The MLBPA has dropped their proposal to change the percentage of players with 2+ years of service who are eligible for salary arbitration, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Evan Drellich of The Athletic phrases it slightly differently, reporting, “The MLBPA is willing to drop proposal to expand salary arbitration if rest of numbers work out.” Since 2013, the top 22% of those with 2+ years of service, known as Super Two players, have been eligible. The MLBPA initially sought to make that 100% of 2+ players, moving steadily downward in their recent proposals. MLB has considered changing the 22% figure to be a non-starter, despite agreeing to a change in this area a decade ago.
In what might amount to one of the players’ biggest wins in this CBA, MLB previously agreed to a new pre-arbitration bonus pool concept that will reward top performers before they reach salary arbitration. At last check, the MLBPA had been seeking a $115MM pool. Early Tuesday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (among many others) reported that MLB is currently offering $25MM for that pool. So, there’s still a significant gap here to bridge.
Goold also notes that MLB is offering a $675K minimum salary for 2022, up from $570,500 in 2021. MLB has proposed increasing that by $10K per year through the five-year CBA. The lowest-known MLBPA proposal was $775K in 2022, ascending all the way to $895K in 2026.
On the important topic of the competitive balance tax, Bob Nightengale of USA Today says MLB is currently proposing base tax thresholds of $220MM in 2022, $220MM in 2023, $220MM in 2024, $224MM in 2025, and $230MM in 2026. Notably, MLB has dropped its proposal to increase the tax rates for exceeding the thresholds. At last check, the players were seeking CBT thresholds ranging from $245MM in ’22 to $273MM in ’26, so there is plenty of work to be done here.
It appears increasingly safe to expect a 12-team playoff field this year, as well as the universal designated hitter — although it bears repeating that even these generally agreed-upon items are all part of package proposals. The league and union have not agreed on any items in isolation, but rather agreed on certain inclusions or exclusions as part of larger proposals that are gaining traction. Some major components of a theoretical agreement that remain unsettled right now include draft pick compensation for signing free agents, how anti-tanking and anti-service time manipulation measures will look, whether the A’s will be restored as a revenue sharing payee, on-uniform advertising, an international draft, and how much lead time MLB will need to provide for on-field rule changes.
According to Drellich at 7:57am central time today, MLB is willing to drop draft pick compensation for free agents, and they want the first five picks to be subject to the draft lottery. At last check, the MLBPA wanted the lottery to encompass the first seven picks in the draft, and perhaps more importantly were seeking penalties for teams that finish bottom eight to twelve in consecutive seasons.
Though significant work remains to be done in many key areas, each side has finally dropped its most extreme demand at the 11th hour: increased CBT penalties for MLB, and expansion of Super Two for the MLBPA. As an MLB spokesman put it, “We made progress. We want to exhaust every possibility.” Baseball fans have good reason to be hopeful a deal can be reached prior to MLB’s new 5pm deadline today. Talks are set to resume at 10am.
And those were the two biggest non starters left on the table. Two things that just were never going to happen, because the other side was so staunchly opposed.
Players hate the salary cap and owners hate arbitration.
MLB will have to come up from $220M, and keeping the same threshold for three years isn’t going to happen, but hopefully they will get there.
Make it $230, 235, 240, 245, 250
$700K, $720, 740, 760, $780 minimum
Bonus pool $40M
No update on the draft lottery?
Free agent compensation?
Reducing the price of beer?
It’s now BYOB…
BYOB would be an excellent idea
I do it every game
I got caught bringing in a six pack at a Texans game. Did it all seasons, until like game 6 at home. Cargo shorts were worn every Sunday up that point.
Could have decent beer then. In all fairness, I did have a nice Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ ale during fall league at the Cubs facility.
That is why you see so many drunk people walking into the games, they are BYOB and drinking it in the parking lot.
Don’t tease me now. I could buy a whole case of beer at Meijer for what MLB stadiums charge for a single pour. That would be the biggest win for the fans that could possibly come out of this! 😉
If only we could organize as fans and form a fan union and go on strike.
1) bring back dollar beer night and dollar hot dog night….both together
2) have a random switch every game where a family that can barely afford the nose bleeds gets to switch with the rich family that sits right behind home plate or the dugout
3) if you’re over 18 and keep a foul ball when a kid is right next to you, you should be ejected immediately. (Anything worth money, is exempt like a career home run.)
4) parking should never be more than $5 anywhere. If you want the good spots, show up earlier and tailgate.
18 or older and must give the ball to an unknown kid? What if you have a 6 year old son at home and you’re bringing the ball home for him?
Dollar beer night is a terrible idea. We have enough drunk and disorderly as it is. Dollar dog night-I am with you! Ejection because you keep a ball? Randomly forced to switch seats? Where are we, Cuba?
As player salaries go up, as to tickets, good, and drink. But it’s the owners fault because they want to make money on their business.
Do you ever get anything correct?
baseballprospectus.com/news/article/72886/veteran-…
There is no relationship between the two.
Ban the blackouts!
That would be a big win for fans.
Right I never understood this. A blackout is more likely to keep people from being drawn in to a local team than it is to drive them to the gate. Bill Wirtz never understood that.
Teams sell exclusive local broadcast rights to regional sport networks, and they are very protected, so that MLB.tv or out of market networks can’t show those games in a team’s “protected territory”.
The protected territory can be huge, and multiple teams can have blackouts in a given territory. For example, there are six teams that can blackout games in parts of Iowa.
Amen, brother.
If the RSN’s go belly up, and Sinclair is close, then MLB would take over and offer streaming service in local markets.
@tiger, you must drink crappy beer!
Reduce the price of beer…… THAT ain’t gonna happen so let’s all go on strike!
Solid. I’ve been saying for a while now that the players had to come off their ridiculous demands. Now that they backed off Super-2, and the owners have backed off what even I consider a quasi-hard cap, now all we have is work at the margins.
IRT your proposals, close enough. If they have to reduce those asks, I’d say lighten up the cap numbers to $225M + $5M increase per year, while keeping your $780k minimum. That’s still 16.7%/5 years, which the Scherzers can afford, And helps the “poor” players. And, as a side benefit for the players, as younger players get more expensive, low-level FAs will become more valuable.
The draft lottery as conceived by the players, imo, is very, very anti-player, and they don’t realize it. The more teams that go into the lottery, the more motivation there is to tank. Free agent comp is fine.
Where we disagree is on the cost of beer. I can’t speak for anyone but Yankee Stadium, but a 24 oz. Heineken in YS is/was $13. Fresh off the boat, frighteningly chilled, beads of sweat forming on the outside during a hot July night. Trying to replicate that experience in some joint in Manhattan is insulting.
I don’t think that the players’ demand for super 2 expansion was ridiculous, but it has been obvious throughout these talks that it was a complete non starter.
Arbitration is a fair way to set salaries for any player other than the free agent market, IMO, but owners want a large number of completely cost controlled players, so it was never going to happen. I had proposed 2.5 years (rather than a percentage) which would be 2.086- or 30 days less than this year’s 2.116.
That’s an interesting proposal re: the CBT and minimum salaries. IF the threshold is $225K and the penalties are the same, that’s just about a 7% increase so the level is unchanged with the rate of inflation and if they had a de facto cap before, they still have one.
The players should be pushing for much higher minimum salaries, IMO, and the owners may be willing to give it to them. Higher minimums benefit a majority of players and don’t cost teams very much compared with spending on the upper end of the market.
I don’t think a draft lottery addresses tanking at all. Teams tank to keep their money, not for draft picks, so they can play with that all they want. Sure, it takes away a nice reward for losers, but it won’t make teams spend on salaries. If this is ALL they’re doing to stop tanking, they’re not doing much.
It’s not a cap if it doesn’t matter to the organization if they exceed it. The penalty needed to increase. Same ole same ole
The players are not giving away the Super Two expansion without getting several other things in return. One of those is a $775k minimum that goes up each year. That number has never changed in MLBPA proposals. They also want the $115 million pool for pre-arb eligible players.
The CBT threshold has been a separate issue and the players have not wavered from that $245 million starting number in months. Originally they proposed $255 million CBT threshold to start this CBA reasoning that it was a 30% increase over the CBT threshold in the first year of the previous CBA.
Its not supposed to be a cap. Baseball cannot have a hard cap. It was supposed to be a minor deterrent to the Yankees spending more than anyone else was capable of spending.
Now half of the teams in MLB have enough revenue to spend $214 million on payroll. I mean come on, the Padres passed the CBT threshold last year and they are a revenue sharing recipient, not a payer like the Dodgers or Yankees.
That should tell you all you need to know about how ridiculously low the CBT threshold has been compared to how much money the teams are making today.
The players have not backed off the Super Two expansion without concessions from MLB owners. Those concessions include the $115 million pool for pre-arb players and a $775k minimum salary.
The MLBPA has not wavered from the $245 million CBT threshold. I doubt they will. MLB revenue has skyrocketed over the past 5 years and it will go up more in 2022. A $245 million CBT is completely fair and affordable for the owners.
Your beer is going to go up regardless of what the players are earning. baseballprospectus.com/news/article/72886/veteran-…
I posted this below, but I will repeat it here.
The players are not giving away the Super Two expansion without getting several other things in return.
One of those things they are requiring to drop the Super Two expansion is a $775k minimum that goes up each year. That $775k number has never changed in MLBPA proposals. They also want the $115 million pool for pre-arb eligible players.
The CBT threshold is a separate, but equally important issue and the players have not wavered from that $245 million starting number in months. I don’t think they will by much if any now.
Originally the MLBPA proposed a $255 million CBT threshold to start this new CBA reasoning that it was a 30% increase over the CBT threshold in the first year of the previous CBA. That was completely reasonable considering MLB revenue went up 30% over the last 5 years.
The owners won their biggest points, no change in the free agency period and no changes to arbitration starting after 3 years of service time. The players are apparently willing to concede on the owners 3rd biggest issue, changes to the start of Super Two designation.
To make up the insanely large gap in revenue between the players and the owners, the owners are going to have to give big on two negotiating points, minimum salary and CBT threshold.
Don’t care anymore.
then why are you still constantly whining with each and every update? crying is caring.
This is the first time I have said that I don’t care anymore, half-wit.
I mean he’s right though, if you truly didn’t care then you wouldn’t be on an MLB board commenting that you don’t care, similar to the spurned lover who says it was mutual then they spends the next 3 months camped outside their ex’s house.
Lemon – sounds like you have done camping in front of ex’s……
Fraida Felcher – is that you???
Felcher? From Cranston?!
every other time he’s been advocating for the dissolution of the sport to help the owners prove a point. So “don’t care” is a step up! Progress all around, gents!
And yet here you are in the middle of the night. Cheers buddy.
Congratulations for commenting on sleeping habits and/or the time of day. Strange, weird. What a bizarre response.
I thought I muted you, or do you just keep making burner accounts
You care, Voice
You’re emotionally stuck in high school, where you were cut from JV, and Timmy the ballplayer stole your girl, then went on to become a major leaguer.
The owner’s concessions dig deeper, as Timmy’s value to Major League Baseball is only confirmed in dollar signs, which are as much value to the billionaires as blood.
Ignorant post old oak
ClearedThroat
98% of Voice’s posts are anti player, pro owner, “break the union” garbage. The second it looks like there will be compromise from both sides, Voice posts “don’t care anymore”
Seems like I got him/her pegged
I guess it’s his way of living in all your heads. Apparently it’s working.
I care
But you care just enough to let everyone know you do not care.
To use an analogy, it’s first and goal from the 10 yard line. Both the owners and the players are on offense trying to score the winning touchdown with no defense on the field. The question is: Will they get this CBA over the goal line OR will they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Since it’s baseball, an unforced fumble through the back of the end zone wouldn’t shock me, but here’s hoping…
Please, no uniform patches
Eventually they’ll resemble NASCAR uniforms.
It’ll happen. And in 5 years nobody will care, much like NBA jerseys.
Or they’ll be like soccer jerseys, where the team logo is inconsequential and the sponsor is front and center.
And lots of people will care, joe. Soccer jerseys suck. I don’t want to be a free walking billboard for a business. I certainly don’t want to pay for the “privilege.”
Politicians should have to wear patches.
They should have companies sponsor those nickname jersey weekends.
The marketing possibilities are endless.
Bringer of rain, with an umbrella company patch
Kiiiiid, with a Nickelodeon or Disney patch
How many tacos, buffalo wings and BBQ-bacon cheeseburgers were consumed during those 14 hours of meetings?
About tree fiddy.
You misspelled coke.
How many times did Scherzer threaten to hurt someone?
Bet that room smells amazing.
Finally it looks good. Could though still be miles apart or we could get an agreement at any time. Unfortunately we just don’t know what was posturing and what was truly important levels for the respective side. At this point, the sides could feel like they’ve already won or they could still feel more movement now is needed for both immediate benefits AND to set the stage for the next CBA. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end.
What is a super 2 player?
It’s a player who has stayed at 25 percent of all Super 8 Motels.
So basically Tom Bodett?
We’ll leave the light on for you
Isn’t he Motel 6?
Yes. He graduated to super 8
Good one.
Players with between 2-3 years of service time in MLB. The 22% with the most service time earn arbitration a year earlier than the other 78%.
What Scott said.
This year, any player with two years plus 116 days of major league service became eligible for arbitration. That reads 2.116.
I dislike all of it.
UniDH? Takes away strategy, the authority of the leader – the manager. Why even both to have two leagues anymore?
12 team playoffs? Totally diminishes the entire season, the concept of consistency and stick to it-tiveness over the long haul.
Removing all that baseball teaches…..
Baseball was the was.it was.for a.reason and I do not think the current representatives even understand the game….
Adding 2 playoff teams ruins the game? Having the same rules eliminates the need for 2 leagues? No more strategy?
First, strategy. Openers were created in the AL, where the DH has been your entire life. Managers have the option to not use the DH as well, so if a manager was concerned about not being able to strategize then they could choose not to use the DH. Zero AL managers have made this move in the 21st century. It doesn’t eliminate strategy, it changes it. Big difference.
12 playoff teams. Having a 1 game playoff in baseball is going to ruin the game faster than 12 playoff teams. Baseball more so than any other sport can see any team win on any given day. 1 game playoff has been a joke since it started and we can only hope that the 12 team format includes a 3 game WC series instead of 1.
And as a lifelong NL fan, I for one am sick of watching a .100 hitter take 10% of the at bats during a game. Pitchers don’t get regular AB’s and don’t stand a chance against ML pitching. That leads to poor performances and injuries. I’m sick of watching a pitcher get pulled at 85 pitches in a 0-0 pitching duel because it’s the 7th inning and there’s a RISP with 2 outs. Add in the fact that baseball is a game of stats, and uses these stats for contract values, and you have 2 different set of rules that you’re judging. I was on your side for 30+ years, but the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of a universal DH and is too overwhelming to ignore.
I actually LOVE the one-game playoff for the Wild Card teams. I think it’s epic and exciting and awesome. Sort of like an instant game 7 situation.
For those teams whining about it, finish higher !!
Besides, these are teams at the low end of playoff eligibility. I love it.
I have come around on the DH, but I will miss players like Maddux and Hudson hitting. But they are the exception and I recognize that.
I’m for the universal dh… In theory I’m against the DH in general but I firmly believe that not having the DH puts the nl at a disadvantage in interleague play and the ws
It’s pretty easy to adapt to the nl rule as an al club … In theory one of your best hitters hit the bench but in reality most clubs use a rotation for dh to give dudes rest and it just means having a starting caliber bat off the bench
For the NL, roster construction means that the quality of the 9th bat in the lineup is typically substandard when compared to the AL counterpart
But as w all things CBA all of this is an afterthought to money and the DH is beneficial for both players and owners as it means more offense and more starting vs bench jobs for players which means higher average salary
There haven’t been two leagues for decades. Just rule modifications. Totally get your point however.
@The Saber While you’re right, the significance of the things you like about old-school baseball are already gone. Holding on to those rules is pointless because it’s a different game. I prefer no DH, but the art of bunting and small ball is essentially dead. May as well go with the times.
I dislike all of it.
UniDH? Takes away strategy, the authority of the leader – the manager. Why even both to have two leagues anymore?
12 team playoffs? Totally diminishes the entire season, the concept of consistency and stick to it-tiveness over the long haul.
I really think they are unwittingly sabotaging America.
Removing all that baseball teaches…..
Baseball was the was.it was.for a.reason and I do not think the current representatives even understand the game….
So basically very little if anything is going to change from the last CBA. And it took all this time for both sides to agree to that.
SO FAR, the pre-arb players are getting a $100k bump to the League minimum. That’s significant to a young player and worth fighting for.
The $100k is significant and worth fighting for but it’s also something that shouldn’t have taken this much time to agree on.
If you want to read the dumbest article try Jeff Passan on the ESPN sight… Boras is taking Jeff to dinner tonight. The money is not there Jeff and guaranteeing 5 per cent raises each does not work if your business does not increase revenues the same. Can someone just sell their team to Boras please.
As an owner I am NOT spending 300 million for ten years on Correa who has an injury history and is certainly no Alex Rodriquez. I also lose money on games until May and except for tradition reducing the season to say 140 games with more playoff games makes sense.
Baseball game pace should be improved but at least here is a sport where the fans do not ruin everything with constant standing and noise (NFL), piped in cheers (NBA).
Funny that baseball with the longest season has the shortest playoff schedule of any sport. I am reminded of that Crankshaft cartoon where he is sitting in left field on opening day for the Indians. No one else is there and a Zamboni is cleaning the snow from the outfield.
The dumbest thing I’ve read is “the money is not there” for player raises.
The long regular season is to determine who truly are the best teams, those deserving of making the small playoff field.
Well good thing that’s not what he said. Do you have a complete breakdown of all expenses for the teams? Or are you just gonna keep going on the, “rich owners bad reeeeeeeeee” line of thinking?
Well good thing that’s not what I said. Owners deserve to make a profit. They’ve also seen revenue growth outpace player salary growth significantly the last 15-20 years, so the money is there.
Well owners don’t show the books, so who knows? For a lot of people, the fact that they aren’t willing to show the numbers says they are doing pretty well.
pd – I hear the complaint about the owners not showing their books all the time. Their finances are no ones business but their own. The only result from them acquiescing will be everyone demanding more money from them. It’s the old socialist argument of “you make enough money, now give us the rest”.
These owners pay out hundreds of millions of dollars every year to players and to the process of putting out an amazing product for us to watch. People need to stop complaining that they’re billionaires who need to come clean about how much money they have. Baseball would not be watchable if the owners were poor or just squeaking by financially.
prov, the owners certainly don’t need to show their books to anyone. But if they say they’re not making much money, there’s little reason to believe them. And if they wanted a salary floor-cap system based on revenues, they would have to show their books to the players.
If they are not squeaking by financially, they can afford to increase salaries at the rate of inflation at the very least.
While we don’t know the specifics on individual teams, we do know the numbers industry wide. MLB revenue went up 30% over the past 5 years while median player salaries went down more than 20%. There is no question about either of those numbers.
Site.
If you have not read For Whom the Bell Tolls ,, do not bother except the first chapter is pretty good though it has nothing to do with the rest of the book..
Papa Hemmingway a man of many talents, eating, swearing, shooting, fishing, alas he could not write. Following Jame Joyce all around Paris and getting angry that Joyce ignored him. Joyce was 90 percent blind.
I thought your earlier comment was the dumbest thing I had read until this one about Hemingway.
You comment is literally the dumbest thing I have read today. MLB had a 30% increase in revenue over the past 5 years and that includes all the “losses” in 2020. The money is not only there to pay the players, its a $2 billion gap between what they should be getting paid and what they were in 2021.
I have lost faith in MLB. This lockout has solidified the fact MLB is, foremost and to a fault, a business. I’m not naive to the realities of money, but this has been a thoroughly disgraceful showing by MLB & the MLBPA.
30 Parks – agree 100 percent! Well said.
He’s 100 percent wrong. This lockout is the reason we won’t have a players strike this summer.
About 1700 games have been missed because of strike… ZERO because of lockout.
Anyone ripping the owners for calling a lockout isn’t very bright. Many people on this board were saying there was going to be a massive strike. They were all wrong. The lockout prevented that.
It doesn’t mean the owners were right during this negotiation, but it means they were right calling a lockout. They likely saved a great deal of the baseball season.
Would he have preferred a midseason strike that would have cost games?
That is because the players can only strike during the season, not in the offseason. Until there is a season there can be no strike.
Do you really have that little understanding of how this all works?
Too late. We’re almost there, imvho. Assuming they close this out by opening day, or at least make up the games, the MLB and the MLBPA will continue to have the longest uninterrupted streak in major sports.
“Too late” for what? I had no idea I was being timed. MLB has admittedly allowed its on-field product to deteriorate (ie. pace of play, etc.) and has now demonstrated significant animosity toward its players and total indifference toward MLB fans. I have lost faith in MLB, not baseball. It’s never too late to lose faith in an institution which does not meet one’s standards. Accountability.
The on-field product has deteriorated because a dull game is more likely to result in winning a game than an exciting game that risks outs.
The on-field product has deteriorated because the value of extra base hits and walks has increased, and the value of contact and singles has decreased.
One easy fix to have a better on field product is ban the shift causing contact to be rewarded. They could also do something allowing for an easier stolen base.
The value of extra base hits and walks has never changed. The recognition of that value has become more prevalent.
The goal is to win the game and the team that scores the most runs wins the game. Doing what has the most value helps teams score more runs and win more games.
There has been a shift as long as there has been baseball. There used to be a Ruth shift and a Williams shift. Banning it will not change the game substantially.
They are talking about a return to the larger, softer base they had many, many years ago. That would decrease the time it takes to reach the base and lessen injuries. I am all for that change.
Let teams who want to spend, spend. Just tax them 100% of $1 over. The CBT problem is that the Reinsdorf’s of the world use the threshold as an excuse for not spending.
If there’s a straight 100% (no escalation or draft penalties), teams will spend if they want ….and the ‘small’ market teams will be beneficiaries of the Revenue Sharing.
It’s not as if the highest spending tax paying team always wins the WS.
Just get it done. None of this stuff is worth losing games over.
I would like to point out that all of the progress has come AFTER Jeter steps down…
Coincidence, I think not!
Baseball fans want to see baseball. All the items they are quibbling over, save for the universal DH, do not keep fans from losing any sleep.
The universal DH is the lone item that doesn’t revolve around money. At least not directly. It should be readily approved because it’s silly for the two top-of-the-mountain baseball leagues to play by different rules.
JMHO, but after the concessions made yesterday, neither side is gonna be anxious to grant further concessions today. So you can just about trashcan that 5 PM deadline as an incentive to settle this today. Fact is, the season isn’t gonna start on time. And if it doesn’t, I hope they don’t try to squeeze all 162 games into fewer days by utilizing gimmicks like 7-inning double headers. Hate that.
If I were king, there would be 150 game schedule ending in mid-September. All playoff series would be at least three games.
Take the next 10 years to work out a solution,
CANCEL MLB during that time.
Call me then…
Let’s face it, if they come to a solution we will be happy because we want baseball, but if the outlines we are seeing go into the final deal, even with a rise in the ML minimum, it’s a win for the Owners. The CBT thresholds will be treated as a de facto hard cap, and absolutely nothing substantive will be done about competitiveness. Tanking teams have much to rejoice. Tanking teams’ fans, and the municipalities and taxpayers who shell out to make gifts to the owners,,,,,not so much.
But, “Sonny, it;’s a business.”
Who cares who wins? I certainly don’t. Just get an agreement. Unless, you’re making this some sort of income inequality example. In which case I say: get real, live in the real world.
Not making a political statement at all. But, since you brought it up, I’d say this is exactly what should happen in a free market. Sides bargain, make compromises when necessary, and hammer out a deal–or not. Has nothing at all to do with income inequality.
No surprise. Neither side wants to lose games/revenue. The owners were being bullies and the players called their bluff by standing strong.
This feels close enough to me, it should be settled today. Fire up spring training, add a couple double-headers and play a full season.
Dierkes – Thanks for you and your staff for working to the morning hours to bring us updates.
The Union is going completely el-foldo as I predicted. No significant change in compensation; maybe they get some pennies for wearing Armour-All patches on their uniforms. NO changes in Free Agency, arbitration, no access to gaming revenue, raises that barely match the inflation rate..
A complete disaster for the Association.
Tells me two things, 1) the players do not want to strike at all and 2) the owners don’t give a flying f what the general public thinks of them.
Rejoice everyone. Unless of course, you’re being priced out of viewing and attending.
Well, lets see if this thing gets settled today or not. Still not holding my breath, and am not going to be too optimistic about it either. It could easily all fall apart.
No rejoicing until the ink is dry on the agreement.
Would they have spent 16 hours hammering out the details if the impasse had remained? Doubtful. You’re point well taken.
“STAY STRONG OWNERS!!!!!!!!! WORKERS ARE THERE TO WORK, NOT GET PAID!!!! THEY SHOULD THANK YOU FOR THE PRIVILEGE!!!! DON”T STOP UNTIL YOU OWN THEIR CHILDREN IN PERPETUITY!!!!!!”
Holy Hyperbole Batman!
Not interested in MLB after the gamesmanship from the selfish owners and the weak player’s union for years in regards to this CBA. This all jumped a shark sometime ago and the owners are just non-caring a-holes. So I can find something else to do with my extra income besides waste it at a ballpark, MLBtv or a team shop.
Hope the cbt doesn’t go up much. If it does it just cements a lot of teams as perennial pretenders and leaves 3 or 4 teams the ability to stack their teams with free agents.
$270 M v $35 M is a joke. No other sport let’s that happen.
why does the players union balk at the owner’s luxury threshold proposal for?
How many teams except the Yankees, Dodger, and maybe a couple of more ever come near?!
In essence, the union wants a team like the Yankees to overspend on has-beens and make baseball more expensive for all the other teams.
An agent-driven position if ever there was one.
Not quite. The cap also serves as a deterrent to mid-large teams like Philly, Houston, etc. They won’t blew thru the cap, but they might spend up to it. There are maybe 6-7 that use that as a baseline.
Houston and Philadelphia both have revenue in excess of $500 million so they could easily be spending $250 million on players.
That is why the CBT threshold must go up to match the increases in MLB revenue over the past 5 years.
The small market Padres just did. Half the teams in MLB have the revenue to surpass the CBT threshold without sacrificing profit.
So the big question for me is when will the transacting commence ? Once the new agreement is signed? Some certain length of time after that ? Immediately ??? I wanna see some frenzied trade chaos commence forthwith!!!
I suspect that when the final deal is announced later today (although don’t be surprised if talks break off at some point as part of a negotiating tactic by the MLBPA), that there will be a 14-team postseason, not the reported 12-team option. The TV package is more lucrative at 14, which means the owners want it. The MLBPA knows that, so they will eventually extract additional concessions from MLB in return, such as a $725K base salary.
Agreed. I doubt that the union gives a rat’s a$$ about two extra teams, but they are 100% correct holding onto that as a bargaining chip.
The MLBPA has not wavered off the $775k minimum salary. Why would they both give the owners a 14 team playoffs and a lowered minimum?
For the first time I am actually optimistic that there will be a deal.
Can the MLBPA make 14 play off teams conditional on pursuing expansion to 32 total teams by x year?
14 makes more sense with more teams overall.
That’s what I suggested as well.
Expansion brings another $ 5 billion or so in entry fees and another 52 major league jobs.
Owners will expand, but they first want all those potential cities for leverage to get new stadiums in Oakland and Tampa Bay. And of course they want taxpayers to foot the bill.
In theory it makes sense, but it is very hard to guarantee that expansion will take place i”x” number of years. There are a lot of moving pieces, and it is something you don’t want to force.
MLBPA rolling over on arbitration shows they care more about the top 10% of earners than the vast majority of MLB players. More than half of MLB players make MLB minimum and that’s a black eye on the union’s inability to seek inclusive resolutions. Yes, mlb minimum is going to increase, but that was going to happen regardless. SMH.
ML minimum increase was going to happen regardless? really? I guess you’re disappointed in the union folding huh? even though it has zero affect on you personally.
MLBPA didn’t roll over on Super Two expansion. They are requiring a $775k minimum that goes up annually and a $115 million pool for pre-arb players in exchange.
The owners have not been within $100k of what the players want for the minimum wage and giving the players what they want is a condition of not expanding Super Two.
63.2% of players are pre-arbitration, but only 32% make exactly the minimum today. Most 2nd and 3rd year players make slightly more.
The additional salary for 2nd and 3rd year players is negligible. We’re talking (maybe) $5K – $10K.. The union needs to get players to either be arb eligible earlier or free agency earlier. Think about this: a team signs a college kid at 21, they have him for 7 minor league seasons. In year 7 (28 years old), they put him on the 40 man and they have 3 years to option him and manipulate his service time so he can’t really become arb-eligible for the FIRST time until 4 years after being added to the 40-man (now he’s 32). Three years of arbitration and he finally gets to free agency at 35 years old. By then, he’s “too old” and they move on to younger guys. This is the path for many, many relief pitchers. Players need 1st time minor league contracts capped at 4 years (college); 5 years for JC and 6 years for HS players (I may concede to 5 years college and 6 year HS). Arb-eligible after 2 years of MLB service or after being activate on a MLB roster at any point in any of 4 different seasons, whichever comes first. Prove me wrong.
Have you seen the proposed language on the “arbitration pool” – it’s ridiculous. It might help a handful of players. Name any other union in America where there is a difference between the top earners and the bottom feeders of 70-80x? They should be fighting to get these guys to arbitration and free agency earlier and they rolled over. I’m hopeful they are working on the first-time minor league UPC, which allows a club to keep a player for 7 years after signing.
Watching MLB Network and the talking heads are crying about how the best players in MLB are not playing in the playoffs. I’m sorry, but watering down the playoffs isn’t going to help fix the Angels to make the playoffs. How about MLB encourage ownership to look at how well run Tampa Bay is. Enough with spending millions on a few players while leaving the rest of their team to be filled with no-names. It would also help if MLB had a balanced schedule where all teams played each other the same number of times instead of the teams playing each other 19 times in the division.
When the millionaires and Billionaires quit arguing about making more money———All of us low rent people will get to watch our favorite baseball teams play on television.
I got real kick over some baseball writer saying it wasn’t millionaires because 71% earn under a million a year. Reality check: millionaires are not quantified by yearly earnings, it’s net worth. smh
Net median earnings are less than $1 million in a MLB career. That means after agents, unions, and governments get their cut, the median income in a career has been less than $1 million over the past 5 years.
I like the fact that prior to reading this I didn’t know Super 2 was top 22pct. That’s 2 2 22pct to be a Super 2. So if Super 2 will still exist how are we fixing that team control keeping players down in minors?
I like the lottery idea. Just dont make it too complicated. Give the bottom 5 2 ballots each to pick from on order 1-5. And agree to 7teams by just giving them 1 ballot each. Or should it be the other way? 2 to 6 and 7 and 1 to bottom 5? Generally seemed 3-5 teams were in the running for tanking. Try tanking to 6 and 7th worst records!
Here’s a great article from Jeff Passen on how the owners F’d this lockout up as bad as any group of owners can….espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33362477/inside-self-infli…
Any negative fallout that happens once this is resolved is deserved and the owners will only have themselves to blame. They’re a bunch of selfish and out of touch with reality idiots who are far too narcissistic to realize it.
With no tax penalty increase, there goes any hope of parity.
MLB has had greater parity than any sport in the US. More different champions and more different participants in the playoffs even though MLB far fewer teams going to the playoffs each season than the NBA, NHL, and NFL.
That’s a very short-sided argument. Parity only exists because of the nature of baseball not because the game is being managed correctly. Most fans can predict, very successfully,
playoff bound teams, prior to the season starting. You want to call that parity, go ahead, it’s just not the reality.
MLBPA agreed to drop expanded Super Two in exchange for $115 million pool for 75 pre-arbitration eligible players and a minimum salary of $775.000.
They are not just offering to drop it entirely. The dollars have to balance out.
MLBPA – Why not seek to expand your membership? Increase ML roster to 26-27, change 40-man roster to 42. Costs the owners $$, brings in more players to the Majors, etc.