This is how you get the bottom teams in the standings to spend more money on FA players - take away revenue sharing for not meeting certain minimums for roster payroll. The current problem with free agency is that teams would rather not pay free agents and tank to get better down the road but they are still eligible for revenue sharing when their fans don't show up to see their triple A ball club playing in the MLB. If the owners are only worried about making money, they will think twice about not signing available free agents that would help their club and put fans in the stands if the alternative is losing out on revenue sharing. If they are willing to sacrifice money in their pocket to guarantee a higher draft pick and more international pool money, that is their choice. Along with this I think a hard salary cap that is updated every 5 years based on a percentage of the total MLB revenue should be enacted. There would need to be some sort of transition over several seasons to give the teams time to adjust to whatever the cap is initially set at. The MLBPA can bargain for what that percentage of total revenue should be to help their cause in free agency. Combined this fixes some issues with current free agency where the big spenders want to avoid a luxury tax and the rebuilding teams don't want to spend on good FA players unless they are ready to build around a core of younger players. There could be some sort of tier system based on salary as a percentage of total team revenue that affects what percentage of the revenue sharing a team can get. This way if a team is in rebuilding mode they can decide how much revenue sharing they are willing to give up for a better chance at tanking.
This is how you get the bottom teams in the standings to spend more money on FA players - take away revenue sharing for not meeting certain minimums for roster payroll. The current problem with free agency is that teams would rather not pay free agents and tank to get better down the road but they are still eligible for revenue sharing when their fans don't show up to see their triple A ball club playing in the MLB. If the owners are only worried about making money, they will think twice about not signing available free agents that would help their club and put fans in the stands if the alternative is losing out on revenue sharing. If they are willing to sacrifice money in their pocket to guarantee a higher draft pick and more international pool money, that is their choice. Along with this I think a hard salary cap that is updated every 5 years based on a percentage of the total MLB revenue should be enacted. There would need to be some sort of transition over several seasons to give the teams time to adjust to whatever the cap is initially set at. The MLBPA can bargain for what that percentage of total revenue should be to help their cause in free agency. Combined this fixes some issues with current free agency where the big spenders want to avoid a luxury tax and the rebuilding teams don't want to spend on good FA players unless they are ready to build around a core of younger players. There could be some sort of tier system based on salary as a percentage of total team revenue that affects what percentage of the revenue sharing a team can get. This way if a team is in rebuilding mode they can decide how much revenue sharing they are willing to give up for a better chance at tanking.