Welcome to Part 2 of my series on salary caps (and salary floors) in baseball. Yes, some of you probably think that a salary cap in baseball stands a snowball’s chance in hell of being adopted. You may be right, but you may also be surprised to learn the reasons why its so difficult to adapt the salary cap concept to baseball. Read on.

If you’ve read Part 1, you already know that I’m in favor of a baseball salary cap. You also know that this is my personal opinion, not necessarily shared by others here on IIATMS. In fact, if you read the comments posted to Part 1 from our loyal readers, you’ll know that there are plenty of people who disagree with me.

If you didn’t read Part 1, you may want to click this link and read it. You’ll learn (probably to your surprise) that baseball experts consider baseball’s “luxury cap” to be a salary cap (it may not be an effective salary cap, but it’s a cap). You’ll learn that there are “hard” caps and “soft” caps (baseball’s current cap is particularly soft), and that only a “soft” cap is possible for baseball. Finally, you’ll learn the most important lesson, which is that salary caps are always paired with salary floors. You can propose a salary cap without a salary floor, but it’s not a practical proposal, and it wouldn’t match what’s done in other sports.

OK, with these preliminaries out of the way, let’s look at some numbers.

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Being born and raised in the metro NYC area, I didn’t grow up listening to Ernie Harwell; we had The Scooter. So my heart breaks for those of you who grew up listening to the incredible Ernie, as did mine when we lost The Scooter. RIP, good man. We knew this day was coming but that doesn’t make it any easier:

Longtime Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, beloved by generations of fans who grew up listening to his rich voice, Southern cadence and quirky phrases on the radio, has died after a months-long battle with cancer. He was 92.

Said Harwell on September 4, 2009:

“In my almost 92 years on this earth, the good lord has blessed me with a great journey,” Harwell said at a microphone behind home plate. “The blessed part of that journey is that it’s going to end here in the great state of Michigan.”

Ever modest:

“I just want people to remember me as a guy who showed up for work and tried to do a good job,” Harwell told the AP weeks before he retired in 2002.

And for those looking for some of Harwell’s best words…. look no further than here as his conclusion from his Hall of Fame speech is just brilliant.

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Video below:

From Anonymous Player X, via ESPN this afternoon:

The thing most fans don’t realize is the players’ union actually encourages us to go for the best number, the biggest contract. We set our own market. If I were to give a “hometown discount” or decide I was happy with a lesser deal, I’d be screwing over other players. That’s why other power hitters are thanking Howard right now, because he just made them a lot more money on their next contract. That’s why I pull for every guy, no matter his position, to get every penny he can. After all, the owners make a lot more than we do.

No surprise here, but it was interesting (to me) to actually read a player’s account of the union pushing players to grab every penny they can. Said another way: “It’s about the money, stupid.” Yep, it sure is.

Let’s recap some of the non-fun events that’s been part of the Yanks’ world the last 24 hours or so:

• Javy Vazquez will be skipped the next time thru the rotation. Mechanical or mental, I’m not sure. Both?

Girardi said Vazquez’s recent struggles and the supercharged atmosphere of Yankees-Red Sox games factored into his decision.

• Cashman was more direct:

“Fenway Park is certainly not an easy place to figure yourself out,” general manager Brian Cashman said in explaining the move. “Detroit is not an easy place, either, because their offense is on fire. But we’re trying to find the right decision to make. it doesn’t mean this is necessarily the right course of action, but it’s the one we are going to take.”

[...]

“He’s frustrated and he’s hurting right now. He’s clearly better than this. We know it and he knows it.”

• ARod’s knee appears to be nothing worth worrying about:

Rodriguez said he experienced a little cramping in his right leg before he was lifted for a pinch runner in the ninth inning of Saturday’s game. He stayed in the dugout during New York’s 12-3 victory over the White Sox on Sunday and insisted Monday that he’s fine.

“Everything feels good,” he said.

Girardi first said Rodriguez just needed a day off after playing in New York’s first 23 games. After Cashman indicated Rodriguez felt something in his leg, Girardi said the three-time AL MVP was “a little bit stiff” but maintained he wasn’t injured.

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The Yankees started another series against the Orioles on Monday afternoon.  While the Orioles were coming off a sweep of the Red Sox, the Yankees quickly erased memories of that with a 4-1 win over their AL East rivals.  The Yankees’ victory came with help from one expected hero, CC Sabathia and one surprise hero, Randy Winn.

Jeremy Guthrie struggled against the Yankees last week, but on Monday he seemed to have their number early.  Sabathia seemed to be locked in as well, but he made a mistake early, giving up a solo homer to Matt Wieters to start the second inning.  The Orioles held the 1-0 lead until  bottom of the fourth, when the Yankee hitters finally got to Guthrie.

Alex Rodriguez started the fourth inning off with a single.  With two outs, Nick Swisher lined a long RBI single to right field, tying the game.  Brett Gardner followed with a single and Randy Winn, who only had one hit on the season, drove a huge three-run blast over the centerfield wall to give the Yankees the 4-1 lead.  Sabathia worked his way through eight innings and Joba Chamberlain came in for the top of the ninth to close things out.

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I don’t normally post here about on-the-field topics … but I spent some time last night looking at the Yankees’ schedule. The Yankees have come out of the gate with a terrific 17-8 start, but they have compiled much of this record against weak teams. The Yanks are currently completing a 21-game stretch played against five teams — the Angels, Rangers, A’s, O’s and White Sox – that are presently a combined 18 games under .500. Of these teams, only Texas has a winning record.

After the Yanks conclude their current series with Baltimore, they’ll enter what is arguably the toughest portion of their 2010 schedule, against the Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, Rays and Mets. These teams are currently a combined 24 games above .500. Of these teams, only the Red Sox currently have a losing record, and I’m sure that the Red Sox are a much better team than their record currently indicates.

So … I think we’re about to get a very good picture of what the 2010 Yanks are made of.

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C.C. Sabathia was devastingly effective dominant tonite against the O’s… and judging by the strikezone above, he should have had a few more strikes to his night… by my count, there were 11 pitches called balls that could/should have been strikes.

To give you an idea how efficient C.C. was, here’s his inning-by-inning tally:

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Forty-one pitches in innings 5-8. Yessir, thank you very much.

Sure helps ease the angst about losing Posada (calf strain; severity not known yet) and having Mo unavailable due to pain in his side. Joba filled in nicely, however, earning his first save of the year.

It is time for the second installment of the IIATMS Minor League Week in Review.  Thanks for the feedback so far and keep it coming!

Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees
Scranton went 5-1 in what was a very exciting week for the Yankees AAA team.  They started off with Jason Hirsh flirting with a no-hitter and went on to host Cuban phenom Aroldis Chapman on Wednesday.  Despite giving Chapman a 4-0 lead, Kevin Russo took the fireballer deep to keep the game close, setting the scene for Juan Miranda to give the Yankees the lead on his own two-run shot later on in the evening.  Scranton has the ability to win close games.  This year they are 10-3 in games decided by one run.

• Jason Hirsh (RHP) started the season slowly, but seems to have figured something out this past week.  He went 2-0, going 7.2 innings last Tuesday, keeping Louisville hitless until giving up a solo homer to Corky Miller.  He picked up another win yesterday, going seven innings and only gave up one hit in Scranton’s 4-0 victory against Norfolk.  He also gave up three walks in each game, but overall, Hirsh definitely turned some heads this week.
• Jesus Montero (C) continues his slow start in Scranton, he is 5 for his last 35 at the plate.  His average right now sits at .228.
• Kevin Russo (IF) had a good week, picking up two games where he collected three hits.  He had a homer against Aroldis Chapman and hit a triple yesterday.
• Romulo Sanchez (RHP) had a good outing on Saturday.  The Yankees lack of offense gave him the loss, but he went seven innings giving up just six hits and two runs (one earned).  He only walked one batter while striking out eight.

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Baseball needs a salary cap.

This is not the opinion of this blog site or anyone else associated with this site (particularly, Jason). It’s only my opinion as a long time Yankees fan.

Alert the media. “Yankees Fan Favors Salary Cap”

Pigs Fly! Snowball Fight In Hell! Clearly, anything is possible. Right?

Not really. The term “salary cap” is a vague and iffy term, like “affordable health care”, or “peace with honor”. Anyone can favor a salary cap, depending on how that cap is designed. My cap design will not be radical. I will try to design a cap that might be accepted (if not welcomed) by both the players and the owners. My design may not be loved by Yankees fans, but at least it won’t require the team to be broken up, or A-Rod to shovel snow in the winter to make ends meet.

But before I design me a salary cap, we have some prep work to do. We must understand what it is I’m trying to design. We need to understand how salary caps work, we have to bust some myths, and we have to see what salary caps look like in other sports.

We have a lot of ground to cover. We won’t try to cover everything in one post. There’s going to be “Thinking Cap – Part 2”, and maybe parts 3 and 4. Don’t hold me to a hard count. We’ll start with four things you need to know about salary caps:

1. Baseball already has a salary cap
2. Salary caps can be “hard” or “soft”
3. Only a “soft” cap is possible for baseball
4. Salary caps must come with salary floors

Let’s walk through each of these points.

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Playing their first game since Curtis Granderson was put on the DL with a groin strain, the Yankees didn’t miss a beat.  Phil Hughes continued to impress and the Yankee offense brought some power and pounded the White Sox for the 12-3 victory and another series win.

The Yankees picked up their first run in the second inning when Robinson Cano sent a double to right field and he scored when Brett Gardner singled with two outs.  Gardner then hit his first home run of 2010 over the right field wall in the fourth inning, giving the Yankees a 2-0 edge.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Yankee bats really started to heat up.  Back-to-back singles by Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher put runners on base for Cano, who sent his ninth homer of the season out of the park.  In the sixth inning, Teixeira singled again, but this time Swisher followed with a home run of his own, giving the Yankees a 7-0 lead.

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It’s been an odd month so far for the Yankees (but a good one). Some odd points–

To start off the season, the Yankees are 15-7, having played only 7 games at home.

Nick Johnson sits atop the leaderboard for walks, tied for first with Justin Morneau and David Wright. They each have garnered 21 non-intentional free passes. The difference is that while Morneau and Wright have dug in the batters box about 96 and 100 times–Johnson’s only done it 81 times. He’s basically lapping the field in walks per plate appearance. Fans relying on batting average will grimace when he walks to the plate–he’s hitting .138. Those in the know will chuckle, though when they see his .383 OBP.

Speaking of that–the only player in the major leagues with a lower batting average than Nick Johnson so far this season (minimum 50 at bats), is Mark Teixeira, who is batting .136!

On the other side of things, Brett Gardner leads the major leagues with 10 stolen bases, Robinson Cano leads the league in wOBA with a .498 mark and OPS @ 1.201.

Jorge Posada is second on the wOBA list for catchers, at .441, behind the resurgent G. Soto, and is doing it with a perfectly reasonable BABIP (.295). The other three at the top of that list have BABIPs of ,385 and greater (meaning Posada hasn’t been lucky!)

And after missing the first 6 home games, I’m going to my second game in 18 hours. Let’s go Javy!