MLB lockout ends as MLBPA, owners reach CBA agreement: Five takeaways with baseball set to return

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, ending lockouts by league owners.

The union voted to approve the new proposal by a difference of 26-12 (a simple majority, or 20 votes, was required for the new agreement to pass, but eight members of the Executive Subcommittee. It’s worth noting that all the members of the group voted against it). .. Owners ratified the new five-year CBA on Thursday night, voting 30-0 in favor. MLB’s off-season business (trade and free agents) is expected soon. Players will report to spring training in the next few days and the MLB team is set to play the full 162 game season in 2022. According to Jim Bowden of CBS Sports HQ, the opening date is April 7.

The lockout ended on the 99th day. The owner first enacted a lockout on December 2, when the previous CBA expired, marking the first outage of MLB since the 1994-95 player strike. The league was characterized by acting as a defense mechanism that wanted to expedite negotiations, after which the owners waited more than six weeks to make their first proposal. Negotiations finally got hot in the last week of February, when the two met every day in Florida. After hours of negotiations in New York this week, an agreement was reached on Thursday.

Here are some of the notable details reported from the approved proposal: According to athletic Ken Rosenthal:

• CBT threshold: It peaks at $ 230 million in 2023 and $ 244 million in the final year of the CBA.
• CBT Penalty Tear: Introducing a new tier that exceeds the threshold and starts at $ 60 million (the highest tier that exceeded the threshold by $ 40 million).
• Minimum salary: At $ 700,000, it peaks at $ 780,000 in the final year of the CBA.
• Bonus pool before arb: $ 50 million
• Postseason format: 12 teams

Commissioner Rob Manfred has previously announced cancellations for the first two weeks of the 2022 regular season, when negotiations have stalled, but all games are back on schedule. The opening day was originally scheduled for March 31st, but the game that lost in the first week reportedly consists of a holiday and a doubleheader.

Throughout the process, the union sought to raise the league’s minimum wage and competitive balance tax base. Implement a centralized bonus pool for performance-based pre-arbitration players. Introduce some measures to curb anti-competitive behavior such as tanking. Owners have prioritized the authority on their part to make rule changes, including expanded postseason, international drafts, and potentially pitch clock and larger base installations, and defensive position restrictions.

This was the first lockout in league history that jeopardized the regular season.

Here are five points from the new CBA:

1. The transaction took a scenic route

This is the longest lockout in league history and the first compromise of the regular season, as it took 99 days from the start of the lockout (December 2nd) to the closing of the deal. (Previous records belonged to the 1990 lockout that lasted 32 days.)

The owner waited more than 6 weeks after placing the padlock and made the first suggestion to the player. After that, they met here and there, but only in late February did they start meeting in person on a daily basis.

The league officially canceled the first two series of the season on March 1, but both teams continued to be involved and continued to break through the deadline imposed by the artificial league after the deadline imposed by the artificial league. .. Even on Thursday, the league set a 3:00 ET “deadline”, which included a clause that unions would withdraw dissatisfaction with the league due to the shortening of the 2020 season, with players ratifying the agreement. Or passed without voting to refuse. .. (The union claimed that the league chose to play fewer games.)

Despite all public quarrels and false start negotiations, the league and union were able to maintain a season of 162 games, even if the format changed.

2. More money for young players

One of the biggest goals the union had in these negotiations was to reward players who were in the early stages of their careers. MLB’s reward system setup method guarantees that players with a service period of less than three years will basically not exceed the league minimum, no matter how well they play.

The new CBA not only raised the league minimum by more than $ 100,000 (which was $ 575.5K in 2021), but also introduced a pre-arbitration bonus pool with $ 50 million in funding. Players who are not yet eligible for arbitration have the opportunity to make additional money based on their Wins Above Replacement ranks. It doesn’t give them their market value or anything close to it, but it’s a significant boost for talents who would otherwise be significantly lower wages compared to their performance. During negotiations, it was proposed that the money in the pool would be split among the top 30 pre-arbitrated players based on the WAR.

3. Now is the postseason for 12 teams

Since the creation of the Wild Card Game in 2012, 10 teams have been postseasoning each year, except for the 2020 season, when the pandemic has been shortened. That number will increase to 12 teams. (The owner wanted a 14-team format.) The exact details are unknown, but the league resisted the “ghost win” approach used in Japan and South Korea.

4. There are rule changes and unified patches

The aforementioned 2020 season also included Universal DH. Sure enough, this CBA makes it a new normal and in the process creates 15 new start jobs for the player. As part of the agreement, the league has been empowered to implement rule changes for the 2023 season, including pitch clocks. Restrictions on defensive positions; establishment of larger bases for health and safety. The two field rules of the last two seasons, the doubleheader for seven innings and the runners starting additional innings on second base are not part of this new deal.

Tanking has been a hot topic in baseball for the last decade. The CBA seeks to at least minimize its actions by conducting draft draws for six teams. The CBA is also a draft topic reward that encourages teams to promote their best prospects when they are ready, not when they are most economically convenient. Players also have a limit on the number of times a season can select an option.

In addition to the expanded postseason, the league will create new revenue streams by allowing teams to feature advertising patches on jerseys and decals on helmets. Every ESPN..

5. International draft will spur more negotiations

As mentioned elsewhereBoth sides agreed to continue talking about the International Draft by the deadline in late July. Draft topic compensation goes out of the window if they can agree on the structure. Otherwise, draft topic compensation will resume and the international amateur process will not change.