My guess is that it would fall somewhere in the $90 million range. How would teams like the Yankees ($195 million 07') and Red Sox ($143 million 07') be affected in the short-term after the cap was instituted? Would they have to just start cutting their top players to get under the cap? Would they be given a grace period of a few years to gradually get their payroll down? Serious answers only please, save your "Yankees suck, they can only buy the playoffs" for some other question.

I think that if a salary cap were instituted it would have to be closer to $120 million. The reason being that trying to cut payroll for some of these teams is going to be rediculously difficult.

Take the Yankees as an example. If you put a salary cap of $90 million, they would need to cut their payroll in half just to be in the right ballpark. With the cap at $90 million there will be 10-12 teams trying to cut payroll, which will make it hard for teams to deal top talent. The Yankees currently have the top 3 highest paid atheletes in '07, guys making a combined $65 million (Jeter, ARod, Giambi)....players that with a salary cap no one will want, especially not for that kind of money.

I say go with $120 million because then there will only be 2-3 teams cutting payroll, it'll be easier to cut payroll because there will be more trade options.

There would have to be a grace period that included nearly all existing contracts. The league doesn't want to destroy the marquee franchises, and that's what would happen if there were an instant $90 million cap. Putting in a cap wouldn't raise the revenues of the small market teams, and they would be the only ones with cap room to take on players with high salaries. Since all MLB contracts are guaranteed, these teams couldn't cut those players, either. It doesn't matter, though - the union will never agree to a salary cap.