MLB could take another hit if Kyler Murray opts to pursue an NFL career rather than baseballGETTY IMAGES
The MLBPA's ongoing grievance against the A’s, Rays and Pirates over offseason spending is "evidence of just how elevated tensions are between the players and the teams" across the league, according to Cliff Corcoran of THE ATHLETIC. The competitive-balance tax threshold "isn’t a salary cap, but teams are treating it like one" for the second straight year. Teams are also "explicitly manipulating the service time of top prospects." Toss in the "potential fallout from the decision by the A’s 2018 first-round pick, Kyler Murray, to enter the NFL draft, which has renewed objections to the limits MLB has placed on signing bonuses and contract offers for amateur talent, and the ongoing travesty" of how both MLB and the MLBPA "regard minor-league salaries." There is "ample reason to expect that tension will only increase from here" (THEATHLETIC.com, 1/15). THE RINGER's Michael Baumann noted this winter a "troubling number of clubs have decided to place economic considerations ahead of fielding a competitive team." The "doldrums of last offseason, it turns out, weren’t an aberration," as free agents are "signing later, and for less." This trend "ought to trouble both players, whose salaries are declining, and fans, who are increasingly reluctant to come out to the ballpark." But with league revenues at a "record high, neither owners nor the league office that serves their interests have any incentive to change course." So far there is "no smoking gun to indicate that owners are colluding again, but just because they got burned by collusion before doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try it again." Maybe this offseason "will be a tipping point, when enough players get fed up with ownership twisting the system that they decide to do something about it" (THERINGER.com, 1/14).
TALE OF DIFFERENT CITIES: In Boston, Sean McAdam noted MLB has "done a great deal -- through revenue sharing and other methods -- to create additional parity among teams." Yet, the gap between big-market and small-market teams "continues to exist." The Red Sox next year will "sport a starting rotation that will collectively earn" $87.9M. To "put that into perspective, four MLB teams" -- the Marlins, Pirates, A's and Rays -- had, at the end of December, "committed less than that figure for their entire rosters" (BOSTONSPORTSJOURNAL.com, 1/12).
