How Would a Salary Cap Affect Cardinals in 2027?

What would the Cardinals' payroll look like if this was imposed?

Sep 30, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; (L-R) St. Louis Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Sr president Bill DeWitt III designated hitter Albert Pujols (5) president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and manager Oliver Marmol (37) pose for photo during a ceremony to celebrate Albert Pujols 700th career home run before a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

The 2027 season is being threatened by a potential lockout. In the ongoing labor war between the owners and MLB Players' Association, there is one issue that has risen above the rest: a salary cap. Major League Baseball is the only professional sport without a salary cap and floor. Owners have claimed that a salary cap might make things more fair and create more parity among teams.

Some fans are on board with the idea after witnessing the Los Angeles Dodgers win back-to-back World Series titles. The players view it as a non-starter.

The St. Louis Cardinals are an interesting case. They shed payroll last offseason to kick off their rebuild and have one of the lower payrolls in the league. In fact, according to spotrac, their current payroll sits at $91,804,067, which raises the question of how a cap and floor system would affect St. Louis.

How cap and floor system would affect Cardinals

Earlier this summer, the owners proposed a $245.3 million salary cap and a $171.2 million floor. The idea of a floor is that certain owners of small market teams will be forced to spend more money as opposed to keeping a low payroll. The cap obviously would put a limit on how much salary a team can have on its roster.

Based on the cap and floor requirements, the Cardinals are not anywhere near the proposed cap, and have room to spend more, though it's highly unlikely they will want to even get close to the potential cap.

The floor is where things get interesting. If the floor is $171.2 million, then the Cardinals would have some work to do in free agency once the lockout ends, as they are well below that mark. In a sense, it would force teams such as the Cardinals to spend more money so as not to be penalized.

However, a cap isn't necessarily needed. When the Cardinals won their World Series titles in 2006 and 2011, they weren't spending on the level that the Dodgers are now. They built those teams from within and supplemented them from the outside. They even managed to beat teams that were outspending them by a lot.

Another example is the Houston Astros. They never went too crazy in free agency, yet they still won two World Series titles and four American League pennants. In truth, the Cardinals and Astros are proof that a salary cap is not necessary.

But if a cap and floor system were introduced, St. Louis would have to spend a lot more to be at or over the floor and wouldn't have to worry about getting anywhere near the cap with the way they currently are operating.

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