SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A handful of free-spending owners in Major League Baseball have made some of the game’s other owners a little nervous.
Players’ union head Tony Clark doesn’t mind that development one bit.
“Baseball is doing very well,” Clark said on Saturday as the first full slate of spring training games began in Florida and Arizona.
Clark’s perspective isn’t shared by all. There’s a group of owners — including Pittsburgh’s Bob Nutting — who believe that a recent jump in free agent spending is part of the reason smaller market teams, like the Pirates, struggle to remain competitive. It’s one of the reasons MLB recently formed an economic reform committee.
“It’s the single biggest issue facing the Pittsburgh Pirates,” Nutting told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday. “Competitive disparity, revenue disparity and payroll disparity are all real challenges.”
This offseason, salaries have risen following last year’s agreement on a five-year labor contract with the players’ association. Payrolls rose 12.6% to a $4.56 billion last year, breaking the previous record set in 2017, and are set to go even higher this year.
The New York Mets, entering their third season under owner Steve Cohen, project a payroll upwards of about $370 million — which would smash the previous high of $291 million by the 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Some so-called smaller market teams have even joined the spending surge. The San Diego Padres have been very active with free agents over the past few years, adding standouts like shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
Clark said that’s evidence that teams…