Something I have thrown around in my head and discussed with friends is the contract with incentives.  I don't see why we don't see more of these contracts in MLB (in all Pro sports for that matter).  If players would sign for a lower salary (would still vary for quality of players) and then recieved higher payouts for more production it would entice the players to perform better.  There are numerous points opposing this stance (probably to many to list) but with this day and age of agents causing the biggest problems, this will never happen.  For example lets take Albert:  sign for 2 mil per season, with incentives for AB, HR, RBI, OBP%, SLG%, OPS% whatever the GM wants from that player will give the team the true value of their player.  He could still make 10+ mil a year after recieving 2 mil for 40+ HR, 2 mil for 100+ RBI, etc.  But looking at some of the recent signings like Burnett for example, if he doesn't change into a game winnig pitcher (don't look at just wins but other important stats as well) teams don't throw away millions on players that don't do squat.  Some of the bigger market team would still give higher starting salaries to better players which would still hurt smaller market teams.  One problem that could arise is when someone they expected to have an average year (say 8 mil total) plays out of his ass and doubles his salary from incentives, he could hurt the teams total payroll.  I also think that MLB could set standards for the incentives to make things more even for teams.

But all together this won't happen due to MLBPA and player agents wanting more and more money. Just a little idea in my head.