The Miami Marlins aren’t spending on payroll. Could that cause them trouble?
On multiple occasions throughout his seven years as principal owner of the Miami Marlins, Bruce Sherman has said that the club “will spend money at the right time, I guarantee it.”
Those were the exact words in his latest iteration of the phrase in November after he and president of baseball operations Peter Bendix introduced new manager Clayton McCullough.
Well, it might be time to make some sort of investment if the Marlins don’t want to risk potentially being in hot water by the league or the MLB Players Association.
The team so far this offseason has spent more time trading from the roster than it has adding to it. Left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo, who was projected to make $6 million this season via arbitration, and infielder Jake Burger, who still wasn’t eligible for arbitration, are the two headliners who departed the team over the past month via trades. This came after the Marlins dealt six players at the trade deadline who still had team control — including infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers, outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and relievers A.J. Puk, JT Chargois and Huascar Brazoban — for prospects.
Could that put the Marlins in hot water with the league and/or the MLB Players Association? Perhaps.
According to MLB’s collective bargaining agreement with the players association, teams that receive revenue sharing (like the Marlins) are required to have a luxury-tax payroll that is at least equal to one-and-a-half times the amount they received from the revenue sharing process or else be subject to a potential grievance by the MLBPA. It should be noted that failing to hit this mark does not automatically mean a grievance will be filed, just that there is a greater risk of penalty should the players association decide to file a grievance.
According to the Athletic, the Marlins are expected to receive roughly $70 million in revenue sharing this season, which would put their minimum payroll requirement at about $105 million.
As of Friday,the Marlins are projected to have a payroll of about $82.8 million for luxury tax purposes, per FanGraphs. That would be the lowest in baseball as it stands. That number is broken down as follows:
▪ $11.2 million for right-handed pitcher Sandy Alcantara (the average annual value of his contract, even though he is slated to make $17.3 million this season).
▪ A projected $10.2 million for five arbitration-eligible players: outfielder Jesus Sanchez ($3.2 million), starting pitcher Edward Cabrera ($2.2 million), starting pitcher Braxton Garrett ($1.8 million), catcher Nick Fortes ($1.6 million) and relief pitcher Anthony Bender ($1.4 million).
▪ $15.5 million for two players with guaranteed contracts no longer on the 40-man roster in Avisail Garcia (whose contract had an average annual value of $13.25 million) and pitcher Woo-Suk Go (whose contract had an average annual value of $2.25 million).
▪ $3 million owed to the New York Yankees from the Giancarlo Stanton trade (an annual payment that will occur for three more seasons).
▪ A projected $21.28 million for players on the 40-man roster who have MLB experience but are not yet eligible for arbitration and/or are on nonguaranteed contracts and thus all could make the league minimum in 2025.
▪ A projected $2.5 million in estimated salary for 40-man roster players in the minor leagues.
▪ A projected $17.5 million in player benefits.
▪ A payment of $1.666,667 into the league’s $50 million prearbitration bonus pool.
In order to hit the $105 million threshold, the Marlins would need to spend about another $22.2 million on the payroll.
Will they do it? The Marlins have been mum about their plans.
When asked after the Marlins traded Luzardo if he plans to spend more money or has the authority from Sherman to do so, Bendix replied: “I’m not going to comment on what we might or might not do. Bruce continues to give us all the resources we need to build this franchise for sustainable success.”
How revenue sharing works
Per MLB’s rules as laid out in the collective bargaining agreement, teams pool 48 percent of the revenue they earn, and the total amount is then split evenly and given to each team.
According to the collective bargaining agreement, money received from revenue sharing shall be used “in an effort to improve performance on the field.” Teams that receive revenue sharing money have to submit a report by Aug. 15 each year they receive money establishing the “performance-related uses” to which they used the money. That report, according to the collective bargaining agreement, needs to include “a statement of the Club’s strategy for competitive improvement, aggregate revenues, payroll, non-payroll costs, and operating profits, both planned and actual, over the recent past and projected for at least two years.”
What happens if a grievance is filed?
If a grievance is filed, an arbitration panel will consider at minimum the following five topics when determining if a team should be punished.
1). The club’s expenditures on scouting, player development and player payroll
2). The club’s long-term strategy for improving competitiveness
3). The uses that the club has historically made of revenue sharing receipts
4). Any material adverse changes in local revenue
5). The overall financial position of the club.
According to the collective bargaining agreement, the burden is on the MLBPA to show the club’s use of revenue sharing money was in violation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.
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