I don't think a single Pirates fan actually believes that a salary cap and floor alone will make the team better. The Pirates still need better management. But every small market team has to be nearly perfect in their acquisitions. A few bad contracts and trades would completley sink a small market team for years. The Dodgers, even though they've had plenty of bad contracts in the 2020s, were still able to sign historic deals with Ohtani and Yamamoto. The Yankees are still paying Giancarlo Stanton like $32 million a year. He has less bWAR the last 5 seasons than Oneil Cruz had in 97 games this year, and yet in those 5 years. Other contracts like Josh Donaldson, Aaron Hicks, and the last 3 years of DJ LeMahieu's contract would kill most mid market teams' ability to spend. Despite that, they were able to give Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, and Max Fried mega deals, while still having Stanton's, Hicks', Donaldson's, and LeMahieu's contracts on the books. Good managing matters, but the room for error for a large market team is as wide as a par 5 golf course. The room for error for a small market team is the size of a bowling alley.