Both are ridiculous. Baseball isn't strengthened by rules which allow a team like the Dodgers, and very soon the Mets and Yankees, to dominate by huge expenditures, unequal access to foreign players (including by cheating). I believe the salaries of most baseball players in MLB, and certainly the major destruction of the minor leagues, is driven by this system. It's like saying workers salaries in America would be harmed if Musk had to pay 35% of his annual income in taxes, rather than all the tax avoidance built into the tax code for rich people, or if investment bankers lost their carried interest exemption and had to pay full income tax rates on their $tens of million income. Fully guaranteed, and hugely deferred contracts for $half billion aren't good for baseball. They reduce, rather than increasing, the salaries of average MLB players. Baseball won't thrive, and likely won't survive with the current number of teams, if all but a few teams are reduced to Bill Gile's strategy of providing 'family friendly entertainment' with a team having zilch chance of winning.
