MLB off-season news & notes thread

[Voight]

RT @JonHeyman Nats offered about $85M to Jansen (there were some deferrals tho)

Lerner's 5.2 billion must be tied up in a lot of places with all the deferrals he does.

 

[hockeykicker]

Lerner's 5.2 billion must be tied up in a lot of places with all the deferrals he does.

That tv contract legal battle between the nats and the Orioles is where a lot of it is

 

[KaseMeOutside]

I am hopeful the Angels are gearing up for 2018 free agency, at some point they gotta make moves to put some real talent around Trout otherwise he's going to leave and I would say his value to the franchise is higher than whatever they would pay out to get him some help

 

[BostonBob]

For those that think MLB doesn't need any sort of salary cap:

 

[Virtanen18]

For those that think MLB doesn't need any sort of salary cap:

What does that have to do with a salary cap?

 

[BostonBob]

For those that think MLB doesn't need any sort of salary cap:

What does that have to do with a salary cap?

from fangraphs.com:

Technically called the “Competitive Balance Taxâ€, the Luxury Tax is the punishment that large market teams get for spending too much money. While MLB does not have a set salary cap, the luxury tax charges teams with high payrolls a considerable amount of money, giving teams ample reason to want to keep their payrolls below that level.

The luxury tax remained relatively unchanged in the new CBA. The threshold level for the luxury tax will be $178 million in both 2012 and 2013 (the same as it was in 2011), and will be raised to $189 million from 2014-2016. And offenders will be charged the following tax rates, depending on how many years in a row they have been above the threshold:

First time: 17.5%
Second time: 30%
Third time: 40%
Fourth time and higher: 50%

Any team that drops below the threshold will reset their luxury tax rate, dropping them back down to the first time rate (17.5%) if they should happen to go over the threshold again in the future.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Cubs looking into trade for Tigers' Justin Wilson?

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

from fangraphs.com:

Technically called the “Competitive Balance Taxâ€, the Luxury Tax is the punishment that large market teams get for spending too much money. While MLB does not have a set salary cap, the luxury tax charges teams with high payrolls a considerable amount of money, giving teams ample reason to want to keep their payrolls below that level.

The luxury tax remained relatively unchanged in the new CBA. The threshold level for the luxury tax will be $178 million in both 2012 and 2013 (the same as it was in 2011), and will be raised to $189 million from 2014-2016. And offenders will be charged the following tax rates, depending on how many years in a row they have been above the threshold:

First time: 17.5%
Second time: 30%
Third time: 40%
Fourth time and higher: 50%

Any team that drops below the threshold will reset their luxury tax rate, dropping them back down to the first time rate (17.5%) if they should happen to go over the threshold again in the future.

I still fail to see why this is an argument for a salary cap. Though, an argument for a floor I can see.

Side question...Does the tax $ get split between the other owners?

 

[bleedblue1223]

Allocation of Taxes Paid:

On December 2 at the end of each contract year, the Commissioner's Office notifies every team that went over the tax threshold that they must pay their tax by January 21 of the following calendar year. The Commissioner's Office then redistributes this money in a standard manner. The first $2,375,400 goes to fund the players as described in the MLB Players Benefits Plan Agreements. Of the remaining sum, 50% will also benefit the players, but it will be put in a long term plan and accrue interest. Of the remaining 50%, 25% will go into the Industry Growth Fund to help the growth of baseball worldwide, and accrue interest, and 25% will be used to defray Club's funding obligations from the MLB Players Benefits Agreements.

None of the money goes directly to the owners. The only portion that the owner's receive is used to pay down the portion that they have to provide to the Players Benefits. Love it or hate it, the MLB has set it up pretty nicely. It restricts spending of most teams, and the couple that do go over the tax typically do not see much more value returned on it. The players and the game receive the benefits from the super spenders.

 

[sjsharks92]

I still fail to see why this is an argument for a salary cap. Though, an argument for a floor I can see.

Side question...Does the tax $ get split between the other owners?

I believe it is distributed amongst all of the non-luxury tax paying teams.

 

[sjsharks92]

Allocation of Taxes Paid:

On December 2 at the end of each contract year, the Commissioner's Office notifies every team that went over the tax threshold that they must pay their tax by January 21 of the following calendar year. The Commissioner's Office then redistributes this money in a standard manner. The first $2,375,400 goes to fund the players as described in the MLB Players Benefits Plan Agreements. Of the remaining sum, 50% will also benefit the players, but it will be put in a long term plan and accrue interest. Of the remaining 50%, 25% will go into the Industry Growth Fund to help the growth of baseball worldwide, and accrue interest, and 25% will be used to defray Club's funding obligations from the MLB Players Benefits Agreements.

None of the money goes directly to the owners. The only portion that the owner's receive is used to pay down the portion that they have to provide to the Players Benefits. Love it or hate it, the MLB has set it up pretty nicely. It restricts spending of most teams, and the couple that do go over the tax typically do not see much more value returned on it. The players and the game receive the benefits from the super spenders.

This is a much more detailed/better explanation.

 

[bleedblue1223]

This is a much more detailed/better explanation.

Wiki for the win.

http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/pdf/cba_english.pdf

 

[Virtanen18]

from fangraphs.com:

Technically called the “Competitive Balance Taxâ€, the Luxury Tax is the punishment that large market teams get for spending too much money. While MLB does not have a set salary cap, the luxury tax charges teams with high payrolls a considerable amount of money, giving teams ample reason to want to keep their payrolls below that level.

The luxury tax remained relatively unchanged in the new CBA. The threshold level for the luxury tax will be $178 million in both 2012 and 2013 (the same as it was in 2011), and will be raised to $189 million from 2014-2016. And offenders will be charged the following tax rates, depending on how many years in a row they have been above the threshold:

First time: 17.5%
Second time: 30%
Third time: 40%
Fourth time and higher: 50%

Any team that drops below the threshold will reset their luxury tax rate, dropping them back down to the first time rate (17.5%) if they should happen to go over the threshold again in the future.

Gonna go out on a limb and say all the owners of baseball teams could probably find money to spend on contracts if they wanted to.

 

[Voight]

That tv contract legal battle between the nats and the Orioles is where a lot of it is

This is true, good ole Scrooge McAngelos.

 

[BostonBob]

Gonna go out on a limb and say all the owners of baseball teams could probably find money to spend on contracts if they wanted to.

I'd say that would be an extremely strong limb.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Gonna go out on a limb and say all the owners of baseball teams could probably find money to spend on contracts if they wanted to.

I wouldn't say all.