This is the fifth iteration of the salary change and I'm not sure this is working. Because admin includes all cap levels, the best players continue to see maximum salary increase. (1+10%)^5 - 1 = 61.1%. Meanwhile, the biggest % drop for any player is 0.7%. Here are the top 50 price increases for pitchers since inception...
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Player	Original	Current	%Incr
-------------------------------	----------------	----------------	---------
1908 Addie Joss	12,778,253	20,579,504	61.1%
1995 Greg Maddux	10,842,285	17,461,608	61.1%
1990 Dennis Eckersley	4,293,010	6,913,934	61.1%
1918 Fred Toney	4,203,375	6,757,724	60.8%
2003 Eric Gagne	5,463,221	8,683,246	58.9%
1888 Elton Chamberlain	6,153,872	9,767,444	58.7%
2000 Pedro Martinez	11,707,138	18,229,504	55.7%
2012 Craig Kimbrel	3,884,821	5,908,995	52.1%
1967 Cisco Carlos	1,938,932	2,889,295	49.0%
1919 Art Nehf	3,880,829	5,661,428	45.9%
2010 Hong-Chih Kuo	3,398,795	4,886,878	43.8%
1918 Jake Northrop	2,234,464	3,166,421	41.7%
1988 Bob Milacki	1,231,122	1,730,021	40.5%
1914 Dutch Leonard	8,905,191	12,401,030	39.3%
2013 Koji Uehara	4,701,441	6,446,842	37.1%
1915 Pete Alexander	16,221,577	21,892,528	35.0%
1908 Elmer Steele	3,799,703	5,045,951	32.8%
1968 Bob Gibson	12,216,556	16,091,388	31.7%
2008 Mariano Rivera	3,784,493	4,975,438	31.5%
1910 Ed Walsh	15,524,600	20,371,468	31.2%
1915 Tim McCabe	1,476,708	1,935,420	31.1%
1916 Ferdie Schupp	6,048,685	7,846,799	29.7%
1992 Dennis Rasmussen	1,488,414	1,922,766	29.2%
2009 Mike Adams	2,569,430	3,309,284	28.8%
1999 Billy Wagner	4,314,571	5,529,619	28.2%
1913 Walter Johnson	16,372,767	20,619,662	25.9%
1909 Christy Mathewson	11,872,286	14,884,568	25.4%
1909 Ed Summers	7,770,317	9,621,673	23.8%
1915 Cy Falkenberg	1,737,305	2,147,272	23.6%
1924 Babe Adams	1,480,431	1,826,083	23.3%
1970 Vida Blue	1,897,610	2,334,413	23.0%
1981 Rich Gossage	3,396,773	4,118,394	21.2%
1908 Mordecai Brown	12,741,189	15,405,638	20.9%
1987 Jack McDowell	1,160,846	1,400,610	20.7%
2006 Cla Meredith	2,432,483	2,930,975	20.5%
1968 Luis Tiant	9,944,786	11,929,057	20.0%
1968 Lindy McDaniel	1,790,146	2,125,323	18.7%
1994 Greg Maddux	13,307,875	15,778,283	18.6%
1907 George McQuillan	1,907,652	2,250,031	17.9%
1906 Doc White	7,901,159	9,301,700	17.7%
1943 Johnny Niggeling	2,456,323	2,886,577	17.5%
1978 Ron Guidry	10,616,274	12,458,402	17.4%
2014 Clayton Kershaw	8,400,350	9,772,843	16.3%
1985 John Tudor	9,583,232	11,100,499	15.8%
1908 Christy Mathewson	14,894,040	17,229,680	15.7%
1938 Dizzy Dean	2,559,096	2,955,551	15.5%
1980 J.R. Richard	5,157,933	5,956,676	15.5%
2015 Jake Arrieta	10,006,100	11,552,824	15.5%
1907 Nick Maddox	2,205,709	2,545,067	15.4%
1909 Harry Krause	6,945,823	7,998,470	15.2%

Here are the top 50 salary increases for hitters (excluding players 500K and below)...
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Player	Original	Current	%Incr
-------------------------------	----------------	----------------	---------
1992 Bip Roberts	4,397,784	7,013,516	59.5%
1989 Howard Johnson	5,387,622	8,521,993	58.2%
1901 Nap Lajoie	14,143,902	21,950,428	55.2%
1911 Ty Cobb	12,571,648	19,472,440	54.9%
1980 George Brett	9,306,245	14,316,285	53.8%
1927 Lou Gehrig	13,669,251	20,924,936	53.1%
1886 King Kelly	10,629,733	15,668,870	47.4%
1980 Miguel Dilone	4,387,671	6,198,673	41.3%
1924 Rogers Hornsby	13,189,968	18,592,050	41.0%
1921 Babe Ruth	17,817,715	25,045,352	40.6%
1941 Ted Williams	12,722,311	17,848,184	40.3%
1923 Babe Ruth	17,302,114	24,002,264	38.7%
1956 Mickey Mantle	12,302,747	17,047,610	38.6%
1894 Hugh Duffy	13,583,300	18,795,644	38.4%
1987 Vince Coleman	4,240,214	5,853,974	38.1%
1899 John McGraw	8,398,716	11,440,956	36.2%
2009 Ben Zobrist	4,669,972	6,329,552	35.5%
1887 Tip O'Neill	13,180,054	17,615,804	33.7%
1986 Tim Raines	6,059,031	7,998,782	32.0%
1975 Gary Carter	3,936,483	5,177,448	31.5%
1975 Joe Morgan	8,554,511	11,170,261	30.6%
1985 Willie McGee	7,137,439	9,271,512	29.9%
1935 Arky Vaughan	9,298,919	12,064,986	29.7%
1997 Mike Piazza	7,909,554	10,175,378	28.6%
2004 Barry Bonds	16,437,619	21,123,296	28.5%
1935 Jimmie Foxx	8,633,433	11,056,201	28.1%
1981 Tim Raines	4,267,085	5,429,904	27.3%
1995 Wade Boggs	3,906,472	4,955,670	26.9%
1932 Jimmie Foxx	12,879,098	16,007,111	24.3%
2006 Joe Mauer	6,584,624	8,134,428	23.5%
1922 George Sisler	9,705,259	11,940,218	23.0%
1999 Omar Vizquel	5,517,659	6,778,545	22.9%
2007 Chone Figgins	3,582,246	4,399,383	22.8%
1922 Rogers Hornsby	12,514,486	15,361,401	22.7%
1920 Babe Ruth	14,840,140	18,102,554	22.0%
1948 Lou Boudreau	10,295,613	12,481,571	21.2%
2008 Manny Ramirez	4,143,048	4,989,728	20.4%
2002 Mark Loretta	1,252,636	1,506,278	20.2%
2000 Nomar Garciaparra	7,521,319	8,984,621	19.5%
1925 Max Carey	5,868,988	6,978,573	18.9%
1981 Mike Schmidt	9,077,150	10,792,755	18.9%
1895 Jack Clements	5,557,569	6,607,558	18.9%
1948 Stan Musial	11,389,378	13,514,465	18.7%
1994 Bip Roberts	3,921,287	4,646,319	18.5%
1957 Mickey Mantle	11,554,041	13,633,667	18.0%
1987 Tim Raines	6,998,290	8,237,530	17.7%
2012 Marco Scutaro	3,701,397	4,351,853	17.6%
2008 Chipper Jones	6,775,889	7,954,169	17.4%
1894 Billy Hamilton	12,903,343	15,124,353	17.2%
1927 Babe Ruth	12,685,460	14,855,980	17.1%

That Lajoie at $22M is especially ridiculous. It's an incredible season, but I feel like no position player should top $20M at the absolute most.

Many of the increases are due to theme league cap levels well above $80M. So what happens when salaries get too high for the studs? Simply increase the theme's cap level another $20M. This will never end for the high end players. The data used to calculate the salary increases should come from leagues $120M and lower (or even $100M and lower). I know I suggested something along these lines at the very beginning.

Posted by schwarze on 6/22/2017 1:53:00 PM (view original):
Many of the increases are due to theme league cap levels well above $80M. So what happens when salaries get too high for the studs? Simply increase the theme's cap level another $20M. This will never end for the high end players. The data used to calculate the salary increases should come from leagues $120M and lower (or even $100M and lower). I know I suggested something along these lines at the very beginning.

Ya, I suggested $140 mil and below. $120 mil and below would be nice, then you'd actually see star players dropping until they're good value, in which people would start drafting them. But $100 mil is a little extreme. I'd like to see $120 mil and below.

The problem though is that star players will not drop in price in that scenario. Not with the current system in place. It appears that a player used even just one time in a cycle will have his salary increased.

Posted by skunk206 on 6/22/2017 3:28:00 PM (view original):
The problem though is that star players will not drop in price in that scenario. Not with the current system in place. It appears that a player used even just one time in a cycle will have his salary increased.

I thought y'all said it was the progressive leagues that caused them to increase? They're never drafted in OL's. The season is too impractical to use in a theme league. But progressive leagues use them? Idk, both seem true.

What players are you referring to? I'm talking about any player used in any league, but the "star" players referenced here are mostly the guys in schwarze's list above. The big Ruth, Lajoie, Gehrig, Cobb, Walsh, Alexander, Joss, etc. seasons. If a guy is used once his salary will increase. Usage across all types of leagues counts though.

Most of those "star" players are increasing dramatically because they're still used heavily in higher cap theme leagues, in which their rising costs are not prohibitive to building a good team. Theme leagues outnumber OLs by about 4 to 1, though I've not seen any data on what percentage of those themes are progressive leagues.

The way I understand it is the number of times a player is selected (during a salary cycle) is what drives the salary. If theme leagues > $120M were excluded, the top of the line most expensive studs would decrease in numbers. (Pretty much all the top studs get picked in high cap / no cap themes). I don't think progressive leagues are driving the salary increases.

Everyone's salary is being increased it seems. But as star players I guess I should say Joss, Maddux, Pedro, etc. they're all increasing the max amount every time even though it's just not plausible to use them at caps below $140 mil. But ya, not only do they need to fix who gets a salary increase and why, but they also need to exclude caps over $140 mil from how they tally drafted players. $120 would be preferred tho. But atleast 140.

Posted by schwarze on 6/22/2017 4:19:00 PM (view original):
The way I understand it is the number of times a player is selected (during a salary cycle) is what drives the salary. If theme leagues > $120M were excluded, the top of the line most expensive studs would decrease in numbers. (Pretty much all the top studs get picked in high cap / no cap themes). I don't think progressive leagues are driving the salary increases.

I mentioned progressive leagues because I'll see a player's salary has increased 4 straight times, yet they've never been used in OL history, and their season isn't good enough unless you're in a very specific league. But someone mentioned progressives, which would explain why a 2nd baseman with 98 AVG+ and 110 OBP+ with below average defense would have their salary increased 4 straight times.

I was under the impression (and it seems others were as well) that we'd see more ebb and flow in terms of increases and decreases. For example, if a guy is used fewer times than he was in the previous cycle, his salary should go back down. I expected to see players salaries constantly rising and falling to reflect recent usage trends, not "well, if they're being drafted, even once, they must be underpriced - INCREASE!!"

I think that's what the vast majority of people expected to see, Jtpsops. It's not happening though and it needs to be addressed or every used/usable player will keep seeing their salaries rise indefinitely, and the most-used players will keep rising to ridiculous levels because they'll always still be in play at league caps up to $255M. Limiting the counted uses to leagues under a certain salary cap threshold could help, but instituting actual up/down movement of salaries based on changes in usage, rather than simply increasing every used player every cycle, should probably be the higher priority.

Just reset the salaries to where they were originally and give people choices of what CAP open leagues they want to play in instead of just making them all $80M. If you get tired of seeing all of the Bip Roberts and Addie Joss', just join a $60M or $70M open league where it would be tougher for everyone to fit them onto their roster. The current system is definitely not working...