I'm not cheering for Pena's salary. I'm cheering for his wins, though I understand that money and wins are tied together. I'm all for a true salary cap with revenue sharing such that most teams are spending about the same such that players could be paid what they are worth regardless of service time, etc.. Versus a system that pays players appropriately, today's minor leaguers and pre-arb players would make more. Some arb players would make more, some less. Almost all players that make free agency would make less in a fair system over what they make today. While MLBPA did get a better deal for younger players, they still made sure to keep the status quo of young players get paid peanuts while the veterans make more than double the $/WAR than MLB average.
Admit it or not, MLB teams are on a budget. It is a soft budget, but a budget. The key to long term success is bang for the buck with your resources. The most cost efficient players are those under club control. Next are arbitration year players, and then, surprisingly, are veterans past thirty. Then comes First time Free Agents. Blending Club control with FA years has advantages and risks. So far I have been pleased they are looking for long term success and not following a boom and bust (all-in window) philosophy.
Play your best players against the best pitchers. The playoffs are coming up and it would be nice to see what they can do against elite pitchers.
I know you’re not cheering… its the others who want to directly compare the two vis-a-vis salary, and that’s more an indictment of baseball’s current system vs. anything else. I’ve long been for an early max contract (team option) vs. early free agency (team declines option) for younger players… especially on teams that won’t even try to keep young/talented players long term and are merely grooming them to be traded. Teams would pay more than top dollar for 25-28 year old talented free agents, and that would keep average salaries where the MLBPA is happy. Of course if a player decides to not accept an early team extension, they’d be relegated to the current system.
