Time for baseball to go trust busting

During Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, small businesses faced the problem of competing with monopolies. The plethora of monopolies led Roosevelt to go “trust busting,” once again promoting the foundations of a free market and competition among firms.

Throughout the 100-plus years since Roosevelt made the term “monopoly” solely relative to a board game, sports have figured out the scam, too.

Just take the Steinbrenner family, for example.

Last year, American League champions the Tampa Bay Rays had one-ninth the payroll of the New York Yankees. While it’s no secret to the sports world that the Steinbrenner duo and Yanks general manager Brian Cashman have ultimately no financial restriction, the Yankees are many experts’ favorite to win the American League year in and year out.

Basketball and football have figured out how to limit the reign of certain franchises via the salary cap, which forces teams to have a certain amount of money they are allowed to shell out for players’ earnings.

Baseball? No such thing – yet – but there should be.

While the topic has been discussed, free agency and the half-yearlong schedule are the only things that limit an organization’s dominance over an extended period of time. With no limit on the green, free agency – in the form of a team luring an ace or slugger away for a more lucrative contract – is all too common. Aside from chasing money, periodic injury – especially to pitchers – can haunt a club.

Contrarily, take the Dallas Cowboys, who have one of the highest payrolls in all of football. The only thing keeping owner Jerry Jones from going after multiple big-name free agents is the limit on his wallet, not what’s in his wallet. For the Cowboys, the cash that could be used as bait for a desperately needed linebacker has to be used to keep stars on the helmets of guys like Marion Barber III and Tony Romo.

There are, of course, your outliers to the law. Take Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian. This past season, Polian and the Colts accomplished an almost unheard-of feat, when they won 12 games for the fifth consecutive year. Free agency and the cap in the NFL make that almost impossible due to the constant come-and-go of players.
While the salary cap sounds golden from a fan’s perspective, it’s also enough to make personnel directors and general managers want to pull their hair out.

Take another hometown hero, or villain for that matter, Indiana Pacers guard Jamaal Tinsley. In addition to being nothing but a poor sport and bad influence off the court, teams not able to afford a player of Tinsley’s caliber keep him on the trading block. In turn, Pacers President Larry Bird is left with paying out Tinsley’s contract while he sits at home on game night.

The salary cap could have the answer to some of baseball’s big spending problems.