MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark chatted with the media today as part of this week’s All-Star festivities. The Twitter feeds of Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Group feature many of the key comments. Those interested in reading more about the labor situation should also read this interesting look at the efforts of Clark and other union leaders from Tyler Kepner and James Wagner of the New York Times.
Clark emphasized just now notable it was that the union and league have launched negotiations now, well in advance of the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement. He didn’t shy away from a lofty goal, stating: “We are interested in restoring meaningful free agency.”
The MLBPA is chasing other goals as well, including putting a stop to service time manipulation, increasing the marketing of players, and boosting compensation for young players that haven’t yet reached arbitration eligibility. On that last score, Clark says that “a young player needs to be fairly compensated for what he’s doing.”
As ever, the question remains just what alternatives can be proposed to create the desired outcomes. In part, MLB teams’ collective shift away from free agent spending is a reflection of the volume of young talent now rising to the majors. That speaks in favor of boosting pre-arb spending, but the capital side of the equation surely won’t boost the compensation of such players unless there are corresponding savings elsewhere.
Clark notes that the $555K league minimum is only that. “You can pay players more,” he says. “Teams are choosing not to.” But it isn’t clear why organizations would come forward with across-the-board raises for young players when there’s nothing compelling it. And it’s also fair at least to note that some teams have gone well over the minimum, especially for star players. That they have done so on an essentially ad hoc basis reflects the simple fact that the current CBA does not require more.
It still isn’t clear just what universal approach the players would like to accomplish, not that they necessarily want to put forth a complete vision at this stage. That’ll ultimately be necessary if Clark and co. want younger players to grab a bigger slice of the pie — or, perhaps, get the piece of the action that the owners seem to have taken away from free agency (not that they’d see it that way). Perhaps there are ways to find some extra cash to bring to the players’ coffers; Clark did note the ongoing influx of gambling money (and potential problems along with it).
On some level, though, the discussion will have to involve moving resources from one class of player to another. It’s at least somewhat curious, then, that Clark also indicated it was “not yet” necessary for a radical overhaul of the general arbitration and free-agent systems of compensation — a system that he has said previously “doesn’t work” in its current form. He did say that he has broached the concept of ending the amateur draft, which would assuredly represent a dramatic change in approach (albeit one that seems quite unlikely to gain traction and that might result in undesirable side effects).
Clark also addressed the matter of the increasingly regular long balls finding their way out of the field of play. He declined to subscribe to any particular conspiracy theories, but did say that he has clearly noticed the jump: “I believe the ball suddenly changed, and I don’t know why.”
That matter is not directly related to the labor situation, but it has loads of potential to impact the transactional market and is certainly a subject in which the union will take great interest. Given the strange degree of intrigue surrounding the MLB ball in recent years, perhaps it’s also a subject that the union can utilize for a smidgen of public relations leverage. And the rise in dingers may actually create some opportunities to shake up the labor market. The arbitration system, for instance, will struggle to react. It’ll take some creativity and foresight to take advantage (and avoid disadvantage) on the union side from disruption of this sort.
One area needing attention is how the 25th spot on a roster gets the same $555k a year as Rookie of the Year contenders. How about an annual bonus system for the pre-arb years so high-performing young players aren’t getting lumped in financially with AAAA players? I know many of them will get paid handsomely when they hit arb and free agency, but players “deserve” to be paid for performance.
Since there is revenue sharing among the clubs, that said revenue should go to award winners like the Rookie of the Year. Maybe a weighted bonus for guys voted 2nd, 3rd etc…
Sure beats the teams taking money and pocketing it.
The media decides that stuff. Stats should rule the payouts.
I’m fine with that too.
Whole league should get paid based on WAR. Players would never go for it makes too much sense.
^No
Which WAR? fWAR, rWAR, or WARP? It’s not a reliable stat.
Do you make $555,000? It is more than fair! They also get a per diem & food in the clubhouse, plenty of clothes…just what is it they have to spend on besides maybe rent? A lefty reliever with a losing record & 6+ years of major league service can get $4-5 million per year. He “works” maybe an hour per week, maybe another hour prep. That’s more than I’ve made in my entire career. They don’t “deserve” it!
If I could throw a baseball 98MPH, or turn one around, I would. These guys get paid because they can do things we can’t. No different than concert pianist, or a world-famous writer, etc. They deserve whatever the market is willing to pay them.
The rub is that until they accrue 6 years of service time, they are not free to sell their services to the market. The team has contract control until free agency, and long term, guaranteed contracts are increasingly not being offered to players on the wrong side of 30.
many get an initial signing bonus as well. the kids in the poor house isnt all that accurate. IMO MiLB still should be making more and a performance bonus of some sort for those still on rookie deals
Exactly–major league players are not labor, they are talent.
some of their talent is about as painful as labor to watch (not that i know what labor feels like)
🙂 even the bad players still got much more talent at the game than me though, they’d need to put a chair somewhere between first and home for me to take a rest if by chance they’d walk me cause i’m certainly not going to make contact on an MLB pitcher well unless the bat happens pitch happens to hit the bat as i’m diving out of the way lol.
I get what you’re saying for the most part, but you’re way off on the hours. Being a professionally athlete requires hours of training day after day. It’s basically a year round job. Add in the weeks they spend travelling, and there goes your they work 2 hours at most theory.
And baseball is a billion dollar industry. If you don’t think the players deserve what they’re making, I don’t know how you could possibly come to that conclusion. Take them away and that money instantly disappears.
and here’s Joe Schmoe with the “they get paid millions to play a game” jealousy
It’s not really what I make relative to what they make. I don’t have the talent to play professional ball. It’s about what they make relative to the value they contribute and how that has effectively declined from free agent freezeouts and (common sense) use of sabremetrics while revenues have risen substantially. Salaries are effectively capped when players are most productive on the theory that the best of them will recoup the lost value in free agency. The majority of them never get there and now those that do are being paid less and less. This is rent seeking behavior. And the day I see these excess rents going to reduce ticket prices or for the owners to build their own stadiums instead of funding them via taxpayers, etc., I will be less vocal, But in the meantime, it’s hard to believe in markets, as these owners like to, and then simultaneously argue that young players should not earn a market wage if free agency is deferred until sabremetrics says they have little or no value.
Great points. Now why don’t you talk your way on to a Major League Baseball Club?
Actually, dcahen, I do. I get paid for the value I bring, and I’m saying that in a multi-billion dollar industry there should be more pay for performance, even in the pre-arb years.
He “works” maybe an hour per week, maybe another hour prep. That’s more than I’ve made in my entire career. They don’t “deserve” it!
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I don’t see the comparison there. If we are to go by your salary, then I assume every high-talent person in the world doesn’t deserve what they make.
Actors, musicians, painters, athletes, investment bankers, etc., all probably multiples of what you make. Does that mean that none of them deserve it?
Further, I am willing to bet that virtually everyone works more than an hour a week. Webster once said that he worked out twice a day, everyday, for his entire life. Wouldn’t even take Christmas off. Rodman said he’d work out 45 minutes before a game, play 45 minutes, then work out 90 minutes after the game.
And that doesn’t include living out of a suitcase for 8 months out of the year, and being away from their families.
Well you should of been good at sports. they do something most of us dream we could do. As much as the owners make they can help give raises.
I dont think you understand the work load these guys put in but I get what you are saying.
The market determines value. I’m a restaraunt manager. I work on average 60 hours a week so I put the hours in but if I ask for MLB league minimum as my pay I would be laughed at because the market in my industry won’t support that.
Sorry my friend but value in the job place simply isn’t black and white or based on some objective sliding scale spit out by a computer.
Saying a reliever “works” maybe an hour per week, and maybe another hour prep, is easily one of the most ignorant statements I’ve ever seen on here. And there have been many.
They don’t deserve it? On any given day from the months of April through September, there are ONLY 750 people in the ENTIRE WORLD who are good enough to be paid to play at that level. Let that sink in before you say they don’t deserve it. Pay ‘em!
Hell yeah they deserve it. The money is there, it’s just a matter of where it’s going. I’d rather the players get it than the owners.
Maybe MLB and the MLBPA should consider something similar to what the NFL has in place: “Performance-Based Pay” which would possibly allow for pre-aribitration players (and vets on MiLB deals) to earn a little extra based on actually performance.
I think what you’re thinking of is the proven performance whatever it is, extra money given to teams to dish out how they see fit. even Khalil Mack got like an extra $20k I think it was last year
He better do something about the juiced ball before one of the pitchers gets killed.
Unfortunately a fan already did.
When did that happen?
Tony Clark is awful and has no idea what he’s doing. I hope this time he at least reads the CBA before agreeing to it.
He answers to union reps to each team which have no clue how to negotiate also.
Owner’s will continue to own the now weak MLBPA as long as it’s led by inept people.
They really need to fix the rookie payscale. As current it’s basically a bunch of 1-year contracts. Meaning the crappy deals that players are making(see Albies contract) are primarily the result of uncertainty and fear. Even NFL players get a 4-year contract guaranteed from the draft, granted they have no development leagues. But still they go straight into the Pros knowing they are secure.
In regards to minimum salaries, I believe that a player on the 40 man roster, but not on the 25 man should be paid half of league minimum, and earn half a day of service time for each day this is the case. If they are important enough to the organization to protect from the Rule V draft, they should be important enough to get a fair wage and compensation. This would also make their serivce time speed up (let’s say they’re up and down for 3 seasons, they would have at least 1.081 service years by the time they get DFA’d, and that’s not accounting for the time they were on the actual 25 man roster.
That’s not a bad suggestion. The % could be adjusted from the day they enter the 40 man roster and it could be a worthy consideration.
I really like the half day service time idea. It wouldn’t fix service time manipulation for the best prospects, but would be a really great thing for the majority of players.
Actually, I was thinking the same thing. A half a day of service for each day while optioned. There are some teams that manipulate the time to make up for the Sept call up to gain another year. For Sept call ups, I’d go the other way and only give a half a day of service, at least for the first Sept call up.
Solid thought, but September call ups are a thing of the past starting next season… I believe they are only going to be allowed a 28 man roster rather than a full 40
If pace of play is a concern for major league baseball then they should address the baseball. If homeruns and Tommy John is their main goal then pace of play is not as big a concern as reported.
So, I came up with an idea that I would like you all to read. Rip it apart, suggest tweaks, do what you will, I obviously acknowledge that it would take refining and negotiating, but I want to get it out there and see what everyone thinks. It’s kind of a novel so bear with me.
I think it would increase competitiveness across the league if in the next CBA it read that teams had 2 years of league minimum salaries on their players with performance boots for finishing in various percentiles among qualified players in certain categories (NOTE: salary comes from the team, bonus comes from the MLB), and 6 years of arbitration. Make arbitration hearings happen in mid/early December, and provide the player with an opt out in each of the final two arb years that can be executed the January following the hearing. Also, reduce the years of minor league control from 6 to 4, or become free agents after the conclusion of their age 25 season, whichever comes first. That way, teams can’t hoard minor leaguers (I’d also like to see an appeals process for minor leaguers that can help them get promoted when they deserve it, but I digress). This makes teams try to extend good young players sooner, but provides players a huge payday if they don’t extend and still perform. It’s worth noting that minor league extensions are a thing, by the way, and shortening the time to free agency should give minor leaguers some leverage for negotiating a better wage. It’s also still good for teams because a regressing player can see his salary decrease by as much as 20% from one year to the next. Absolute worst case, teams get 6 years of control over their major leaguers like now, but with an extra arb year, giving the players a slight advantage. A player rejecting an arb salary of more than $15MM becomes a free agent with draft pick compensation. This way, good players stay with their teams longer and extend a team’s window of contention, helping alleviate rebuilding and tanking teams. Basically what I’m going for with the arbitration and opt outs is kind of like Trevor Bauer-esqe salaries, where in those last two (or maybe more) arb years, players get one/two year, high AAV deals. It by no means precludes Max Scherzer from signing a 7yr/$210MM contract at age 30, but he has the option of maybe getting as much as 2yr/$85MM and delaying his longer payday until he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
I’m not really sure what I think of the performance based bonuses because I don’t like trying actual money into player value statistics. Sure, they’re tied together in some capacity, but the idea of one year’s WAR actually deciding how much money a player gets doesn’t sit well with me. Sorry, but WAR is still flawed. No way around it. I included this because I just think that’s the way the game is going.
Based on my observations, baseball has a different way of making rule changes. It rarely explicitly prohibits or forbids anyone from doing one thing or another, but rather “suggests,” for lack of a better word. Take, for example, the luxury tax. Nothing is stopping the Dodgers from spending $600MM if they have the money, unlike salary caps like in other sports. I hope I follow the same spirit in my own idea here.
Perhaps the MLBPA needs to look into revenue sharing. The top 25% salaries pay into a fund which is then disbursed to the bottom 25%.
I highly doubt the players would agree to that
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I once came up with a formula where MLB players would each put 5% (maybe it was 10%) into one pool, which would then be divided evenly by each MLB player. Each player would have made about an extra $500,000 a year from it.
So, Bryce Harper would pay 5% of $33 million ($1.65 million) and get back $500,000 while a player making $500,000 would pay $25,000 into the pool but get back $500,000.
This is certainly one option that the MLBPA would have to help alleviate these pay disparities.
So you think the best players should pay a penalty for being great and help double the salaries of the worst players?
Only the worst players would benefit. Harper loses more than a million per year in your example.
The same can be said of teams and revenue sharing, no?
Why should the Yankees have to share their money with the A’s anymore than Harper should have to share his with Geoff Hartlieb?
God forbid the union brass or mlb owners address the compensation for kids in the minor leagues at all levels. It’s about time they exceed the pay of a McDonalds fry cook. At least Toronto has coconuts and have started to address it.
The union doesn’t represent the minor league players except for those MLB players on the 40-man roster but in the minors on optional assignment.
There’s little chance they ever would either. As for poor pay, you can thank the US Congress and President Trump for passing the “Save America’s Pastime Act”
There were 2 $300m free agent contracts this offseason and another $300m+ extension, but free agency doesn’t work.
how many free agents were there? look at the bigger picture.
Minimum salary caps like the NHL help dramatically also. That way teams have to spend money vs just pocketing hundreds of millions from TV and revenue sharing.
homers are cool but it would be nice to see batting averages increase and more contact. I like hit and runs, hitting behind the runner. squeeze bunts. all that small ball. And no, im not a grumpy 70 year old, im 23.
the angels mostly played offense the right way. high average. mostly singles and doubles. it was fun.
I actually really enjoy the way the Pirates hit. All of their hitters give a good long at bat and they don’t strike out. Always seem to put the ball in play. Something i would like the Brewers to do better with. So much for 2 strike approaches these days.
You can do all that and still have HRs. Sacrifices and SBs are kind of negative expectancy plays, which is why you see less and less of them. That doesn’t mean you can’t run with a 3-2 count, or bunt down the 3B line if the 3B has over-shifted.
Its not the HRs that bother me. They are good for the game as they are fun to watch. The amount of strikeouts is getting ridiculous though.
Exactly
All plate appearances are negative expectancy plays. The only way a strikeout can be a positive for an offense is because it’s not a DP. (Rob Deer rules!)
Thinking you can shame or guilt owners or appeal to their benevolence is beyond naive. You have to beat them at the bargaining table.
Instead, Tony Clark gets his clock cleaned at the bargaining table and then whines about it afterward.
“Clark notes that the $555K league minimum is only that. “You can pay players more,” he says. “Teams are choosing not to.””
Who signed off on a system where teams get to do that?
Blaming the owners for the failures of labor might make those who support labor feel good but it does nothing to help the workers. Demanding that labor do better is how to help them.
I see very little reason for optimism with Clark at the helm.
Oh, and for the record, actually qualified labor leader, Don Fehr, is doing quite well with the NHLPA these days, as hockey players are enjoying record earnings with a higher minimum salary than baseball and minor leaguers who make $65,000 a year.
I agree for the most part, but it is a little bit apples to oranges. Connor Mcdavid is the best player in the world and is the highest paid NHL player, yet he’s getting paid about the equivalent as a number 3-4 starting pitcher. He probably wouldn’t even have a top 75 salary in the MLB.
Two points….
1) MLB generates twice as much revenue as the NHL. So, as a % of the total pie, hockey players are getting twice as much as baseball players even if they make the same money. Double the NHL numbers and Connor makes about $25 million a year.
Of course, that is still less than Trout, Harper, etc get in baseball, but…
2) The MLBPA embraced trickle down economics. Everything they have done has been to increase the earning of the very top, assuming everything else would work out for the players being trickled down on below.
This is why they were willing to sell out thousands of players with a hard cap on international signings in order to lower the level of QO compensation for the benefit of about a dozen players.
As always, trickle down works well at the very top and less so down below. The NHLPA spreads the wealth more evenly.
I don’t know if I blame Clark entirely. The players voted for it, and the players have lawyers & agents to advise them. Not to be mean-spirited, but this was an incredibly stupid vote.
Absolutely within one minute of reading the summary, I could see that the payroll caps were going up by ~ 2% a year over 5 years, while revenues were going up by maybe 6% per year. And that doesn’t even include higher punishments for exceeding the cap.
If I could see that in one minute, but the players didn’t read the contract, and their agents didn’t read it, nor did their lawyers, or they read it and said nothing, then they are stuck with the deal that they agreed to.
The players vote on the contract that gets negotiated by their committee (headed by Clark). They can either vote for a crappy contract or go on strike and wind up with possibly a worse one.
League minimum seems a bit scrawny compared to those reaching arbitration. Why not have an automatic raise once a player plays 162 games (81 games for pitchers) in the majors? Say add $100,000 to his salary if he starts at minimum. Naturally, teams can go higher, if they choose.
From a public health standpoint, compared to the rampant PED use in the 90s and 00s MLB turned a blind eye to (at best), the juiced ball is fairly innocuous.
mlb turned blind eye to amphetamines and i suspect mostly to lower level of hgh for stars.
No one really considered amphetamines cheating. Bob Gibson didn’t mind that Willie Mays was popping greenies.
But you can bet a non-PED pitcher thought Bonds was cheating.
I don’t see them the same. And more importantly, neither did the players. That’s why one was done out in the open and the other was done behind close doors.
MLB teams can’t plead for cost control of their young players so they can pay them later then turn around when their 29/30 and open to their first free agent contract but saber-metrics tells them the players have declining value and not pay them.. The system is broken… This will be a 2021 strike issue.. What do you think Vlad Jr. would command right now on the open market if he was available; $200, $300 maybe $400 million?
Off a couple months sample size? Ill pass on that at the moment. Is he going to be a great player? I think so. But lets cool it with the talks of him being a HOF just yet and see what he can do once pitchers make their adjustments.
You mean on a true “open market”? Who knows. Without guaranteed contracts and with minimum salaries gone, it may be a lot less than you think. The current free agent market inflates salaries because all players are not available and there are numerous CBA rules. Take out those conditions and you might be surprised by what happens to salaries. Lot of players going to be playing for less than 100k.
Correct.
If every single player became a free agent after every single season, wages would go down on average and, likely, for all but the top players.
Marvin Miller understood that limiting the supply of free agents in any given off season was the key to inflating salaries.
“What do you think Vlad Jr. would command right now on the open market if he was available; $200, $300 maybe $400 million?”
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If Vlad, with a .741 OPS and no glove, is worth $400M, then I imagine Riley is worth $500M, and Tatis is worth $800M?
Give Mookie a billion then
I have seen more opposite field home runs, broken bat home runs and 100 mph pitching than ever. Years ago I would sit by the scouts with their radar guns and different guns would show a 4 or 5 mph difference. 90 used to be the standard for fastballs, now it is 95.
I think Manfred and company just want to promote fastballs and home runs, I would prefer the days of players stealing 50 plus bases, batters going for contact to the entire field and complete game pitchers. It seems like there are more arm injuries today than there were 30 years ago when pitchers threw 250 innings, teams carried 10 to 11 pitchers and there were not so many pitchers in the 12 to 14 spots that had no business in MLB. We did not see managers wearing out the turf by running 7 or 8 pitchers all the time, it has gotten ridiculous.
Reduce the time to 5 years before free agency and have a super one arbitration eligibility.
The home run has now become the most boring part of baseball.
Juiced ball is making the game a joke
You didn’t enjoy the rapid swinging from the derby? 91 homers by Vlad? haha..
Love how people think if you can run a bath you can run.a union.
Hello everyone! This is my first comment on the site.
The article mentions the possibility of eliminating the amateur draft. What would be the alternative method of induction into pro ball for the would-be players?
Every player would be a free agent and it would be like college basketball.
It’s every Yankees fans’ dream.
Teams COULD pay their young, productive players more. Also, over paid players like Pujols and Miguel Cabrera could choose to give money back.
Young players making league minimum are in the situation they are in because of both sides, players and owners, having the mentality to get as much as they can.
Neither the players association nor team ownership are innocent victims in this mess. If the MLBPA and Club ownership don’t want a strike on their hands they will have to realize that their own best interest will require them to be just a little less selfish. Hope everyone caught the contradiction in that last sentence.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the union (was the best in the world) has to go back to the table. They are lucky they have this opt out!
I wish them nothing but luck but then again they have better food and single rooms suites now!
MLB should be ashamed of itself as a multi billion dollar pays their lower level employees(Minor Leaguers) poorly. I read about this problem this year and as a result have not paid to see any baseball games in 2019. Until this issue is addressed I won’t go to a game and hopefully enough will follow to create change.
Those minor league players are not employees, they are apprentices.
The minor leagues don’t make money and cost big league clubs a fortune.
The majority of Minor League Baseball clubs are independently owned.
“But it isn’t clear why organizations would come forward with across-the-board raises for young players when there’s nothing compelling it. “
Why do most people earn well over the minimum wage outside baseball?
Because workers can change jobs. They cant do so in baseball except as FA
That Tony C cant understand such a simple point proves he is unfit for the job.
Players should be paid based on performance. We have the metrics to do so fairly. Perhaps not perfect but good enough. Better than the current mess.
For years 1-3 . Minimum stays at 555K but any player exceeding 2 WAR gets paid at an additional 1 million per extra WAR. (Eg 2.555 million for 4 WAR)
For arb eligible make it 2,4, 6 million per additional WAR for each year of eligibility. In other words, scrap arbitration. A 4 WAR player makes 4.555 million in year 4, 8.555 million in year 5 and 12.555 million in year 6.
For FA players keep guaranteed years, with a minimum of 2 million for up to 1 WAR. But the rest is a negotiated per WAR rate. If a player can negotiate 8 million per WAR for each WAR over 1 he gets 26 million for a 4 WAR season. 2 million if he is injured and doesn’t play or busts.
Teams can save on player injury insurance and get stuck with no albatross contracts
Sure, it introduces some cost uncertainty but if team payroll is more than budgeted it means the team won more than expected and received more revenue than budgeted
Think out of the box Tony. Agents will hate this of course. Players may not even need them with this deal. Players make what they earn, and teams pay what they get in return. The minimum provides security. Who can dislike this except impending FA who would be outnumbered in any vote
I don’t mind the minimum salary, what I mind is the manipulation of service time.
Teams give million of dollars in signing bonus, It cost big money to produce a major league player, but once they are good enough to play in the major leagues, they should be in the major leagues.