2023 Salary Cap Game Strategy

(Photo by David John Griffin/Icon Sportswire)

by Doug Gruber

A Salary Cap contest is one where every MLB player is assigned a monetary value, or salary. Players and their salaries are assembled into a roster within a total salary limit, or cap. BABS is perfect for this type of format, to identify highly skilled players with low costs to help us assemble the optimum team.

We have selected the Diamond Challenge (DC) contest as our example for applying BABS to salary cap formats. Formerly managed by CDM Sports and now part of the NFBC, the DC is a traditional 5×5 rotisserie format with 15-team leagues and an overall prize component.

For background, the main rules for the DC are:

1) Rosters consist of 28 players (18 hitters and 10 pitchers) based on pre-determined player salaries, with a $30M salary cap. Player salaries are unchanging for the season.

2) Lineups for batters include two players for catcher and each infield position, six outfielders and two utility players, who can be selected from any position.

3) Lineups for pitchers include six SPs, three RPs and one swing position…either a SP or RP.

4) Benches consist of 15 players from whichever positions at any salary level.

5) Lineups are adjusted weekly. For substitutions into/out of the starting lineup, the total team salary must remain under the $30M cap.

6) Positions will follow standard eligibility requirements, including additional spots earned during the season.

7) After the initial roster of 28 starters and 15 bench players are established, as many as 16 additional player purchases/drops can be made throughout the season.

To begin, you will need to grab the BABS Master Spreadsheet and a blank roster grid. Our goal…accumulate as many BABS assets as possible within the salary cap restrictions.

Simple math…28 starters for a $30 million cap equates to just under $1.1M average per player. The player salaries range from a high of $1.6M (Trea Turner) to a low of $400K, which are predominately minor league players. To roster a high-priced player like Turner at $1.6M and stay under the cap requires another player to cost only $600K. Or two players around $850K each.

To find the best values, I found it easiest to add a column for DC Player Salary to the left side of the Master Spreadsheet. We know that BABS players are listed from highest ranked asset group to lowest; it soon becomes visible who are the players from the top-rated asset groups with the lowest salaries.

Let’s look at two examples, one from a batter group and one from a pitcher group. Note that the DC Salary for each player has been added on the left (all values exclude ’000).

DC SAL
$000 BATTERS Pos Tm PT Pw Sp Av Pk Rg Av Inj Ex Nw Pk Ag Rg Risk
1420 Machado,Manny 3 SDP F PW AV 0
1320 Alonso,Pete 1 NYM F PW AV 0
1380 Devers,Rafael 3 BOS F PW AV 0
1360 Riley,Austin 3 ATL F PW AV 0
1290 Goldschmidt,Paul 1 STL F PW AV * Rg- 0.50
1130 Springer,George O TOR F PW AV inj- 1.00
930 Castellanos,Nick O PHI F PW AV inj- 1.00
960 Bryant,Kris O COL F PW AV INJ 3.00
DC SAL
$000 PITCHERS Pos Tm PT Er K Sv Pk Rg Er Inj Ex Nw Pk Ag Rg Risk
1280 Diaz,Edwin rp NYM E+ K+ SV Rg- 0.50
1270 Clase,Emmanuel rp CLE E+ K+ SV Rg- 0.50
1200 Pressly,Ryan rp HOU E+ K+ SV inj- 1.00
1220 Romano,Jordan rp TOR ER K+ SV Rg- 0.50
1120 Iglesias,Raisel rp ATL ER K+ SV 0

Using our benchmark of $1100 average cost per player, and a BABS reminder that players within each group have similar skills, the best values become evident. The three outfielders have the lowest salaries, with Bryant ($960) and Castellanos ($930) allowing us to bank about $300K versus the average that we need. With that savings, it could afford us a player like Rafael Devers or Austin Riley (pictured) at 3B if we chose to do so, and remain under our cap.

Continue the process searching for hitters with the lowest salaries who provide at least two assets and full-time at bats. Examples of players who fit that criterion include Jazz Chisholm ($1050), Corbin Carroll ($900), Max Muncy ($860) and Gunnar Henderson ($850), all triple asset performers with salaries below our per player average.

For our relief pitchers, we want lower-priced, highly accomplished arms who have a firm hold on the ninth-inning role. There are few that fit that description, as BABS identifies only five closers, shown above, with extreme skills with SV ratings projected for 30-plus saves. We will have to pay up for arms of this caliber, however, we can roster Pressly and Iglesias and “save” money versus the prices for their comparably skilled group mates.

Selecting our starting pitchers also plays perfectly into BABS’ strength, knowing we must roster SPs who all contribute to ERA, WHIP and K’s. For the DC contest, we want to target full-time SPs who have extreme (E+,K+) or significant (ER,KK) skills. Many of the top names will be expensive such as Corbin Burnes ($1500) or Gerrit Cole ($1400), making it important to selectively mine for those lower salary SP options. Some of those for this year include Blake Snell ($940) or Hunter Greene ($950) from the (ER,K+) group and Clayton Kershaw ($930) from (E+,KK).

On the liability side, it is not as critical to avoid players with significant risk in this format. We will have a bench of 15 skillful players as well as the ability to add/drop players as mentioned. And when we do, the entire player pool is available to us, as opposed to scouring through an assortment of leftover free agents. BABS does not recommend compiling a roster overwhelmed with risks, especially for the pitchers, but a $40 Risk Cost target budget feels about right for a DC league.

This process has led us to our sample DC lineup (PDF).

This sample lineup has piled up 50 assets across our 18 batters, almost three assets per position! We also have 23 Er plus K assets from our 10 pitchers, including four pitchers with Sv designations. And we have $300K of salary cap wiggle room if we need to make any adjustments as we approach Opening Day. Thank you, BABS!

The roster is well balanced across all categories. We capitalized on playing time with only one batter and two SPs projected for less than FT work.  Our risk cost goal was also achieved.

The bench has a mixture of skills to help us bridge any category gaps that might come about after the season begins. The bench is also balanced between high- and low-priced players, recognizing that we cannot insert higher salary players without first creating cap breathing space.

Remember, this is just an example. You may have other players that you and BABS prefer. Try it, or tailor BABS to help you with other similar contests.