Complaining about teams not overspending on players who are viewed as declining assets is not going to fix the problem. Owners will not and should not be guilt-tripped into giving bad or risk-laden deals. No, this is on the players. When it comes time to negotiate, they must work to regain leverage lost.

Some ideas:

Consider removing draft-pick punishment from the competitive balance tax. Unlike other popular professional sports leagues, MLB does not have a salary cap. But owners seem determined to treat the current edition of the luxury tax as if it is a hard cap. Suddenly, teams that used to spend big are now treating relatively minor competitive balance tax penalties as if they can sink a franchise.

Teams seem to overlook that the World Series champion Red Sox surpassed the luxury tax threshold of $197 million in 2018. Their penalty of nearly $12 million is a parking ticket compared to winning the World Series. But because the Red Sox were more than $40 million over the tax threshold, their first pick in the upcoming draft dropped 10 spots. If there is one thing teams despise, it’s draft-related punishment. Eliminating that might encourage more teams to spend beyond the threshold. Players who want more money should ask themselves if punishing teams for spending is the right message to send.