Cleveland Guardians not one of four teams opposed to MLB luxury tax increase

Four teams were reportedly against an increase to MLB’s luxury tax threshold, but the Cleveland Guardians were not one of them.

This week, Major League Baseball’s owners gave their “best and final” offer to the union, which was dismissed with ease as it did little to address the actual issues at play during this lockout.

But within that offer, the first threshold on an increased competitive balance tax was moved up to $220 million, up $10 million from 2021 yet still far below the players’ goal of $238 million.

There still remains a comically large gap between both parties and the owners continue to do everything they can to prevent having to pay the players more money across the board. But apparently for four MLB owners, that last offer by the owners went too far in giving the players what they want.

According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the Angels, Diamondbacks, Reds, and Tigers owners all opposed this level of a luxury tax increase. It’s surprising in the sense that teams like the Angels and Tigers have never been strangers to spending money, but also not surprising in the least to find that billionaires are once again allergic to parting ways with any money whatsoever.

It may come as a surprise as well to find that the Cleveland Guardians were not one of those four teams opposed to the increase of the CBT threshold. That’s not to say the team would be thrilled about a CBT increase, as that would theoretically hurt small-market teams (we should probably stop calling them that) who are typically opposed to spending more money. And that’s not to say some of these other teams weren’t opposed to a CBT increase, but simply figured the writing was on the wall and this was going to happen no matter what, leaving the posturing to the four teams mentioned.

Either way, we now have at least some idea who the most vocal opponents are among the owners. And we also have a little more insight into just how cheap some owners truly are, as Major League Baseball even wanted to include meal money and player stipends into the luxury-tax calculations this round, further angering the players.

Both sides remain far apart on a new deal, and it appears everyone is girding their loins for an extended cancellation of games, at least through the month of April. There will eventually need to be 23 owner votes for a new CBA to be ratified, but with a number of owners who think this latest bad-faith offer by MLB already conceded way too much (there are certainly others who haven’t been as publicly opposed yet), we could be waiting a while for the season to start, if it does at all.