TODAY: The owners made new proposals in regards to the international draft and the luxury tax during today’s talks, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter links), though progress is still said to be slow. Talks will continue tomorrow at union meetings in Dallas, where Rosenthal predicts the negotiations “should intensify.”
SATURDAY: A lockout is still a possibility as the league and the union negotiate the next CBA in advance of Thursday’s deadline, but there are strong hopes it can be avoided after MLB offered to remove the current system of draft pick forfeiture associated with the qualifying offer, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports writes. Such a change would make MLB free agency “the freest free agency in sports,” in the words of one of Heyman’s sources. In return, the league wants the players to agree to an international draft.
Under the current system, if a player refuses a qualifying offer, interested teams must give up a top draft choice to sign him. The players dislike this rule because it reduces the market value of players on the edges of the qualifying offer system — including, in recent years, players like Ian Desmond, Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew and Nelson Cruz. Recently, players such as Neil Walker, Jeremy Hellickson and Brett Anderson have accepted qualifying offers, receiving less long-term security than they perhaps would have gotten on the open market.
The players also do not like the idea of an international draft, which would affect prospects throughout Latin America. Heyman writes, though, that draft pick forfeiture is considerably more costly to them than an international draft would be, particularly since a significant percentage of international bonuses go to players who don’t make the Majors.
Still, there are other topics that must be resolved, Heyman notes. One issue is the luxury tax threshold — the league has reportedly agreed to increase it from $189MM to $200MM, but the two sides have not agreed on a final number.
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal had previously reported that a lockout was a possibility. Reporting since then from Buster Olney and Jayson Stark of ESPN has suggested that there was reason for optimism that a deal could be completed.
Makes all the sense in the world.
I second that…
I second that.
I third that
Didn’t Yankee4life third that when they seconded it the second time making yours, technically, a fourth that? Just saying…
WITCH
It makes about as much sense for the MLBPA to cave on the International draft just for the changes to the QO outlined in this article as it does to stone a woman for being raped. 10-20 players are affected by the QO per year and maybe 3 or 4 have their FA market dampened by the QO. Hundreds per year will be DIRECTLY affected by an international draft. Thousands more may never even learn baseball because the proposal on the table from MLB for an international draft gets rid of the financial incentive for the independent coaches and buscones in countries like DR and Venezuela to put up their own money to teach the game in hopes that one or two of these kids will be signed by an MLB team.
I actually agree. The players union and the owners will be impacting thousands of people who have absolutely no voice in the discussion but will probably be impacted the most. I don’t think the common fan even knows too much what is at stake.
Hopefully someone will come up with a solution that is satisfactory for all the kids, families, the players and the owners….but I don’t hold much hope. Most of the players and the owners are motivated primarily by money (although several have come out to speak directly against an international draft). Of course it would be nice if the owners would actually pay a decent living wage to most minor leaguers as well. But that appears to be something that they aren’t concerned about either.
What about the small market teams? Compensation was all they could hope for when their players got too expensive…
They’re no such things as small market times just greedy owner who don’t want to spend money to improve their team. This forces them to actually spend those tv contract dollars
Yes, anti up Tampa,D-Backs, Astros, Braves, Marlins and Oakland or get new owners and move your teams to Vegas and Charlotte. There are no free rides. Pay your players, if anything there should be a minimum salary for every team of 100 million.
Arizona has consistently been in $86-112 mil range in payroll over the last four seasons. Same with Atlanta. Arizona has also never used the qualifying offer.
Don’t lump then in with Oak, Tampa, Miami, or Hou.
Yeah well, we could do that with a salary cap/floor and hardcore revenue sharing. But I guess that’s a lost cause when two thirds of the league has to be perfect in signings and trades or they fall apart at the seams but the top third can throw hundreds of millions of dollars to the wind and people are still dumb enough to think every team not run in Henry-Werner style is just being stingy
Most teams have to be smart with their money and so they avoid big money free agents – not because they care so much about the size but the length of deals. It means they have to have an almost 100% success rate on their major trades and signings, or they’re heading for dark times. So they try to do things smart. Whether it’s “Moneyball” or a total cheapo tear down like the Astros or the tough luck low budget Cubbies or whatever else (Loria is a well known d bag and doesn’t count, besides, he’s a longtime bed buddy of Werner Henry and Selig) they do what they gotta do to get by.
They’re not looking for a free ride. They’re trying to keep cashing bigger checks than they’re writing.
What I don’t get is why an international draft looks to benefits the smaller market teams I get it with moncada. But overall a smaller market would seem like the move to be most frugal getting guys before they get to expensive. It’s all like everyone says to continue to line the owners pockets more.
LMFAO. The Dodger and Yankees both get more than $250 million per year in TV revenue. The Dodgers only pay revenue sharing (34%) on $140 million of that $250 million per year in TV revenue and the Yankees pay revenue sharing on $125 million. Miami, Tampa, Milwaukee and Oakland all have TV contracts that pay less than $25 million per year. The Padres signed a relatively new deal starting with the 2013 season for $1.2 billion over 25 years. That averages out to $48 million per year. The disparities in revenue between small TV market ballclubs and big TV market ballclubs is immense.
Teams could still get compensatory picks for losing players. As long as the team signing them doesn’t have to give up a pick, it’s all the same to the players.
That’s a good idea. You can QO them and they can still accept, but if they decline and sign somewhere else the team that lost the player just gets a pick in the sandwich round.
That would make the player still as attractive but the team still gets compensation for losing a good player.
every team would qo so many players
Wouldnt change much because they’re are alot of players that’d except 17.2 million this year and what’s definitely growing year to year. Only the better players wouldn’t.
Yeah but if you offer them 17 maybe 18 mil next year some may actually accept it you run that risk as well
So why would a team not give the QO then. That makes no sense
Because there’s the risk that you get stuck with a player on a 18 mil salary, therefore encouraging teams to only QO the players they consider worth that price.
I think that’s been the idea all along. Major objection to is is it devalues later draft picks of teams that have nothing to do with the transaction. So if you have the 35th pick going into the off-season, in the 2nd round, every time a FA signs you lose a slot, even though you’re neither getting nor losing the free agent.
So…Go back to the old system that everyone was complaining about?
Spend your revenue-sharing hand out on players instead of the owners pocket
I absolutely agree. Maybe there could be a system where teams would gain draft picks when they lose a major FA, but the team who signs him doesn’t lose a draft pick.
I say the team who loses the FA gets a sandwich pick between the 1st and 2nd round.
This was the old system, the Elias system. Elias ranked players as class A/B/C free agents with corresponding sandwich round picks between rounds. No loss of draft picks.
Somewhat incorrect. Under that old system a Class A free agent results in the team losing the player getting the first round pick of the signing team (top 10 protected) AND a comp. pick. A class B free agent would net just the comp. pick
Class A FA resulted in the loss of a 1st round pick(or 2nd rounder if it was a protected pick.
Well it says draft pick forfeiture so I’m guessing there would still be a QO but signing teams wouldn’t lose picks. There would probably be still be a full comp round so teams keep all their picks, teams still get compensation etc. What I wonder is if that will in any ways change the market? Will guys be willing to take a one year or opt out after one year if they fell the market will bear more next year without a comp pick tied to them?
Now since a majority of these arguments are based solely on Cuban born players then sure institute a temporary one round draft in which you have a pool or like the rule 5 you the option to opt out. If you choose to opt out that allotment still has to be spent on the international market. But it’s temporary because Cuban born players will eventually be subject to posting system
Walk-year players would be all getting traded at the deadline – contenders will always pay to improve for the stretch run. Keeping a walk year player would be meaningless to a small market team, but they could get still get prospects via trade.
I think the players should shut up and accept an international draft.
Anyone here ever hear of Dermis Garcia. The Yankees gave him $3 million to hit .194/.308/.384 in rookie ball over 2 years when he wasn’t even old enough to acquire a drivers lisence in most states. They should have the draft slots and harsher penalties.
Also look at Baldoquin and Yoan Lopez. Combined $16.26 million for nothing.
Dermis is a prefect example of why an 18 year age limit doesn’t make sense for non Cuban born player. A 23 game sample size in the DSL is a terrible thing to even examine. Some would also say that BA in the lower minor leagues is an irrelevant stat. His .780 OPS presents maybe he’s not as lost as his BA suggest.
Just kind of funny you use three examples as if it is a concrete example that your argument has relevance yet fail to mention the other side. Seems to me the Dodgers spent 50 mill on MiLB IFA especially In the Dominican, which is extremely rare as they don’t really participate much in the DR or Venezuela, with good success but it doesn’t dictate or mean anything or represent a precursor to anything.
Yeah, damn players expecting to get something back for conceding to an international draft, how dare they want something in return.
How dare they express themselves
It just means that we will see more trades when players have 2-3 years left until FA.
From what I have read, nothing indicates a team would not receive compensation. Rather the forfeiture of a draft pick would be eliminated. The former does not have any effect on a FA market, and really the PA has no financial interest of such arrangements.
I think no player should be able to make more than 25 million a year and you can’t have a Bobby Bonilla type thing either
Well I think players should be able to make what the market will bear.
As long as it’s a fair market, yessir
yeah well that’s never going to happen. Market dictates value and a guy like a Trout has every right in the world to make more than what a guy like Heyward makes. It’s an entertainment industry and entertainers will always be paid these exorbitant amounts regardless of what people think is enough to live on.
It’s just that a system that would result in 15 teams offering $25m to a superstar instead of 3 teams offering $32m that’s fine with me.
It’s not your $7 million to give away.
Is too
So you would rather have owners make more money than players? That $25M cap you are suggesting would mean that the excess money would line the pockets of the people we don’t pay money to see play. Weird.
The owners SHOULD make more than the players, if you’re paying players more than you’re revenue that’s called bad business.
Yah, god forbid the owners make a return on their investment. Why should they not make more money for making smart investments? Now if owners are scaling back on baseball operations to put more money in their pockets, then I take issue with it. But if they’re making more money because the team is becoming more profitable, that’s great for them (and deserved).
If a team wants to pay a guy $30m great. If they want to pay five more guys something like that, that’s where we need a cap.
What do you have against the free market? Y’all lost the Cold War.
I know a guy who owns a couple fast food places. He’s a millionaire and his employees make like minimum wage. They do all the work (as far as the public can see). See their problem is they don’t have any market value.
Y’all lost the Cold War
High supply, low demand.
Income caps for individuals don’t make economic sense. The only reason to cap income is to keep the largest companies from hoarding profits and force them to invest the $ that would otherwise disappear into labor, R&D, etc. So if there was a profit cap for owners, I’d support that. NBA-style max contracts I cannot. I used to get behind salary caps, but they mostly stifle player income. Guess where all that money not spent on players goes. Not on stadiums: Milwaukee County is still paying for Miller Park.
No pro sport has inner workings as complex as MLB so things that work in the NBA and for the sport of basketball just don’t make sense
A salary cap has to be soft, has to come with a floor, and has to have some big time commie rat bastard income redistribution to level the financial playing field between teams. The cap/floor has be soft enough to allow for reasonable rebuilds and reasonable splurges for Windows of contention. The revenue sharing can’t be the joke it is now but something with teeth that really provides reliable long term cash flow bumps for small market teams (mitigating the #1 reason most of the league does not even entertain the idea of signing big free agents) and comes with big punishment for not using it to subsidize payroll.
“some big time commie rat bastard income redistribution ”
Insightful
The owners really don’t want 17 year olds from Venezuela to play organized baseball.
Then why are they pushing for an international draft?
To depress bonuses even more significantly.
The draft will be for 18 year olds.
Like I said, owners really want to keep 17 year old players oyut of the pro ranks.
It’s at 16 so they have an opportunity to speed up the learning curve they face against players from more developed countries with a decent high school system in place or amateur system.
Which is where it should be.
But the lockout is about pushing the eligible age to 18.
Except Iggy
It’s not likely that money will be taken out of pockets however they need to do something to stop the increase in salaries. The game is getting too expensive to enjoy with your family.
Welcome to the world. Pretty much everything is more expensive than it used to be, and it’s not going to change anytime soon.
Do you really think ticket prices It’s really a question of supply and demand. If there are enough people/companies willing to $x for a ticket, $x will be charged, regardless of player salaries.
Ticket prices have basically nothing to do with payroll. Think about the cost of putting on a baseball game. The overhead is massive. A huge chunk of ticket revenue never leaves the stadium. Teams make money from TV and other media contracts, merchandise sales and other ancillary sources. Ticket prices are high because of supply and demand and generic capitalism.
An international draft is a must BUT they should go one step further and just do it right……ONE DRAFT for all players.
It works in hockey, there is no reason it can’t work in baseball.
If they did make some kind of new draft would it happen in 2017 or 2018?
You can’t compare the most expensive sport to play with a completely different socio economical class with distinct infrastructure and leagues to baseball just can’t I’m sorry. MLB does not create infrastructure and provide these players with legitimate recourse I’m always going to be on the MLBPA side. Guess what amateur hockey players have? They have recourse. It’s just non sense. If MLB creates and pours money into infrastructure educational system yes it can probably work 20 years from now but owners don’t even want to pay the 5 mill dollars to ensure MiLB players make minimum wage.
Agreed Visions. I suggested a compromise of an international draft yesterday but I’d prefer to keep the status quo, at least until the draft is properly thought through.
What most people tend to ignore is that the current NHL draft format took almost 30 years to get to where it’s at now.
When the NHL draft was first implemented in the early 60’s, it took 10 years before any actual talent was available because prior to that, teams just signed young players to exclusive deals at age 14.
And it wasn’t until the 1990’s that European players were truly part of the NHL draft. During the late 70’s and through the 80’s, Euro players were generally late round picks. And for the most part, Euro players were only chosen as a way of blocking them from going to rival organizations.
So yes, an all inclusive draft is great and works in the NHL but it took a very long time to get to that point.
I think it needs to be status quo until there is a formidable amateur system in place. Most of this outcry comes from Cuban born players. Mostly because it was untapped and they have a national league. I’m all for a 1 round temporary Cuban draft in which teams have the option to opt in or out but the 8-10 mill draft pool for that has to be spent on the international market.
Whatever the case slapping something stupid together over the winter isn’t the answer.
As a 16 year old from DR, there is no negotiating leverage in place to prevent owners from colluding to depress salaries
Good luck man. I’ve heard trainers can be shady too. Wish there was more control in the players’ hands. Players and coaches are the only ones that matter, which should be obvious to everyone.
By an international draft do they mean separate drafts or combining college , high school, and foreign all into one draft or two separate drafts per year?
Two. One draft isn’t feasible.
MLB is proposing a 10 round draft with a bonus pool with sliding amounts based on where a team finishes the prior year. Similar to the way the amateur draft is held in the US, but with much smaller total bonus pools and slot amounts.
It is not equitable as they proposed it. To understand why it’s so bad, you need to understand both the economies of the countries in question and the way that people learn baseball there now. Youth baseball in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and other Latin American countries is not like in the US where there is Little League, Babe Ruth, American Legion, traveling clubs, high school and college baseball. In latin America, the kids are learning the game from buscones/independent coaches that often house, feed and educate these kids as well as teach them baseball. If an international draft is instituted as the owners have proposed, those independent coaches have no monetary incentive to continue to do what they have been doing for generations. Without them, far fewer kids will even start learning the game in those countries.
‘Freest free agency in sport’? Google Jean Marc Bosman
I take more issue with the semantics, not the claim itself. I’d say “least restrictive free agency” and then hear out your argument, which sounds persuasive.
Do MLB and the Players Association really have enough time to work out the details of an international draft between now and the end of the current CBA, even if they could agree on one in concept?
I’d say the answer to that question is a resounding NO. Aim for 2018 or 19 or something. If we’re going to do it let’s do it right…
There should be some penalty for signing the top free agents on the market, and forfeiting a top draft choice should be that penalty. However, the qualifying offer system should be changed. Instead of a 1 year commitment the QO should be a 2 year guaranteed contract at the average of the top 125 players salaries (as it is now) in year 1, plus a 25% raise in year 2. If teams had to make a nearly $40M commitment to a player, fewer QO’s would be offered, and only those players truly deserving giving up a draft pick to sign would be given one.
An international draft will never work in baseball. Instead it’s an easier fix than that…make the cap a HARD one, or increase the penalties, for example if you go over your allotment you are taxed at 300% and forfeit your right to sign any international player for any amount for 5 years.
Implementing a unified draft system would actually be very easy.
ANY player who wants to play MLB would be required to submit to an MLB draft, (opt in) be they a high school kid from Georgia or a 30 year old, ten year pro from Japan.
At that point, they either get drafted or they are undrafted free agents, but no one can sign as a free agent until after they have submitted to one MLB draft.
The Korean and Japanese baseball leagues would love this proposal.
So then they just sit out a year because they’re not getting drafted high because they don’t play or have the opportunity to play organized baseball receiving really no significant blnuy and then become an unrestricted FA which solves what exactly? These comments make me realize you have no clue about Latin American international amateurs.
Or said international player opts in doesn’t sign and then goes back then becomes an IFA. Btw such a system would never work nor should it. It’s there national pride and love. Posting systems are there to assist teams stay afloat. And the hypocrisy would be hilarious if there was a surprise overseas league who took your teams favorite and best players and there was no compensation to boot.
Since laws differ in other countries, will those registering for the MLB draft have to be 18 to sign a contract or will we allow juniors in high school in the US to be eligible for the draft? How many rounds will the MLB draft be increased to? Who can register the kid for the draft? The independent coaches/buscones who also house, feed and educate them or does it have to be a parent? What will the bonus pool and slot money be increased to in order to accommodate those extra rounds and the influx of talent in the draft? How will the independent coaches/buscones be regulated and compensated? In the US an amateur player cannot have an agent, but most of the independent coaches also operate as the international players agents. There are dozens more major issues with an international draft that I have read about and I am certain that the union and the owners have others they are concerned about. Its not a simple matter at all.
International draft would be the worst. Bad teams shouldn’t get every reward possible.
Also teams should be allowed to trade draft picks
That is the most Yankees fans thing to say ever.
The hypocrisy in the first part of that statement is laughable
Who is blocking the trade of draft picks?
I doubt the union cares.
Owners. We have seen teams but draft picks already. A few teams could essentially buy out drafts. Creating a talent discrepancy equal to the NBA
You’re not allowed to trade draft picks other than comp picks.
I don’t like it. This just allows players to move more freely. I like to see some loyalty and if there isn’t any. A team should be compensated
It allows the top slice of players to make more money which is literally the ONLY thing on the face of this earth the MLBPA cares about.
In every other job you can quit if someone offers you more money. Don’t see this as a huge problem. If someone doubled your salary tomorrow, no matter how much you love your boss, you’d be out the door in a flash.
And if you run around poaching players from other teams because the system is rigged in your favor, it’s not likely going to be the players union complaining
Well I mean loyalty. They usually spend 4 years in the minors making not much more than 8,000 until they are put on the 40 man.Then they have 6-7 years of team control. So they are usually under team control for 10-11 years. I don’t see how much more loyal they are going to be when a majority of the time they are lucky to get that one big contract.
Yes nothing says loyalty like limiting a market and restricting personal growth
So what’s stops a team from offering a QO to ever single free agent? What determines who gets a QO or what?
the fact that they would have to pay 17 million to a backup if they did.
Good. The draft pick forfeiture thing is stupid.
I was young last walk out it didn’t recover till Big Mac and S. Sosa saved baseball ⚾️
The international draft should be its own animal players should have to apply and if they are not drafted they are free agents but to become a free agent they that to apply at least once and the minimum age should be the same as the US. Leave the Asia system as it is for free agents but allow high school students and those without service time in the pro leagues to apply for the international draft so they always have the pro leagues to fall back on. As for Latin American players should have to apply for the draft and if they don’t get drafted they can try again or sign a a free agent. MLB should also try to help expand the professional leagues in Latin America to give them fall back options. Also they need to set up locked bonuses like the NFL for both the US and international draft to keep it fair for the small market teams.
To fall back on? How bout just a high school system so if they actually have an ability to play and aren’t so far behind on the playing curve. The age limit is 16 so that they have an actual chance to try and catch up to American and Asian players. They don’t play organized baseball. They can’t afford to play organized baseball. They are literally signed on how strong an arm they have, speed, power, etc. not on flow or ability to compete in an actual organized game. The amateur system is not close to what people are accustomed to
Rookie ball is high school for these kids from the DR. They get signed based on tools that they PROBABLY have.
I’m all for a draft in concept but the idea that you can just drop in a new system when so many of these guys are “proprietary” finds for the teams that sign them it’s just not going to work at all if a lot doesn’t change on the back end and that won’t happen overnight.
If we lived in a world full of completely honest and ethical people you could really just have a two round draft for the top talent and then let teams do whatever with the rest of them. It would be too easy of a system to exploit, though.
So I’m sure somebody will correct me if I’m wrong, but won’t this possibly hurt or even destroy the market for some of this year’s free agents?? What team would sign players like Bautista or Fowler and give up a pick this year when they won’t have to next year. These players have already had to decline the QO so they essentially could have to sign 1yr deals lower than the 17.2 mil? Or does the new CBA come into effect immediately and therefore teams like the Jay’s that banked on getting the comp picks lose out?
MLB and the MLBPA have their heads so far up their collective hineys it defies comprehension.
Freest free agency in sports? That’s incredibly ignorant. Whoever that source is, has a very small bubble. Likely stopping at the US border.
Most slanted financial system in sports maybe, if the top slice of players get paid and the top slice of teams get paid, well to heck with everyone else
Freest for the players, with no strings attached. No RFAs, nothing to diminish a player’s market.
Google Jean Marc Bosman.
This new CBA is going to screw every small market team
This new CBA will destroy every small market team
The owners would vote for it, to keep the 17 year old from the Dominican Republic out of pro baseball.
David Icke’s website must have started a sports section
salary slots or 5X salary penalties ……………. The system is now heads I win, tails you lose favoring richest owners with largest population ……….. like playing poker with Bill Gates with no limits ……………… Some teams push their pay limits every year while others literally have no limits …………… get ready for Yuckees vs Dongers every year …………………. like playing scrabble with one player getting 14 letters while the others get 3 letters ………………..
I say for the QO, do as many have mentioned where the team losing a FA gets a sandwich pick.
OR, they get the signing teams pick whereever it’s at in the draft order (maybe top 10 still protected) and the signing team simply falls into the sandwich round. They’d technically still lose their first round pick, but they’re just picking right after the round instead of losing it completely.
I’m not down with this at all… unless you want crazy July 1 trades.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that MLB is offering to give up a relative nothing (the QO, which is becoming more trouble than it’s worth) for a lot of something (an International draft). This still doesn’t deal with the issues of teams tanking, and teams collecting revenue sharing and not attempting to be competitive.
Yep. MLB needs to go find their Michele Roberts
Relative nothing isn’t the term the MLBPA uses to describe the QO
Exactly it’s getting to expensive for teams to gamble on the mid-tier free agents, and it’ll never effect the top tier guys.
In lieu of a compensation round pick, the team that loses a free agent who rejects a qualifying offer should get the cash equivalent amount of the qualifying offer from the signing team as compensation.
With all due respect, that’s designed to kill the free agent’s bargaining power completely. And it makes each player coming off of FA a potential economic bonanza–it allows teams to “sell” their free agents after controlling them. And, you won’t see inter-season trades either.
Teams cannot afford to pay out $150 million dollar contracts plus $17 million upfront. The concept is good, the money is ridiculous.
And, on the short side, no team is going to sign someone to a one-year deal–and then have to pay another $17M for the right to do it.
I like it. Teams will obviously complain about the money, but money is worth 0 wins if you don’t use it on players. This would take a less valuable resource (than draft picks, i.e.. players) away from the signing team while still requiring compensation.
If the owners pushed for this, the players would then push instead for signing bonuses if they’re ok with paying money up front, and then nothing happens because they aren’t going to spend $35 mil up front…
The owners wouldn’t push for this. Literally never. In fact demanding cash FA compensation would be an easy way to force a lockout.
Yeah, this is a terrible idea. No team would ever sign a free agent.
An international draft clearly makes sense and would be in the best interest of baseball.
I’d like to see the international draft, but even more I’d like to see one draft for all new players. Keep the no-declaration system in place. I think only being able to be drafted once hurts players more than being forced to be drafted (which you aren’t, technically, but the best are), so that makes an MLB international draft more palatable for the union.
If you had a combined draft that would be better for the players b/c there’d be a larger pool of undrafted FAs available. Less high schoolers and JC players would be snagged in the 35th round and more would go undrafted and be able to negotiate with multiple teams, cleverly bypassing the draft entirely. NCAA players, however, will not see much if any change no matter what happens.
Why? Why does it make sense to you? Why would it be in the best interests of baseball in your opinion?
It doesn’t to me, so please explain why it does to you.
I’d like to see fringy players have more control over their own destinies and I’d like to see every team have a shot at the high-bonus international players.
Employ a compensation system like the NHL where RFA compensation is scaled based on salary brackets. Make the awarded picks comp picks, and the signing team does not lose picks. Also, for the love of god, just make all draft picks tradeable, including international draft picks if there is one.
Too bad the union can’t do anything about the absurd FA service time rules. Up to 7 years in the minors and an additional 6-7 years in the majors w/o free agency. 2-3 years with no ability to negotiate their own contracts, which of course end up being for minimum salary. Most players’ entire careers are controlled by teams. They can’t just walk away from a bad boss and go work for a company that values them more. They have to put up with whatever they’ve got.
It’s definitely in need of reform IMO. Note MLBPA gives just about zero F’s about low ST players unless its projected superstars like Kris Bryant.
I think a hard pre arb pay scale with limited FA at 4 years where a team has to offer them a certain amount or else other teams can go after them.
MLBPA desperately needs new direction
The league and the MLBPA deserve each other.
This would be such a bad trade-off for the union, if they leave the current QO system alone, it’ll take care of itself, it’s already over 17 mill. next year it’ll get to 18-1.8.5 mill the following year nearly 20 million. The mid-tier free agents are getting priced out of the QO system, teams aren’t going to want to risk an average player taking the QO and owing him 20 mill
Plus the system has shown that it has no impact on the top tier free agents, ala Greinke.
If you don’t believe me look at the contracts Chapman and Jansen will wind up getting, one has a Q.O. the other doesn’t, but they’ll get pretty identical contracts in the end.
I think they should keep the QO but amend it in a way that makes it similar to the old system. For instance, the current QO can be retained but called a “Type A” QO and the team who signs a FA with Type A will lose their draft pick. Then there should be a “Type B” QO where the QO will be 2/3rds the value of a Type A and the team who signs doesn’t lose their draft pick but the teams who loses the FA gets a sandwich pick after round 2.
I’m ok with a major increase in threshold tax, but if it’s going to bumped the way i think it should be I’d like to see an amnesty period with a percentage of taxed levied upon it. I’m in favor of it, because I believe there should also be a floor. I’d also think it liven up this years FA market allowing players to double dip. I don’t think a hard cap works works with guaranteed contracts of this magnitude.
I think draft compensation is imperative although if they continue the 1st round picks, I think attaching an average in years and the current system in salary is necessary. Although I think the Cuban market is taxed, I’m more in favor of a temporary 1-2 round Cuban draft until we see a posting fee. That draft similar to the Rule 5 opt out rules. Each team would be allotted a pool in which they’d need to spend on that draft or on the international market. I’m not in favor of a international draft for many reasons. I’m not ok with minor leaguers not making minimum wage. I’m ok with a stricter revenue sharing program although it should be no more than 50%. With the floor it should guaranteed that owners don’t just pocket the money. I’m also not under the illusion that all major league cities are viable so there be serious consideration to relocation. I also do not believe that big market teams should be fully subsidizing small market teams. Boom there it is.
The biggest issue financially is that a significant portion of the league just does not get the solid reliable cash flow it takes to sign mega contracts without directly affecting their ability to fill a roster out on the other end. It’s not that they can’t spend $115m-ish on a roster but that it’s just not feasible to commit large portions of that into the future, so they need to find other ways to keep their team competitive.
I’m not wedded to one specific way of solving the problem but I think sooner rather than later they need to find a way to reduce the variation in payroll between teams using some combination of caps, floors, and rev sharing… a system where the teams at the bottom can spend over their market’s means on payroll and where teams with virtually limitless financial resources have some kind of control that keeps them from driving the market all by themselves.
So I get that the team signing a free agent doesn’t lose its draft pick, makes sense. But does the team losing that player still get a compensation round pick? That would at least give the smaller market teams something in return, assuming they offer them the one year arbitration deal and the player declines.
An international draft the way that MLB has it laid out hurts far more people than it helps. Baseball America posted an article that makes more sense than an international draft. Badler’s idea is to keep the international free agent system the same as it is with a much, much larger ($12 million per year) bonus pool available and make the penalties for going over the bonus pool much stiffer. This keeps the incentives in place for the buscones/independent coaches to continue to teach kids baseball in DR, Venezula and other latin american countries. Without them, baseball dries up there.
Give ALL teams the same amount of money to spend. As an owner, if you are going to lose the ability to spend $24 million over the next 2 years if you go over $12 million this year, you are going to be less likely to go over.
Today, every year the highest paid bonuses for individual players in international free agency are well over the largest bonus pool totals for a team and the penalty for going over the bonus pool too small.
There is no way to explain in a few words what Badler did in a few hundred, so go to Baseball America and read the article. It makes much more sense than what MLB is proposing now.
I hope they keep the QO system with the first round loss and compensation. At worst they should make it a second round loss. They should have a floor to benefit the players, this would make the games more interesting anyway.
The QO system isn’t that bad now that players have learned to actually start accepting the offer when they’re on the bubble. It was certainly a major step up from the old Type A/B system that was more unfair and left even more free agents’ values heavily suppressed by having a draft pick attached to them. While accepting the offer does limit their current options, they can still reenter the market just a year later while generally making a salary that’s even higher than their annual average value would’ve been with a standard free agent multi-year deal.
Having said that, I can understand how unpopular it’s become and that they’d want to remove it completely.
However, don’t forget that draft compensation has always existed alongside free agency for a very good reason in order to help out smaller market teams that can’t afford to sign or resign as many good players as the rich teams in the absence of a salary cap. Although, between the heavy revenue sharing, the luxury taxes, and the competitive balance draft picks we now have, it’s not as much of a necessity as it once was.
Minor League salaries are what really needs to be addressed.
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