If MLB leaders want to save baseball, stop changing rules and make tickets affordable

Instead of making up silly rules about how many batters a pitcher has to face and threatening to add the DH to the National League, MLB ought to do something that really helps the game and its fans.

Here’s a simple suggestion that would make a big difference (that I readily admit would never be adopted in a million years): Players cannot be traded if they are owed $100 million or more or have five years or more remaining on their contract from the team that signed them.

It would help bring some financial sanity to the game and give owners pause when they pass out $250-$300 million contracts to know they had to live with the consequences of their actions. Ticket prices are too expensive for the average American family because of artificially inflated contracts. Exhibit A and Exhibit B are the contracts of two players reported to currently be on the trading block. Nolan Arenado signed a deal potentially worth $260 million over eight years just one season ago. Left-handed pitcher David Price was on the verge of signing with the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2015 when the Boston Red Sox declared they would top any other offer to sign the pitcher.

Too many times in the past, teams have passed out mega deals they don’t intend to honor. Arenado has an opt out that he will most certainly exercise as did another mega contract player traded two years ago, former Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton.

If you recall, Stanton held the Marlins hostage because of his guaranteed deal, complete with a no-trade clause. He forced Miami to accept a lesser trade package from the New York Yankees instead of the one they wanted for Stanton from the Cardinals. Of course, they eventually came out on top, convincing St. Louis to give up the same package for left fielder Marcell Ozuna who was so unremarkable the Cardinals refused to offer him more than a one-year contract extension.

Of course, Colorado is no stranger to overextending itself. Former shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was an albatross on the Rockies ledger for years before finally suckering the Blue Jays into taking his contract. It seems some teams have decided that there is always a sucker to bail them out of a bad deal, so they offer players more than they can afford to pay in a relationship that is doomed to fail.

Baseball needs to lower ticket prices

So what? Why should we save the owners from themselves? The owners aren’t the victim here, it’s the fans who have to pay $80 for a ticket to a bleacher seat at Busch Stadium to pay the freight of the overheated contract market. The reason we’re seeing gimmicks like the NL designated hitter and rules designed to speed up the game in order to make it more appealing to casual fans isn’t the problem.

Baseball is a beautiful game that has captured the attention of millions of people over the past 150 years. It’s not the game that’s the problem. It’s the affordability of being part of Major League Baseball that’s the problem. And no wonder MLB wants to kill minor league baseball by severing its relationship with the team. As baseball prices itself out of the market, grass roots baseball is a serious threat.

Unfortunately, money is the main motivating factor when it comes to changes in the game. I can’t image the Major League Baseball Players Association will ever accept any sort of limits on contracts even though players like Albert Pujols, David Wright and Derek Jeter and countless others have received mega contracts from teams that have had no intention of trading them. In fact, my arbitrary proposal wouldn’t even restrict a Price trade because he’s only owed $96 million, placing him under the arbitrary no-trade threshold.

I think a rule that made teams be committed to the phantom contracts they hand out like Halloween candy might make them think a little bit more about the consequences of their actions. And, even if they don’t, there will eventually be a day of reckoning then the 39-year-old players they owe $35 million a year to are marooned on their roster. If nothing else, it would be a good start.

Scott Wuerz

Belleville News-Democrat

Scott Wuerz has written “Cheap Seats,” a St. Louis Cardinals fan blog for the Belleville News-Democrat, since 2007. He is a former BND reporter who covered breaking news and education.