MLB owners have proposed a salary cap for the first time since baseball’s 1994-95 strike
Josh. Hi, good to see you. see you. Wonderful, excellent. I was awestruck when I walked in and I saw Captain, and it was so nice for him to be here and And uh just thinking back to my first spring training in ’82 and walking in and, and captains there and, and Just watching the way he goes about his business and knowing that he’s gonna be *** Hall of Famer naturally, but Just I, I learned so much in 2 years playing with, with the captain. That uh it it just. It It was, it was wonderful. I, I, I wish other guys had opportunities to watch Hall of Famers go about their business. And, and I, I had the pleasure of playing with uh Carl for two years. And going, wow, that’s, I mean, at the end of his career, but he was still the presence and even today, he is still the presence. I mean, he, he, he walks out and naturally he should have the biggest ovation. To stand with Yaz, Pudge, Ortiz, Rice, Pedro, you’re amongst the living greats of Red Sox history. How does that feel to be out on the mound with, with each other? May 26, 2016 was, was *** day that, that I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen. Sam Kennedy and everybody that were involved with making this happen. I was here for the retirement in 1984 with Ted. And I looked up and I and I said, well, you know, that that’d be kind of neat to have your number up there with the with the. Immortals But, um, It’s, it’s so special. It, it really is because. Uh, the, uh, I think the one thing that, that’s lost in transition is the fact that Mrs. Yaukey had offered me *** seven-year deal to stay with the Red Sox. For substantial money and then coincidentally her dying. And the offer was taken off the table, and I had to find employment elsewhere and. I think we kind of know how that storybook ended, but um, no, I, I never wanted to leave Boston. My heart’s always been in Boston and they know it and everyone from the ground up. Know it that. That Boston is the special place in my heart. Wade, we spoke several months ago about your health, wondering how you’re doing, how you’re feeling. Wonderful, wonderful. God bless Doctor Engleman and Doctor Heidenberg in, uh, Tampa, Florida, um. I’m uh. Cancer survivor now, uh, prostate cancer is, uh, null and void, thank God. Um, it’s ***, *** process that you have to go through, and I encourage. Oh Young men to get your PSA test. Please go out there because mine. It wasn’t even on the radar. It was at 33, and they don’t even start talking about it until it gets to 4, but I had the bad one, and we caught it early and it was *** process that I had to go through with the radiation and the hormone therapy, but other than that, uh, wonderful doctors and. Had my checkup *** month ago and I’m completely cancer free, so. Terrific. All right. Got to throw the knuckleball tonight in honor of uh Wakey. Yeah, I Actually, I didn’t balance it either, so. Let’s see that grip one more time. Love you, Tim, right there. Right there, yeah, it was, it was special. What do you reflect on when you’re in *** ceremony like that with all those legends and coming. It’s emotional. It grabs, it grabs you. And when, when, I mean, naturally, when I was 23 years old, trying to make the ball club out of spring training and you got Carlremski and, and Jim Rice and Dwight Evans and all these established players and you’re, you’re just *** kid and, and you’re sitting there going, wow, and then you look up and all of *** sudden, You’re, you’re there with Ted Williams and, and all the greats that have ever played the game and, and you’re part of that. Now you’re part of that. And And I couldn’t be more thankful, um, not only to the Red Sox, but God, and that, uh, he blessed me coming out of high school at 17 years old and I got drafted by the Boston Red Sox, so. What’s happening? What’s happening? I’m not watching the game. What’s going on, boys? What’s going on? Oh my God. So Pedro, what was that like just standing with all those other guys on the field who had their numbers retired? It is just, uh, humbling, humbling to know, uh. That you have become part of this legacy, part of the, you know, the legends that built all around Boston. It’s *** goose, goosebumps kind of moment. Uh, I, I did get goosebumps when I saw what Kyle Jastrenski was able to do, knowing what Jim Rice did, Wade Boggs, uh, uh, all of the play, the, the players, and, and Big Papi. Big Papi did *** lot of stuff. I, I’m glad I got to see it and be part of it, uh, so that’s why I, I probably don’t get overly excited. But at the same time, uh, seeing the history and, and the legacy that they left for us to finally fulfill for the city of Boston, uh, it, it, it’s just *** great honor, great honor to be part of it, part of the history, uh, to be counted as one of the legends here in Boston and the fans, the fans embracing us the way they did. After so many years and so long being away from the game, they still feel like the gratitude for everything that that we did for them and um. It couldn’t happen in *** better place. Pedro, *** lot of great memories of the past of this ball club. How do you feel about this ball club’s future? Uh, I feel great. I feel great. I, I, I, like everybody else, uh, there’s ups and downs. Uh, every team has years where you have ups and downs, confusion. You have *** lot of stuff that goes on, but, uh, hey, we’re Boston. If, if there’s um something we know how to do, stand up and fight. We have. This is our bleeping city. Remember that? We waited 86 years and we got our hearts broken in ’03. What did we do the next year? We came back and we fought and we got it. The city of Boston is known to be strong and to, to come back with the vengeance. This, this team, this city. This organization is gonna overcome everything that we’re going through right now and I, I, I, I’m extremely positive about it and if there is anything I can ever do to help out. I pray to God that I’m healthy enough to come and do that for the city of Boston because I love my Bostonians and we’re gonna be there just like they are for us regardless of how much we struggle this fan base is always there for us and we’re gonna be there for them and we’re gonna turn it around somehow and I hope the players feel committed just like I am. I hope everybody, the organization, management, everybody. Just stays committed to changing whatever is wrong with us and and I’m positive that we’re gonna do it. This is Boston, not any any other city. This is Boston we’re used to doing this and going through this. I hope it doesn’t last too long. But we’re gonna do it. Yeah, get that Boston. Yeah, yeah, what did you think of the front office taking Veritech off of the staff here and not knowing what’s next for you here, uh, uh, to be honest, uh. I, I, I’m not gonna go into details without knowing why because I haven’t really been inside the offices. Uh, I’m pretty sure they’re gonna let me know. Uh, there’s gotta be *** reason because tech means so much to this city just like every one of us, like, like David, uh, all of us that wanted to know for and the legends that were out there. Uh, to me tech is *** legend here and, uh. I’m not gonna go into details because I don’t know. If I knew, I’ll tell you straight up too. I’ll tell you why, but I don’t know. But, uh, very unfortunate that I don’t get to see my battery mate out there, uh, giving me *** hug or probably receiving the baseball from me when I threw it today.
Major League Baseball owners made their long-expected salary cap proposal to the players’ association on Thursday, a system the union has vowed never to accept, setting the sides on course for a confrontation that threatens the 2027 season and perhaps beyond.Baseball owners haven’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.The proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, with a salary floor of $171.2 million.”Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of local TV blackouts.”Management gave the union its latest plan during a bargaining session at the commissioner’s office, one day after the union made its economic proposal. Owners say a cap is needed to improve competitive balance and restrain the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and other wealthy teams from assembling starrier rosters than their smaller-market brethren.Players want expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum, increasing the money high-revenue teams share with the less-wealthy clubs and establishing penalties for teams that drop below payroll floors.Baseball’s current five-year deal, agreed to in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout, expires Dec. 2. While a lockout next winter is expected, talks are not likely to intensify until late February or early March 2027, when the possibilities of losing regular-season games and revenue near. If regular-season games are lost, negotiations may become a standoff of which side can tolerate the most economic loss.Other U.S. major sports leagues operate under a cap. The NBA had a cap in its initial season in 1946-47, then dropped that and began its modern version in 1984-85. NFL players and owners adopted a cap for the 1994 season, and the NHL did so in 2005-06 after a lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.The Dodgers shattered MLB’s spending record with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last year en route to their second straight World Series title. Los Angeles’ total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of the Miami Marlins, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.Players say a cap would hurt them and enrich owners, and they say they will never agree to one. Without a cap, MLB stars have landed lucrative, guaranteed contracts that outpace what the biggest stars in other U.S. sports leagues make. Juan Soto’s $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets is believed to be the biggest ever in team sports and is far greater than the largest deals in the NFL (Patrick Mahomes at $450 million over 10 years) and NBA (Jayson Tatum at $314 million over five years).MLB’s last salary cap proposal in 1994 offered players a 50-50 split of revenue in a system that would have forced teams to maintain payrolls of 84-110% of the average. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated and the threshold for free agency would have been lowered from six years’ major league service to four — with the provision that a player’s former club could match any offer until he had six years.MLB’s offer came on June 14 that year, and players struck on Aug. 12. MLB withdrew the cap proposal the following Feb. 6 after pressure by the National Labor Relations Board. The strike ended on March 31 after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor — now a Supreme Court Justice — issued an injunction restoring the work rules of the expired labor contract. Two days later, owners accepted the union’s offer to return to work without an agreement. A deal wasn’t reached until 1997.
Major League Baseball owners made their long-expected salary cap proposal to the players’ association on Thursday, a system the union has vowed never to accept, setting the sides on course for a confrontation that threatens the 2027 season and perhaps beyond.
Baseball owners haven’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
The proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, with a salary floor of $171.2 million.
“Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of local TV blackouts.”
Management gave the union its latest plan during a bargaining session at the commissioner’s office, one day after the union made its economic proposal. Owners say a cap is needed to improve competitive balance and restrain the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and other wealthy teams from assembling starrier rosters than their smaller-market brethren.
Players want expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum, increasing the money high-revenue teams share with the less-wealthy clubs and establishing penalties for teams that drop below payroll floors.
Baseball’s current five-year deal, agreed to in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout, expires Dec. 2. While a lockout next winter is expected, talks are not likely to intensify until late February or early March 2027, when the possibilities of losing regular-season games and revenue near. If regular-season games are lost, negotiations may become a standoff of which side can tolerate the most economic loss.
Other U.S. major sports leagues operate under a cap. The NBA had a cap in its initial season in 1946-47, then dropped that and began its modern version in 1984-85. NFL players and owners adopted a cap for the 1994 season, and the NHL did so in 2005-06 after a lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.
The Dodgers shattered MLB’s spending record with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last year en route to their second straight World Series title. Los Angeles’ total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of the Miami Marlins, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.
Players say a cap would hurt them and enrich owners, and they say they will never agree to one. Without a cap, MLB stars have landed lucrative, guaranteed contracts that outpace what the biggest stars in other U.S. sports leagues make. Juan Soto’s $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets is believed to be the biggest ever in team sports and is far greater than the largest deals in the NFL (Patrick Mahomes at $450 million over 10 years) and NBA (Jayson Tatum at $314 million over five years).
MLB’s last salary cap proposal in 1994 offered players a 50-50 split of revenue in a system that would have forced teams to maintain payrolls of 84-110% of the average. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated and the threshold for free agency would have been lowered from six years’ major league service to four — with the provision that a player’s former club could match any offer until he had six years.
MLB’s offer came on June 14 that year, and players struck on Aug. 12. MLB withdrew the cap proposal the following Feb. 6 after pressure by the National Labor Relations Board. The strike ended on March 31 after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor — now a Supreme Court Justice — issued an injunction restoring the work rules of the expired labor contract. Two days later, owners accepted the union’s offer to return to work without an agreement. A deal wasn’t reached until 1997.
