MLB’s luxury tax has not kept pace with rising MLB revenues, Nathaniel Grow of FanGraphs explains. The luxury tax threshold grew from $117MM in 2003 to $178MM in 2011, but held steady there for three years before a modest increase to $189MM in 2014, where it remains today. The threshold was once set at 90 percent of the average team’s revenue, but now it’s only 63 percent. That threshold has clearly disincentivized heavy spending for several teams. For example, the Yankees’ payroll has stayed roughly the same since 2005 (hovering at around $210MM-$220MM), even as their revenues have skyrocketed. The luxury tax appears, then, to be limiting player salaries, which means the MLBPA could try to change the system in the next round of CBA negotiations, perhaps aiming to have the luxury-tax threshold tied specifically to each year’s overall league revenues. Here’s more from New York.
- The Yankees are closely watching infielder Jose Pirela as he continues his rehab assignment at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com writes. Pirela suffered a concussion in Spring Training. “I think he is doing better,” says Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “It’s something that we have discussed about what we might possibly do with him or not do with him, but obviously I think at-bats are important. He was out a month.” Last offseason, Pirela appeared likely to compete with Rob Refsnyder for the Yankees’ second base job, although those plans changed when the team signed Stephen Drew. The 25-year-old Pirela hit a solid .305/.351/.441 at Scranton last season before making a good impression by going 8-for-24 in his first cup of coffee in the big leagues.
- The Yankees ought to pay Alex Rodriguez his $6MM bonus for tying Willie Mays’ career home run mark, Steve Wulf of ESPN The Magazine writes. The team has kept its championship banner from 2009, a year when Rodriguez posted a .933 OPS in the regular season and hit six postseason home runs while taking PEDs. To deny A-Rod his bonus because of PED use would therefore be hypocritical, Wulf argues.
- The battle between the Yankees and A-Rod will be an argument about whether Rodriguez’s milestone 660th home run is about him or about the number itself, writes ESPN’s Jayson Stark. The Yankees’ position will be that the home run isn’t marketable because of A-Rod’s troubling legacy, while Rodriguez’s camp will say that the meaning of the number 660 (and the numbers 714 and 755) in baseball history and in American sports culture more broadly are bigger than A-Rod himself.
If the league would begin putting markers, or asterisks next to players which they are fairly certain, or proven PED users who are in the record books numbers? Then the NYY would have a case. As it stands now, I don’t see a case either and didn’t from the time it was 1st rumored they were going to attempt it. The league would have to attempt something along the lines of negating, or separating all PED user stats.
I agree. NYY knew the risks of what they were getting into when they signed that contract and should be held up to.
Like you said, if MLB took concerted action towards violating players by rescinding their stats, awards, or championships, things might be different.
That all being said, I think this next CBA negotiation is ripe for lockout/strike potential. 2016 will be an interesting year…
Think you might be right there with a lock out, or strike. PED’s and shares to players are just two of the reasons. Players may (will, like always) be more than willing to give away rights to recently drafted, or non drafted/non signed both US and international players, but for what we have been hearing could be on the agenda percentage wise they may seek? That would be a drop in the buck the owners would seek back in return.
I agree. I wouldn’t like to see asterisks next to Aaron’s or Mays’ records (each has admitting to using amphetamines). If we’re going to do that though, should we put an asterisk next to ever player who played before integration, something along the lines of “didn’t play against the best competition in the world?”
How about the yanks give 6 million to a charity alex chooses? Seems like a fair compromise to me.
I thought the same thing, but it’s also up to Alex. I can’t tell someone else how to use their money, but it might help the situation from a PR perspective if Alex was to give the money to say his Boys & Girls club from when he was a kid.
Wulf’s argument that the Yankees didn’t turn in their WS victory from 2009 is completely off base. We would have to have an awful lot of teams for a couple of decades turn theirs in as well, and Wulf is grandstanding . Personally, I’d give A-Rod his money and write it off to bad judgement. Take a little dramamine while you are doing it to ward off the nausea. Yes, the Yankees aren’t going to get the marketing bonanza they thought they were (and you can see the argument that A-Rod didn’t live up to his side of the bargain) but A-Rod as the unique capacity to bring everyone down to his level. Give him his money, walk away.
Just give him his money.
Already mentioned by kule, but Good faith would say give it to charity.
I dislike A-Rod intensely, but the Yankees are being ridiculous hypocrites. If they don’t want to be associated with A-Rod, they should cut him from the team. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.