It's interesting to see Frank Coonelly speak up in today's Post-Gazette in support of a salary cap, but only given his previous job and not his current one. I wrote up a long post at FanHouse on the subject just before the new year began and while I won't rehash every single step of the argument here, I do think that payroll disparity (and thus, a cap) is used as a crutch by uninformed fans and bad owners to explain why their team is so bad. It seems like Coonelly understands that, too, and the tone of his statements is, "I'll support a cap if Selig wants one, but otherwise we're pressing forward in the system as is."

It's not that I think a cap is a bad idea, it's just that a cap would only scratch the surface of what needs to be done in baseball. Time wasted thinking about the cap is time not thinking about getting a leg up on the league in Venezuela or not thinking about draft sleepers or anything along those lines.

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brian     |2009-01-04 07:18:20 so jay mariotti is going to fanhouse that should be interesting Reply | Quote 0   0

afail     |2009-01-04 07:37:47 people can argue all they want that bad decision making is why the Pirates are so bad. But the system is unfair because the Yankees are allowed to make bad decisions and we cannot. This sport needs a cap and while a smaller team can compete, the difference in margin of error creates a disadvantage. Reply | Quote 0   0

BigE     |2009-01-04 08:46:47 After consideration of the cap policies of the other major sports, it's obviously nuts to do it any other way. Reply | Quote 0   0

w.k. kortas     |2009-01-04 14:14:20 A cap is only a part--and, really, a small part--of the solution; it's the gross disparity in revenues (which dwarfs the current gap in payrolls) that has to be addressed in order to achieve any economic parity in the game. Reply | Quote 0   0

Tommy     |2009-01-04 20:53:16 I'd much rather have a cap than not have one, that's for sure, but it's not the only problem. I've always in fact blamed the Pirates' problems on a lack of a salary cap, until this last season, when Tampa Bay blew all my complaints out the window. I realized that if even TAMPA BAY of all teams, who I thought was more hopeless than the Pirates, could manage to make it to the World Series with a small payroll, then obviously it's not impossible for the Pirates to do the same. Reply | Quote 0   0

Marc     |2009-01-05 03:41:27 Not only did Tampa make it to the Series, they are poised to be good for years. They have their rotation from last year take out Jackson (weak link) put in Price (stud) they have the O. The minors have two very good pitching prospects, a very good SS prospect and many others. They ran their system the right way and are being rewarded for it. A cap would be good but it will be ugly getting there. I am indifferant toward a cap for these reasons.. Reply | Quote 0   0

gregschuler     |2009-01-05 03:50:33 A salary cap only legislates the amount of money a team can spend on player salaries. it does not legislate stupidity. The difference between the Yankees and Pirates is that the Pirates do not spend money on the team (still haven't from what I can tell). The Yankees do. They take all the monstrous profits they generate and plow it back into the team. Limitin g how much a team would be able to spend on MLB player salaries means the Yankees (and others) would simply have that much more money to spend on international signings, etc. That means the Pirates would simply be outmatched in other areas. The MLBPA is against a salary cap - so that means a work stoppage to get one. Even with a c ap, without revenue sharing, who cares? Could the Pirates afford a $80 million floor (as an example) or would they want to pay that much? Not likely. Baseball owners want one thing - to take down the union and make a lot of money. They think ... Reply | Quote 0   0

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