Does MLB need a salary cap?
Fans often cite that MLB is in need of a salary cap in order to keep the Yankees from cherry picking the best talent. Indeed, before the beginning of the 2009 season, the Yankees acquired free agents CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett for a total of $423.5 million in multi-year contracts, a staggering sum.As a point of clarification, all four of the major sports leagues in North America have some form of salary cap, including Major League Baseball. The NFL has had a hard cap in place — with the exception of this year where the league will see the cap removed leading up to labor negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The NHL also has a hard cap, which has just been set to move from $56.8 million to $59.4 million next season with a salary floor of $43.4 million. The NBA and MLB both have soft caps in which salary thresholds are set and teams that exceed those figures pay a tax. The idea behind the soft cap is that by penalizing clubs, overspending will be kept i
