Let The Revolution Begin!

First of all... MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

Second... I'm trying really, really, really, really, really, really hard to avoid my natural habit of commenting on the Yankees latest monstrosity signing. I shall resist. (See... I'm growing)

 

I've thought a lot about the system I introduced in my last blog and I'd like to take it a step further. I think the time has come where bantering on MLBlogs.com about the need for a salary cap is over and someone needs to come up with an idea.

 

Is my idea the right answer? I don't know. I'm not arrogant enough to believe I have all the answers, but I do believe that coming up with an idea is, at the very least, as step toward a solution.

 

I have only worked the system to figure out the market value of position players so far (pitchers will be coming soon). Basically, I divide 9 positive stats and 2 negative stats into 3 tiers. The top two tiers are given a value based on rarity and percentile, the bottom tier receives no value because it is not considered rare.

 

The percentile is then taken from the league minimum salary which is $390,000. The higher the percentile, the more money the player gets. For instance: Players who hit between 35 and 50 homeruns in 2008 makes up the top tier which is the top 1.3% in the league. That rarity is valued at $384,800. Therefore, the 10 players that fit into that tier earn that $384,800. Make sense?

 

There are also "Non-Performance-Based Bonuses" that can help a veteran or former superstar whose performance may not be what it used to be.

                MVP Award:                                      $1,000,000

                CY-YOUNG AWARD:                      $1,000,000

                ALL-STAR APPEARANCE:           $364,000

                GOLD-GLOVE:                                  $380,640

                SILVER-SLUGGER:                          $380,640

                WORLD SERIES MVP:                   $2,000,000

                ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:                $250,000

                CHAMPIONSHIP RING:                 $750,000

 

                5-YEAR VETERAN                          $500,000

                10-YEAR VETERAN                       $1,000,000

                15-YEAR VETERAN                       $1,500,000

                20-YEAR VETERAN                       $2,000,000

 

Mark Teixeira just signed an 8-year/$180million contract which makes his annual salary somewhere around $22.5 million per year (and that's all I'm going say about that). Teixeira is a great player, but is anyone worth $20 million a year?

 

According to this system, no.

 

Mark Teixeira would have a market value of $5,214,840. Now, this doesn't mean the Yankees are necessarily overpaying, all it does is give an idea as to how Mark Teixeira compares to the rest of the league. As a matter of fact, here are a few of the remaining free-agents on the market and how their 2008 market values compare to their 2008 salaries.

 

Player                                                 2008 Market Value                    2008 Salary

Bobby Abreu                                     $4,248,160                                         ($16,000,000)

Manny Ramirez                               $12,982,520                                       ($20,000,000)

Garrett Anderson                            $4,585,040                                         ($12,600,000)

Richie Sexson                                    $2,161,680                                         ($15,500,000)

Nomar Garciaparra                        $4,167,720                                         ($9,516,697)

Ivan Rodriguez                                 $14,722,760                                      ($12,379,883)

Adam Dunn                                        $2,880,560                                         ($13,000,000)

Ken Griffey Jr.                                   $13,925,480                                      ($8,282,695)

Pat Burrell                                         $3,156,840                                         ($14,250,000)

Jason Giambi                                     $5,785,600                                         ($23,428,571)

 

As you can see, there are some players whose contracts far exceed their value and other who are worth more. These numbers aren't exactly going to spark inspiration from the MLB Players Association (or Adam Dunn's agent), but it will stabilize the market. If this system had been in place for the last 10 years, the Yankees wouldn't have paid Jason Giambi $23 million a year to under-perform, nor would the Braves have paid Mike Hampton $15 million each year to sit on the disabled list.

 

Given this system, would the Yankees have still paid almost half a billion this off-season? Probably. But combine this value with a solid salary-cap, and maybe prices won't inflate every year and I won't have to sit at home all summer watching an alarming number of players earn more money in one game than I will in the next 4-years.

 

Okay, maybe I still will (I'm still a writer), but less people will.

 

So let this post be the start of an official movement. The idea's not perfect (YET!) but if you like it, pass it on, tell anyone you feel like telling. It's a long shot but maybe, just maybe, someone will hear it who can actually make something happen. We've always heard that the league wants to put us, "the fans," first. Now it's time to see if they'll listen to us.