[USML Announce] USML Rules Voting

[john.fruit at usbank.com]

Very good- I very much support the idea of a restrictive salary floor....I
don't like the idea of teams dumping my Memorial Day if they think they're
out of the race.


                                                                                                                              
                      JHWinick at aol.com                                                                                        
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                      usml.net                 Subject:  Re: [USML Announce] USML Rules Voting                                
                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                              
                      02/08/2004 01:37                                                                                        
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In a message dated 2/8/2004 12:15:29 PM Central Standard Time,
john.fruit at usbank.com writes:
 Also, could someone elaborate on the usefulness of having a salary floor?
 Is there a roster integrity issue beyond just unloading high-priced
 players
 to contenders? It seems like the salary cap already guards against
 over-aggressive dumping.
The intention of the anti-dumping rules was to guard against over
aggressive dumping on the part of both the dumper and the dumpee.  Since
the arrival of the Riptorns we have had an annual race to the bottom of the
league.  That has led to the trading away of not merely high priced
players, but the trading away of every reasonably valuable player that
doesn't possess significant undervalue.  If you look at the dump trades
made during the last few years, you'll see that the trading continues until
the non competitive teams have nothing left, whatsoever.  Last year,
potential keepers like Rocco Baldelli were traded away for minor leaguers
and other prospects with greater potential keeper value.  What you
invariably end up with is a race by, at most, 3-4 teams and the balance of
the league waiting for the year to end.  I would argue that the real evil
we're trying to address with the anti-dumping rules is not the accumulation
of talent by the top teams, but rather the complete depletion of talent
from the bottom teams.

We agreed upon a fairly lax salary cap so that we wouldn't unduly restrain
teams from moving players from their reserve roster or utilizing FAAB.  The
hope was that the salary floor would work in concert with the cap to limit
the extent of dumping.  What we found was that a liberal salary cap in the
absence of an effective salary floor meant that there was no true restraint
on dump trades.  Removing the asterisk loophole will fix the problem of
trades involving the most expensive players, but it will have no effect on
the dump trades involving large groups of sub-$25 players.  I would refer
you to the multitude of non-asterisk deals last year to illustrate the
nature of the problem.  Also, you can look at the rosters of some of the
teams that finished at the bottom of the league last year (particularly the
Riptorns) to see what results from no salary floor.  If you recall last
year there was a noticeable pause when the bidding hit $24 because people
were hesitant to create asterisk players.  When teams recognize that they
can indiscriminately dump sub-$25 players, that pause will more likely
become a full stop at subsequent auctions.

My goal with respect to anti-dumping legislation is to enhance the value of
the draft and in-season transactions like FAAB.  I honestly believe that is
where skill at playing this game is best reflected.  I have been
disappointed to watch most of the last few seasons ride on which team is
best able to pull off multiple dump deals.  I am not persuaded that this
element of the game should take on such a preeminent role.

I have been considering proposing a reduction in the salary cap to address
some of these problems.  I don't think that is an ideal solution although
it has worked in another league in which I participate.  I would prefer to
avoid going down that path, but will recommend we do so if we're going to
emasculate the salary floor.  The only alternative to a reduction of the
salary cap is to impose some sort of penalty on the teams that finish at
the bottom (i.e. reorganize the reserve draft to move the bottom finishers
to the bottom, reduce the FAAB budget of the bottom teams or impose a
monetary penalty) and I think those solutions are far worse than imposing
greater constraints upon the top team's budgets.

Jeff Winick