John Henry is Blowing Smoke

Since John Henry purchased the Boston Red Sox, a lot has gone right there. He has set up an organization that has delivered two World Series titles after not winning any since 1918. But when it comes to his comments about a salary cap in major league baseball, he looks like a dope.

MLB has the next best thing to a salary cap and that is a revenue sharing system that "fines" teams like the Yankees when they go over a certain limit. It also shares revenue equally to all teams from revenue derived by MLB.com and MLB.TV. That share equals roughly $26 million to each team.

Because of such a system, MLB's parity is unrivaled by even the NFL. If you don't believe the Fan, listen to Jayson Stark's argument. Do we need to say more about the Bay Rays? Diamondbacks? Twins? The system is working. The revenue sharing has allowed lower to middle market teams to lock up young players. Let's look at a few:

• Twins: Joe Mauer ($6.25 million), Justin Morneau ($8.4 million), Michael Cuddyer ($5.9 million).
• Royals: Gil(ga) Meche ($11.4 million), Zack Greinke
• Reds: Aaron Harang ($6.7 million), Bronson Arroyo ($4.6 million)
• Indians: Travis Hafner ($8 million), Casey Blake ($ 6.1 million)

The one area that needs to be fixed is the draft. You have a supposed limit and some teams stick to it and others don't. It needs to be fixed so that the playing field is level. But other than that, the MLB system is working just fine.

Of course, Henry, who seems fixated on what the Yankees spend, didn't seem to put out a salary cap story after the Red Sox outbid everyone on Dice-K.

A salary cap is a bad idea and the players' union won't go for it anyway. As much as everyone hates the Yankees to spend like they do, they build interest in the game and put people in the stands at visiting parks. And that's what pays teams to be able to stockpile their young talent like Morneau and Mauer to name a couple.

You've done a great job, Mr. Henry. Now cork it. Okay?