Question time: What rule change would you make to the MLB?

I’ve got a few things to get done and the Blue Jays aren’t making any news, which is not all that much fun for those of us like to write about the Blue Jays, so let’s have a question to kill the hours before this afternoon’s playoff game. What rule change would you make to the MLB?

Lately I’ve been thinking that I’d like to have a salary floor for MLB teams. I’m not sure it would be possible, but we have so many teams not trying to win, I’d like to change something. There are many teams ‘rebuilding’, modeling themselves after the Astros (who lost 100 games three years in a row). I don’t think that having teams who aren’t trying to win is good for baseball.

It might be tough to have a salary floor, when there isn’t a real salary cap, but maybe you could tie it to the draft somehow, make it that you can’t have a top five pick unless you spend X dollars in salary.

There have always been bad teams in baseball, but this idea that teams just punt seasons, saying ‘sorry for the pain, but we’ll be better in the future’ is a new thing. There should be a way for baseball to get rid of the incentive to lose.

I guess there is a fine line. The Jays could have signed a few more middling starting pitchers, but then those pitchers wouldn’t be around when the team got good, so why not throw a bunch of young guys out there and see if any work out. If you get lucky, you might have someone who will be around when the team gets good. If not, well you weren’t winning this year anyway.

I don’t know if there is a way, but I’d like teams to, at least, pretend they are fielding a major league team. Lie to me if you have to, but give me hope.

In my head I understand that when I’m watching the Blue Jays I’m looking for the future. “Won’t it be great when we get the pieces to go with Vlad, Bo and Cavan and have a competitive team.” But....I remember a time when teams called up young players and still kept a competitive team on the field.

You could change the way the draft works. Find a way not to give the worst teams the first picks. I’m not sure there is a way that works. It doesn’t seem fair

And, let’s face it, as much as we tanked this year, we still only get the fifth pick in next year’s draft. Four teams tanked better.

Maybe this year will change this idea that tanking is the way to win. Of the final four, the only one that has done the full rebuild and tank for years is the Astros. Maybe baseball if decide there is a better way. It seems everyone copies the way the last team that wins. If we get a different winner, maybe we’ll get a different blueprint to copy.

Anyway, what rule change would you make in the MLB?