Rizzo: Teams are treating luxury tax like a salary cap
Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo questioned if MLB teams are more concerned about finances than winning World Series titles on Wednesday.
Rizzo specifically took aim at clubs dealing with competitive balance tax issues.
"I think the luxury tax wasn’t meant to be a salary cap, and teams are treating it like that," Rizzo said, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. ‘"Are you sacrificing winning a championship to be under the tax threshold? Who knows? We don't know that."
Ironically, the Cubs are one of those teams. Chicago owned the third-largest payroll in the majors last season and was reportedly hit with a $7.6-million penalty.
"You’ve seen it the last two years with us: we haven't gone out (and signed big free agents)," Rizzo said. "But the few years before that, we’ve gone out and signed megadeals."
Chicago missed the postseason last year after averaging 97 wins between 2015 and 2017 - a stretch that included three straight NLCS appearances and a 2016 World Series championship.
The Boston Red Sox also missed the playoffs after boasting baseball's biggest payroll in 2019. The club subsequently traded 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and five-time All-Star lefty David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a cash dump, just one season removed from a title.
"It's crazy," Rizzo said. "There's how many teams in baseball that are the teams you expect to spend money every year?"