00:00The Giants are not one of the teams that likes to spend a ton of money on their roster.
00:05The Yankees are, the Dodgers are, but now the Major League Baseball is proposing a salary cap
00:11that would, I guess, put those big spending teams at a disadvantage,
00:15and it's something that the Players Union doesn't like either.
00:19What's the story here?
00:20Well, this is the first sign of war in the MLB.
00:24This is something that the MLB hasn't proposed in a very long time,
00:27over 30 years since the last time that the MLB wanted a salary cap.
00:31And, of course, if you're the MLB players, that might be a banned phrase for them
00:36because you look at the contracts, $700 million for Shohei Ohtani,
00:40Juan Soto, $765 million.
00:42Those contracts are not possible with the salary cap.
00:45That's why you don't see them with the NFL and the NBA.
00:48And so this is just the beginning of what I anticipate to be a very highly contentious negotiation.
00:55So why now? Why is the MLB proposing this now?
00:57Well, if you look across the MLB, not in this season but in seasons past,
01:01the highest payrolls are often going to the World Series and are having success.
01:07We had Yankees, Dodgers two years ago.
01:09We had Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays last year.
01:13And so those are teams that aren't afraid to spend.
01:15But as you noted, you said the Giants.
01:20And there are so many other teams that are out there, the Guardians,
01:23the Reds, that don't spend a lot of money, the Pirates.
01:27And they're trying to make sure that, A, that there's a salary cap so that there is not a pay
01:32discrepancy,
01:33and, B, that teams are able to spend.
01:35So this is about parity.
01:37Exactly. Exactly.
01:38If you let the MLB say it, it's about parity.
01:42Randall, how worried should fans be about the potential for labor disruptions, interrupting games?
01:48I would be worried.
01:49I think so.
01:50I think I would be worried because both sides in yesterday's comments appear to be very strongly worded.
01:58But this isn't like with the WNBA, the WNBA, the Players Union was often striking.
02:03And over time, the league struck, like, you know, maybe nine months in.
02:07This is like right off the bat, where the Players Union came out and said,
02:10this is what we want, and the owners and the MLB have said, this is what we want,
02:14and this is going to occur over the course of a year.
02:16The WNBA had been negotiating for well over a year.
02:19I want to say 15, 16 months, if not longer.
02:22Can the MLB afford a strike?
02:24I mean, I remember there was a strike in the second half of 1994.
02:27Yeah, and it took a long time for them to mend fences with the fan community.
02:33So baseball's hot right now.
02:35They have a lot of international stars.
02:37I mean, Yankee Stadium is getting filled up consistently.
02:40They are the advancements, whether that be the pitch clock or other things,
02:45have brought the game to a new level.
02:47And so if you have a work stoppage, what does that do?
02:49It stops all momentum.
02:52But the players are not going to say we want a salary cap,
02:55and the owners are going to try to implement one.
02:57And that's going to be something that they're going to have to come to terms with at some point.
03:01I do think they will, but I anticipate a work stoppage.
03:05What do owners stand to gain the most from this cap system?
03:09Well, I would say the owners stand to gain.
03:12I mean, if you look across the NFL, for example, the NFL, anybody can go to the Super Bowl at
03:17any given year.
03:19That's why they say any given Sunday.
03:21In the MLB, you can kind of anticipate that, hey, you know, this team is spending a boatload of money.
03:26Now, it doesn't always work out that way, that the stars align,
03:29and, you know, a team with a billion-dollar payroll is going to go to the World Series.
03:32But it certainly increases the odds, whereas, you know, you have a team that might be spending $200 million, $300
03:38million,
03:39and they don't have the same luxuries.
03:42And so what ends up happening is that a player, let's say, for the Cincinnati Reds,
03:46is going to say, hey, I'm a free agent.
03:49I want to sign back here.
03:51And the Reds say, look, we're not going to pay you that.
03:53So what do you do?
03:53You go to open market.
03:54You talk to the Dodgers.
03:55You talk to the Yankees.
03:56You talk to the Blue Jays.
03:57And then you go back to the Reds, and they say, well, the Yankees are offering me $250 million.
04:01And the Reds are going to be like, well, I guess you're going to New York.
04:03And that's what the MLB is trying to avoid, because if there's no salary cap,
04:06then, of course, the Yankees and so many other teams are going to be offering nine-figure deals.
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