AGE. For instance, no more control after age 28 no matter what age the player was when they debuted. 

EQUITABLE revenue sharing across the board with a CAP and a FLOOR, the elimination of arbitration, and some changes to control and built in salary increases for younger players. While there may be fewer $40M salaried players, the OTHER 80-90% of the league gets paid better. And the game, as a whole, is better due to better overall better competition. 

Shouldn't THAT be the goal for BOTH the UNION AND the OWNERS?

D] I think Royce gets dumped on a bit for some of his comments because he doesn't have much of a filter and is just very open and honest and sort of wears his heart on his sleeve.

EX A]: He didn't want to move to 2B mid season caused a lot of pushback. But what he actually said was he was afraid of blowing an important game doing so mid-season. He actually worked a ton at 2B this past offseason and then the FO said don't worry about it.

EX B]: His recent comments about arbitration and changing his stance, and how arbitration works are born out of frustration as well as truth. He didn't say anything that wasn't true. HOWEVER, he's also commented/admitted that his swing/approach don't feel right due to his previous injuries and he's still trying to figure out his swing/approach due to 2 knee surgeries and his larger, more muscular build post surgeries. 

I feel bad for the kid. He's gregarious, optimistic, hard working, talented, and by all accounts a good teammate. But he has endured setback after setback begining with his dual knee surgeries. I'm not going to demonize him if once or twice he's letting some frustration show through.

He worked very hard this offseason to improve flexibility to try and avoid additional soft tissue injuries repeating. It didn't work out the way anyone wanted it to, most especially himself. HOPEFULLY,  a 2nd offseason of the same will do the trick. 

I wonder, had he not had the hamstring issue just before the season began...and came back earlier than I thought he should have...what might his season looked like? Would we even be having this current conversation?

Yes, he needs to find a way to stay healthy. Yes, he needs to get some of his confidence back, IMO. But he also needs to find a stance and approach that WORKS for him on a consistent basis. Where can he find the balance and timing place for his swing to see the pitch and make good contact with a twice repaired leg and increased muscle mass? More hard work, and better health should allow the still only 26yo to still be very good, even if he doesn't achieve true greatness at this point.

But he's not wrong about arbitration being a mess. But the issue is FAR greater than just arbitration. It's about billionaire owners actually wanting to preserve and grow their investment/team and the millionaire players wanting the same, as well as looking out for that other 80-90% that they are supposed to be representing. 

The stubbornness and blindness of BOTH parties is almost beyond comprehension to me!

[Fatbat]

7 hours ago, Pat said:

Interesting.  He can't take care of his family on $760,00+ a year plus per diem.  That is certainly hard to swallow. That is more like my lifetime income. 

You need to ask for a raise.

[JADBP]

Dan Bauer:  good points, we are in very close agreement.  So, how does that lower tier of players get represented in the union?  If you look at the player reps, they are all pretty much the highly paid stars.  How many of them are honestly representing all the players making minimum wage? 

[old nurse]

So why would a swing change help a player who has shot legs for speed? A swing change would be trying to make yourself into the next Dave Kingman. I don’t think that would be prudent mid season.

Lewis has the wrong agent or the Twins are more than happy to take a wait and see attitude with a player that has spent significant time on the DL for 5 years in a row,  Now were ne a pitcher….. 

As far as greedy goes, fans complain the Pohlads are cheep and Lewis is greedy. That is just awesome.  

[Eris]

Hard to feel sympathy for a player who ranks in the bottom half of the league in production. Yes, Royce has had some unlucky breaks but if he was not a first round pick he would be in the minors working on his hitting. Not being willing to work with a hitting coach to fix weaknesses is not a positive thing. 

[Major League Ready]

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

3] I'm not a fan of the arbitration process. While it's not always the case, it can be destructive in team/player relationships. As the system works TODAY, I'd rather see larger built-in increases for young players with riders such as games played, production rankings, All Star game selections, etc, to more greatly reward those younger players that truly excel. 

There ABSOLUTELY SHOULD BE A SALARY CAP in baseball. But that cap could be $300M! But there ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE A CAP FLOOR along with greater overall revenue sharing. Maybe that floor is $150M? I'm just spitballing those numbers as they should be tied to a fair and equitable revenue sharing for all teams. Like in the NFL and NBA, revenue splits will vary sometimes due to TV deals and the such.

Doc, l thought you had a lot of good points.  Let's discuss the two points you made above.   I see the union as being very focused on things that mostly benefit the elite players.  The great young players that you discuss in point 3 are eventually going to make a 100 or 200 or 400 MILLION dollars.  In the last CBA, the league created a $50M bonus pool for prearb players that is divided up among a handful of players that are the most likely to go on a make huge money.  They could have just negotiated a higher minimum or made the distribution much broader.   While I have no problem with them getting a bonus, I just don't see this as a problem and 95% of the prearb players get nothing. Once again the league focused on the top 5%.  They could have given a $500K bonus to 100 players.

Now the floor.  If the Twins continue the sell-off and go full rebuild, they will be around $75M in payroll.  Do we want veteran SS blocking Culpepper, a veteran FA OFer blocking the myriad of OFers we have that are near ready?  Do we want them to replace Ryan and Lopez with free agents that would be far more expensive for the same production.  How does a modest revenue team rebuild under such a system?  As fans we call for the young guys that can contribute to future success to get a shot.  This would definitely stifle rebuilding.  There are ways around it like taking on bad contracts but is that what we would want the Twins to do next year.  Take on a couple dead weight contracts that take up a roster spot.

Another problem is that there are a handful of teams that would be losing money or breaking even at $150M in salary.  That would effectively make the value of those teams near zero.  It's incredibly unfair and would probably result in several lawsuits against the league.    

[Otaknam]

Lewis’ concerns right now should focus on how to regain his hitting stroke, not contract extension and arbitration issues. Right now he is a shell of his former offensive self. His swing seems slow to my admittedly unprofessional eyes, and he helplessly flails away at sweepers and seems overmatched too often. It surprises me when he gets two hits in a game, much less hits with any real exit velocity. I don’t know what has happened to him. If he doesn’t become the hitter we all saw early in his career, any worries over arbitration and contract will be moot, at least from the Twins.

[Dave Borton]

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/blue-jays-vs-reds/2025/09/01/776503/preview

Care to see what the Twins passed up to select Lewis?

Greene hunts him some Jays as the Reds take them on. Free game at link above. db

 

https://www.mlb.com/player/hunter-greene-668881

 

 

[AKTwinsFan]

If Royce has been on the field every day and not injured most of the time its not an issue. I believe if he had been on the field consistently the past 2 years in particular he would have been offered a extension. But if he can't stay on the field he won't get much interest besides a possible minimum deal or short term deal as a DH or something like that. 

[AKTwinsFan]

2 hours ago, Eris said:

Hard to feel sympathy for a player who ranks in the bottom half of the league in production. Yes, Royce has had some unlucky breaks but if he was not a first round pick he would be in the minors working on his hitting. Not being willing to work with a hitting coach to fix weaknesses is not a positive thing. 

He should by all means have been in the minors working on his swing. Think Torkelson of the Tigers. Baldelli doesn't seem to think it necessary to help players out by doing this. 

[NYCTK]

18 hours ago, JADBP said:

And quit the Billion dollar contracts.  That’s just insanity.  

First, there's never been a billion dollar contract in baseball. But regardless, why? Why are you against a player getting paid what they're worth? 

Ownership propaganda is already working. It's just this:

 

[DocBauer]

5 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

Doc, l thought you had a lot of good points.  Let's discuss the two points you made above.   I see the union as being very focused on things that mostly benefit the elite players.  The great young players that you discuss in point 3 are eventually going to make a 100 or 200 or 400 MILLION dollars.  In the last CBA, the league created a $50M bonus pool for prearb players that is divided up among a handful of players that are the most likely to go on a make huge money.  They could have just negotiated a higher minimum or made the distribution much broader.   While I have no problem with them getting a bonus, I just don't see this as a problem and 95% of the prearb players get nothing. Once again the league focused on the top 5%.  They could have given a $500K bonus to 100 players.

Now the floor.  If the Twins continue the sell-off and go full rebuild, they will be around $75M in payroll.  Do we want veteran SS blocking Culpepper, a veteran FA OFer blocking the myriad of OFers we have that are near ready?  Do we want them to replace Ryan and Lopez with free agents that would be far more expensive for the same production.  How does a modest revenue team rebuild under such a system?  As fans we call for the young guys that can contribute to future success to get a shot.  This would definitely stifle rebuilding.  There are ways around it like taking on bad contracts but is that what we would want the Twins to do next year.  Take on a couple dead weight contracts that take up a roster spot.

Another problem is that there are a handful of teams that would be losing money or breaking even at $150M in salary.  That would effectively make the value of those teams near zero.  It's incredibly unfair and would probably result in several lawsuits against the league.    

If the Twins do decide to tear the whole thing down...and I sure hope they don't...then I also wouldn't want a veteran SS blocking a prospect like Culpepper. But I believe there's still room for veteran depth options and clubhouse leaders. I believe in being aggressive with top prospects, but I don't necessarily believe in pushing them just for the sake of doing so. For example, there's a difference between Funderburk being up soon and even being pushed a little, and moving Tait to the Twins or AAA just because you can.

When I use $150M as a floor, I'm just tossing out a number that makes some sense to me. Maybe that number should be closer to $100M? But with equal revenue sharing across the league, I just can't imagine teams not being able to have a payroll above $100M as a floor. The NFL doesn't have a true FLOOR CAP, but all teams must spend 90% of the current CAP over a 3 year period, broken up how they would like.

I don't think any NFL teams spend that little over a 3 year period. But it does allow for a team to tank and rebuild. MLB could have a cap floor as I've stated, and whether it was $100M or $125M or $150M, I have a hard time believing an industry that brings in tens of billions of $ couldn't have all teams meet that minimum. 

However, I could understand provisions that that allow a team to be at a certain % below that floor as they rebuild. Possibly something like 25% below for a single season in a 3yr time frame, 15% below in another season, and 10% below in a 3rd season. But then not again for a 2-3 year period. That allows for teams that suddenly get old, suddenly have a bunch of injured players to move on from, and allows for a sudden loss of expensive players all at once who may sign elsewhere. This offers up a little financial flexibility for teams in re-build mode and doesn't FORCE them to sign guys they don't even want.

But again, actually, true revenue sharing across the league should allow all teams to at least be able to meet the minimum. But I'm OK with provisions as I've suggested above for temporary time frames during a re-build.

[JADBP]

We are very very close to billion dollar contracts. Ohtani at $700mill and Soto at $765 mill (with a possibility or reaching $800mill).

 

But you missed the point entirely.  What I am despairing about is the inequity of these contracts.  Can you see the Twins, Rays, CLE, BAL, heck, probably all but 3-4 teams able to muster up a $300-400 million payroll?  Of course not.
 

 Of course these teams are going to do better.  They can afford to have several of these magnificent players on their teams.
 

It’s not a guarantee of success—there are low budget teams that do well with good coaching and management.  But it makes the league very very unbalanced.  A few teams that perennially do very well and most teams struggling to find a “window” when they can effectively compete. The result is MOST MLB fans are rooting for teams (like the Twins) that have little chance of winning a World Series.  
 

The flip side is that if more teams can actually compete for championships, then the entire league has more fan engagement, not just 3-4 big payroll teams.  The whole of MLB brings in more $$$.  Everyone gets richer, not just 3-4 teams. 
 

Now MLB know this is a problem and has been trying to address it (with luxury tax, revenue sharing, and expanded wildcards). But they really have not made a dent in the problem.  Many teams still struggle with small payrolls in smaller markets.  
 

Again, there are exceptions with well-managed small market teams with “windows” (KC).

Compare this to the far more competitive NFl and MBA.  You must not remember the NBA in the 60’s-80’s. From 1957 to 1981, 3 teams (BOS, LA and PHI) won 75% of NBA championships. The NBA wanted to grow beyond that fan base and did-with aggressive changes.  In the last 10 years, 7 different teams have won the  NBA. Championship.  
 

 

 

[darin617]

21 hours ago, JADBP said:

Dan Bauer:  good points, we are in very close agreement.  So, how does that lower tier of players get represented in the union?  If you look at the player reps, they are all pretty much the highly paid stars.  How many of them are honestly representing all the players making minimum wage? 

IF every player has a vote the lower salary players will win the vote. This is the one time the 1% would get screwed.

[USAFChief]

23 hours ago, DocBauer said:

There's just way too much to unpack here so it's bulletpoint time.

 

I don't think that word means what you think it means.