Chicago Cubs: Rob Manfred is up to his old tricks, yet again

I just couldn’t write another article on the Chicago Cubs tear down, or what Tom Ricketts is doing, or anything Cubs.  Not this week anyway. Instead we’ll look the looming issue of the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and how MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is at it again.  In all the trade deadline drama there was a proposal out of MLB that proves Manfred is just completely lost.

Coming off of the huge success that was the inaugural Field of Dreams Game, it seemed Manfred and MLB had maybe begun to turn the corner.  That would have been great.  So many daft ideas have floated out from the league offices over recent years that I’ve lost count at this point.

Some have died ignominious deaths, a few linger in the minors or independent leagues, others remain in reserve, as if MLB is some warehouse of stupid ideas. OK, sure, not everything you throw at the wall is going to stick.  But it would be nice if Manfred could at least hit the wall a little more frequently like he did with the Field of Dreams game.

However, there is one thing that Manfred can not screw up. That is the upcoming CBA.  This isn’t the time nor the issue for throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks.

Yet that’s exactly what Manfred did.  In talks with MLBPA, which are in the early stages, the League proposed a set of provisions that play the old bait and switch, Lucy with the football nonsense that went on during the last CBA negotiation.

Chicago Cubs: When a salary floor is really a basement

So the first part was the idea of salary floor.  That is something the MLBPA might find attractive and they’ve discussed as a possibility.  But it’s hardly at the top of the MLBPA hit parade of issues.

The argument for a salary floor is, supposedly, to keep teams from tanking their payroll and going into rebuilds for years on end.  Sounds great, right?

MLB’s proposal was for a floor of $100 million.  I’m assuming Manfred meant Luxury Tax Payroll.  Seems like a nice round number, doesn’t it?

However, even a cursory review of team Luxury Tax Payrolls reveals that low payrolls don’t equal rebuilds.  Just as high payrolls don’t mean a team is competitive either.

For example, the Brewers, Athletics, and Rays, are all in the playoff hunt.  The Brewers and Rays lead their respective divisions and the Athletics are two games out of the Wild Card and six games off the division pace.

Their Luxury Tax Payrolls are:

• Brewers: $108.3 million
• Athletics: $104.2 million
• Rays: $88.4 million

You’ll also note that exactly six teams are below MLB’s proposed $100 million payroll floor. Just six.  In addition, for 2021 the league average Luxury Tax Payroll level is $148.5 million.  So $100 million isn’t exactly a high floor, and that won’t likely play with the MLBPA.