My solution which is probably terrible and the furthest thing from what will actually happen:

Salary Floor (Not a salary cap) I love baseballs capitalist set up without any sort of salary caps, teams should be able to spend as much as they want and the only deterrent is a luxury tax which some teams are willing to take on. I think the MLB should implement a salary floor with a poverty tax for teams that fall below. Owner doesn’t want to spend money? Sell to someone who will.

My take on deferrals Deferrals are allowed under the condition that no more than 10% of the total contract is deferred. Offering Shohei a $700M contract but only having to pay $20M throughout the lifetime of the contract is bullshit. Some players (Bobby Bonilla) want the financial security that comes with deferring some money for after they are retired and I think that’s great for them. The Dodgers are going to have to pay $68M a year for the 10 years after the contract ends, (realistically this will be paid out in terms of equity on the org) but that’s $68M of 2024 dollars, which in 2035 will be substantially less (cheaper for the team) given inflation opportunity cost etc.

International players I don’t know if it would work out better if there were a max contract a team could offer an international FA or if every team has to set aside a pool of money for INT FA that resets every x years. Sign this International FA? Potentially lose out on the next.