Major League service time is awarded not based on games spent on a big league roster but rather by total days spent on the Major League roster (or injured list). The Major League Baseball season is 186 days long and a “full year” of service time is defined as 172 days.
A full year of service can be accrued over multiple seasons, of course. A player called up with 72 days left in the regular season, for instance, would accrue 72 days of service time in the current season and need 100 the following year to get across that one-year threshold. Assuming said player spent that entire second season on the roster, he’d have a year and 72 days of service time. For written purposes, service time is displayed as: [years].[days]. So, the player in this example would have 1.072 years of service following that second season. Two more full years of service, and he’s at 3.072 and into arbitration by virtue of crossing three years. Three more years on top of that, and he’s at 6.072 and eligible for free agency by virtue of accruing more than six years of service time.
With that quick and admittedly rudimentary crash course for the uninitiated out of the way, I thought it would be pertinent to take a look at how the recent cancellation of Opening Day by commissioner Rob Manfred could potentially impact players from a service-time vantage point — specifically those who could, at least in theory, stand to see their free agency delayed by a season.
At present, the league has only canceled the season’s first two series. Theoretically, if MLB and the MLBPA were to agree to a new deal this weekend and Opening Day were pushed back only a week — a pipe dream, I realize, but humor me for the purposes of this example — the season could technically still contain 179 days. Players could, then, receive a full year of service even in the absence of a week’s worth of games being wiped from existence.
What if, however, we reach the point where anything more than two weeks of games are canceled? The moment 15 or more days are nixed, there are 171 days on the schedule — which is technically not enough for any player to accrue a full year of service in 2022 alone. For players like the hypothetical one I described in the first couple sentences, that might not be a huge deal. My 1.072 player would only need 100 days of service this season, and so long as he got those 100 days, he’d cross into the two-plus service bracket and his timeline to free agency would remain unchanged. However, a player entering the season with exactly three years of service time (or two years, one year, etc.) would suddenly be looking at a calendar that literally doesn’t have enough days on it to keep their free-agent trajectories on track. Since arbitration is also based off service time, there’d be major implications on that front as well.
It’s for this reason that the union is widely expected to fight tooth-and-nail for full service time to be awarded even in spite of missed games/missed calendar days. The MLBPA will argue that it was the league who implemented the lockout and the league who canceled games early in the season. An attempt to withhold service time would quite likely be perceived by the players as something so damaging that they’d be willing to sit out indefinitely. That service time is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the players.
The union is also expected to push for full pay rather than prorated salaries on the season, although it’s quite arguably the service time that’s more valuable, given its future implications. The two sides will butt heads over these issues, to be sure. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes tweets that he expects the eventual compromise to be one that sees the players still receive full service time but not be paid for any missed days. As Tim points out, there’s precedent for both of these in the past.
At the moment, there’s a fair bit of talk about the possibility that all of April is lost to the current lockout. Much of that stems from Ken Rosenthal’s recent report at The Athletic, wherein he revealed that most television contracts don’t call for teams to issue rebates to their broadcast partners until “around 25 games” are missed. This has led to several players, Willson Contreras and Jason Heyward among them, accusing the league of deliberately seeking a reason to wipe April games from the schedule. April attendance is generally poor relative to the rest of the season, and the allegations put forth by the players accuse ownership of effectively only taking on the operating costs of five-sixths of a season while still receiving a full season’s worth of television revenue.
Feel free to discuss that theory all you like in the comments, but I’m setting it aside because the specifics of why we might miss the month of April are irrelevant for the purposes of this exercise. What matters here is which players would be most harmed by the possibility of April being wiped from the schedule and MLB subsequently trying to withhold their service. It’s quite unlikely that the league would succeed in these efforts, to be clear, but the hypothetical is still worth investigating.
Opening Day had been slated for March 31 (one day of service), and there are another 30 in April, of course. Striking April from the record would drop the season to 155 calendar days. Any player with even 17 extra days of service toward another year (i.e. 1.o17, 2.017, etc.) would be able to move their service time up a year. Any player with 16 or fewer toward another year (i.e. 1.016, 2.016, etc.) would be out of luck. MLBTR has obtained a full record of official service time for every current Major Leaguer, which is the source for the service-time data used in this exercise.
First, a few caveats. As this pertains mostly to players who have not yet accumulated six total years of service (i.e. reached free agency) or signed a long-term contract that renders such service time considerations largely moot (e.g. Fernando Tatis Jr.), I’ve excluded those players. I’ve also, admittedly subjectively, chosen players who have a decent chance to last the whole season on a big league roster.
All that said, let’s take a look at each service bracket and who’d technically come up short. As you might expect, there are some rather notable names:
Five-plus years of service time: Trey Mancini, Manuel Margot, Grant Dayton
Four-plus: Frankie Montas, Jack Flaherty, Ryan McMahon, Reynaldo Lopez, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jordan Hicks, Brad Keller, Shohei Ohtani
Three-plus: Lucas Luetge, Austin Adams, Lucas Sims, Tyler Kinley, Brett Phillips, Adrian Houser, John Means, Kyle Higashioka, Josh James, Rowdy Tellez, Dylan Moore, Chris Paddack, Nick Anderson, Pete Alonso
Two-plus: Jorge Alcala, Lane Thomas, Nico Hoerner, Adrian Morejon, Jared Walsh, Aristides Aquino, Kyle Finnegan, Jorge Mateo, JT Brubaker, Jake Cronenworth, Anthony Misiewicz, Brady Singer, Codi Heuer, Cristian Javier, David Peterson, Tejay Antone
One-plus: James Kaprielian, Chas McCormick, Akil Baddoo, Andrew Vaughn, Garrett Whitlock, Jake Brentz, Jonathan India
Put another way, if the league were to somehow succeed in not only canceling the first month of the season but also withholding service time, you’d see the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Pete Alonso, Trey Mancini, Manuel Margot, Jack Flaherty, Frankie Montas, Ryan McMahon, etc. all watch their gateways to free agency be delayed by a full year. The huge loss of earning power that comes with getting a year older — to say nothing of the potential for injury and/or decline — is where the aforementioned “hundreds of millions of dollars” in value to the Players Association that I referenced stems. And, if we see a portion of May, June, etc. canceled, further names will be added to this list.
Again, this is an exercise in hypotheticals, and I can’t imagine a scenario where the players willingly shrug and accept the loss of service time for days that were lost to a league-implemented lockout. But the two sides are absolutely going to negotiate over this, perhaps in heated fashion. If you find yourself asking “what’s the big deal” regarding the potential for missed service time — the “big deal” is another year that the likes of Ohtani, Alonso, Flaherty, etc. are under club control via arbitration rather than having a chance to hit the free-agent market.
Everything can be bargained. I have a hard time believing the players will sign any deal where lockout days count against service time.
Buckle up players, the owners are prepared to win this.
Win what? None of this matters. They all have more money than they can count.
Exactly, at this point, there are only degrees of losing.
Either agree immediately or disband the league forever. This should NEVER happen. They all make tons of money and the fans and stadium employees are the ones who actually pay the price for this garbage.
I’ll piggyback a thought I had today. The guys making $15M-$30M per year aren’t asking for smaller contracts so the younger guys could make more. ♂️
Why should they? The players want a larger percentage of league revenue to go toward player salaries at all levels – pre-arb, arb, and FA.
The fans want to watch baseball and the stadium employees want to go to work.
Fans have endless entertainment options and stadium employees should have no problem finding a part time job given the amount of people who haven’t returned to the workforce. Places are begging for hourly workers. The players deserve to be able to bargain for current and future rights. The owners certainly won’t bestow them out of the goodness of their heart. Nor should they. This is how it works. No one has a problem with the process until it becomes inconvenient. Then they just look to blame.
Actually they should negotiate much higher wages for minor league ball players
Geno, who should? Minor leaguers aren’t union members.
48-team MLB — Strike MLB from having their absurd anti-trust exemption.
Everyone including minimum salary players make way to much to play a kids game that most of us would play for a lot less. It is time for fans to say enough is enough.
@ric7744, in fairness, if you could play like Trout, Ohtani or Kershaw owners would be lining up to sign you to big bucks and I’ll bet you wouldn’t be saying, “Oh, I don’t deserve this for playing a kid’s game. How about you keep the money because you are just a billionaire a few times over but it’s ok if you pay me the same salary as a kid flipping burgers at McDonalds.”
@kenphelps44
In fairness, that’s the worst comparison I’ve ever heard in my life. Which MLB player gets paid the same as a kid flipping burgers at McDonald’s?
@48-team MLB, that’s not what I was saying. I was saying that people who say MLB players are overpaid for being able to do something the rest of us can never do, this would include you, come across as being jealous crybabies. I’m not going to make this a political argument but can you, with a straight face, tell me Tucker Carlson is worth $10 million a year? Can you tell me that the Mariner Moose is worth $600 an hour?
@kenphelps44
I have no issue with them trying to get a bigger percentage but NOT at the expense of the fans and the stadium employees.
Knock it off with that tired, old u know which side political BS always throws out with “flipping burgers garbage..
No skill labor, which TODAY pays a living wage is a lot more than places like that did during the 60’s and 70’s as anyone can tell u, not to mention work “off the clock” often and it darn sure wasn’t any union which helped the situation over the years at those types of menial jobs.
No one would watch you play you clown. That’s the difference.
If you would play for a lot less, you’d eventually get upset looking around and seeing equal-talent players getting paid a lot more.
ric7744: How do you feel about the salary that actors/actresses make (on the small & big screen)? How about the NBA, where there’s over 30 players making OVER $30,000,000.00 this season? It’s a kid’s game when kids are playing it. Are the underpaid teachers & nurses PLAYING school & hospital? Are surgeons PLAYING doctor?
When a person who has tremendous athletic ability and is performing said skill/ ability day in & day out in front of hundreds (MILB) or thousands (MLB,NBA,NFL,etc) of people (aka fans) that is their PROFESSION. Therefore where the name PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE comes into play.
@Prospect
MLB is entertainment. It is not necessary to society like doctors and teachers are. Your argument is weak.
Not really. It’s about being paid what you’re worth for your accomplishments. The fact that you’re on this site talking about baseball players instead of doing LITERALLY anything else in the world is testament to how much people care about baseball as part of the fabric of society. You could stop watching and tell them to get another job, but you could also learn to medically treat yourself or educate yourself and tell teachers and doctors to move on too. But that’s almost as hard and time consuming as becoming a world class PROFESSIONAL athlete.
You could put out your own fires, home school your kids, police your own neighborhood, drive your own garbage to the dump, etc. nothing is really NECESSARY. It’s the value we put on it and the risk of attempting it yourself. And just by being here you obviously put a ton of value into baseball as entertainment. So they’re worth it. The best way to show they’re not is to finally stop talking about how the players make too much, and just quickly and permanently leave the game to the rest of us. Boom. Done.
Of my god. You are a nut. We should pay those people a half million a year then.
Good one champ. You’re on a roll now.
Why do you think all jobs need the same salary structure? The fact that this website exists and is profitable shows that baseball has a massive impact on the communities they are in. They create MORE jobs BEYOND just baseball. Outside of sports/entertainment that doesn’t happen very often. That’s why they should be paid so much. There is a trickle effect to web-content creators, bar/restaurant owners, souvenir shop owners, stadium workers, parking attendants, announcers, broadcasters, merchandise makers, the list goes on. None of that happens without the players. That’s who we watch. Yes there is a level above them (owners) but in this unique situation the worker carries more value than the owner. That’s just how it is.
Hold out! Make that money!!!!
What’s going to happen is they’re going to agree on the CBT, then still not play because they can’t agree on pay over the cancelled games. It’s coming.
Seriously, no play=no pay
clearly the comments posted before this one havent bothered reading any of the live chats.. or are too dense to comprehend what’s at stake for the players in all of this. Support the workers. This isn’t a kid’s game. I’ll paraphrase, but anyone who thinks it is, doesn’t understand the amount of work that goes into playing it.
The players make six-figures as rookies and they have guaranteed contracts even if they get injured or don’t perform. They also get much longer contracts than players get in other sports. There’s nothing “at stake” other than ego.
48, are owners required to give out guaranteed contracts longer than in other sports? Nope, it’s the cost of doing business, part of the risk they take on.
Similarly, players without such contracts risk losing their careers to injury every time they take the field. If they can get a guaranteed income, good for them.
48 Team, comparing contracts in each sport is foolish at best. Each sport is unique in it’s challenges and demands. Like I said before, would owners be willing to start the clock on control as soon as the first contract was signed? Think they’d be willing to only control the best, young players in the game for only 5 years total? 6 if they instituted some sort of franchise tag situation? That’s not from the time they reach the majors, it’s the entirety of time from the moment they put their name on the dotted line out of the draft or international signing period. So, just stop. That would never happen, so comparing baseball to basketball or football is like comparing an apple to an orange.
This feels huge… if the owners’ side engineer or enforce this, it’s hard to see players coming back willingly. Even if not, it’s like they’ve engineered or added another bargaining chip on their side. This could be a long, drawn out fight, but give me players over owners, we need a sport that rewards those that contribute more than those that profit off it.
“This feels huge”. That’s what she said. Ahahahaha!
Or maybe the threat that four owners already said “no” is the bargaining chip. Note that owners haven’t leaked much until now. Interesting, isnt it?
no play no play. it amazes me some hardworking people don’t think this way.
They would still be getting paid for the games they actually play. Also, it’s not as if they lose pay for missing games due to injury.
the IL is the effectual comp component. i think most people agree though the contract is with the understanding of a 162 game season. it felt very tone deaf that the union demanded to get full salaries in 2020 (equivalent to over $500,000 per game for some players) and we know they will again.
I was thinking the same thing. Any missed/cancelled games is just as much the players fault as it is the owners. They should not be paid for cancelled games.
A lockout is not a strike. Missed/cancelled games are the owners’ fault.
the players arent playing and perhaps not even signing without a CBA. if we didnt have a lockout there would be a stike at this moment. just a matter of how long it took really.
Are you against workers’ compensation too, comrade?
explain how this is the same thing
You simply state “no play, no pay” in your original post. Prior to work comp that’s the same tone hard line business owners and factory managers would have taken, yet you reference “hard working people” when saying you’re surprised more fans don’t support no play, no pay. It just didn’t add up to me. We can thank unions for protecting the salaries and wages of “hard working people” in the laboring sector and we can thank the MLBPA for protecting the salaries of hard working ball players who are busting their asses to get ready for the season despite being locked out of their place of employment.
If you’re forced to miss work for reasons outside of self-negligence then your agreed upon wages should be protected.
In reality it’s something they’ll probably bargain and come to an agreement on over (a longer than ideal) time.
Who else thinks the players will eventually cave and give in to the owners’ demands? The players have more to lose. Billionaire owners aren’t affected by this whole debacle
Players get paid enough to begin with but the biggest problem I have with this is that the league actually offered them increases on this CBA and the players still turned it down.
– Minimum salary went from $570,000 in final year of previous CBA to $700,000 in first year of new CBA
– CBT went from $210 million in final year of previous CBA to $220 million in first year of new CBA
– Pre-arbitration bonus pool went from non-existent in last CBA to $30 million per year for new CBA
Despite these increases, the MLBPA still acts as if they’re being offered an unfair deal. It’s an absolute joke.
Good young players have to choose between leaving tens of millions of dollars on the table or lifelong security. That’s not right. Good young players deserve to get paid earlier.
The CBT is more complex, the paying good young players is simple. The owners need to put more money in the pool.
@Halo11Fan
That’s what the pre-arbitration bonus pool is for. Maybe MLB could go a little higher ($40-50 million) but the MLBPA asking for $115 million for something that has never even existed before is a bit absurd.
Also, if you start giving players this ridiculous amount of money from the moment they reach the Majors then the small-market teams will never have a chance to compete. You might as well just have 10 teams at that point…Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Phillies, White Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, Angels, Astros and Rangers.
115 is crazy, but they do need to double what is in there.
most of the world will never taste “lifelong security”. that’s a luxury, not a necessity.
Minimum salary should be 1m
Most of the fodder that come up are not worth that. Go look at your team. How many young players are not easily replaceable?
That’s why I always say good young players. i think a 700,000 minimum salary is more than fair.
They are absolutely worth 700K. They poured their entire being into reaching the peak of their profession since the age of 5 or 6. A goal which is incredibly stacked against them from a sheer “spots available” standpoint. They are better at what they do than you or I are at anything we will probably ever try. Why don’t you want them to be rewarded as someone should… here in America… where we are capitalistic and rewarded on hard work and merits. Who the hell are you to even begin to weigh their worth? Seriously. Buy a ticket and enjoy the show or don’t. I can’t wait to watch even the worst player perform on their dream stage. Never once went to game and even considered ownerships pocketbook.
Even if their replaceable we should cheer every kid that lives his dream even if for one game, then be equally as excited for the next kid who gets to do the same. These are people… living a damn dream. Relax with the shade.
“They poured their entire being into reaching the peak of their profession since the age of 5 or 6.”
So what? Is it a buisness or not?
Oh but poor little Jimmy worked so hard!!!! Boo hoo!!!!
For what they actually contribute, 700,000 is more than fair.
He’s not little Jimmy anymore. He’s Jim and he’s amongst the best in the world at what he does. Are you ok if you never get rewarded for something you accomplish? Why does it chap you that his achievement just happens to be harder and more universally recognized than yours? You seem to have issues man.
Put some respect on Jim’s name. He did it man! He made it!
It’s why we as fans get amped up for someone’s FIRST hit… FIRST home run… FIRST win… FIRST save. Those guys get post-game interviewed for a reason. They may never get there again and they deserve to have their dream celebrated. I’m friends with a semi-well-known utility player from Baltimore who goes by Dr. Poo Poo. These dreams don’t last forever and they’re hard to reach. Enjoy the magic of the moments that those “fodder” players get to live. You sound like a turd from your last post.
And to you… no it’s not a business. It’s simply entertainment. So I’d think about siding with the entertainers that actually provide you with moments to be entertained by.
If these players are indistinguishable from a thousand other players they are very replaceable. If you get to the major leagues and are indistinguishable from a 1000 other minor league players, that’s just the way it is. Is it a business or a charity?
If you do distinguish yourself, you get a roster spot and are set for life. If you don’t, 5,ooo dollars day is more than fair.
And I have lots of respect for Jimmy, but it’s a business. That’s the way the players want it.
Look up the play he made on the last day of the season in Boston in 2019. I talked to him about that at length and the kid in him and his love of the game poured out. It means something to them. Then he gave my 5 year old a bat and pitched him tennis balls in the back yard. Get some perspective.
If I gave you 700K (taxed) as a 25 year old and you only got it for 1 EVEN 2 years, you’d be set for life?!?! Holy hell!! You’re more of a loser than you made yourself out to be! That’s like 5 years of budgeted living! That’s it! 700k at 25 gets this guy through LIFE!! You obviously aren’t a local Halo fan living in SoCal, haha!
By your emotions, you need to get some perspective.
What about the actor who gets a small role in a movie. He’s worked just as hard. Competed just as hard. He’d love to get 700 grand.
5,000 a day is more than fair.
He should! You’re right! He made it to a Hollywood film. He’ll be able to have that moment forever! The one hit wonder band deserves every penny of royalties too. They may not get another chance. Stop suppressing an accomplishment.
If you can make the everyday roster for two years, chances are you are pretty darn good and you are going to make a lot more than that. That would be a good young player and he should get bonus pool money.
So what player are talking about?
Haha!!
“I don’t need perspective, you need perspective.”
Solid comeback Chief. Just retire.
You’re damn right they’re good. But not every player who makes it past 2 years plays 10. What are you talking about. Plenty of guys go up and down for a couple years and then don’t resurface.
He’s the only position player in MLB history to record a save. Might have been against the Angels to be honest. Look it up if you care. Probably not though. My dude is just “fodder”
So what player are you talking about. Who is this good player?
And top you tell me to get perspective when you tell me to get perspective? That’s laughable.
Look it up, man. You’re a baseball savant. I’m giving you all these hints and you can’t figure it out? C’mon you know more about the game than me. You can find stuff. Just google “position player gets save.” It was against the Angels. Your team. This is why you should have more respect for college degrees. It’s the ability to learn through research and not having your hand held.
That last line was utter drivel. Can’t even make sense of it.
Me? You’re making a claim, which i don’t think is supported by evidence and you want me to find you an example that doesn’t exist.
I can’t help but laugh.
You’re saying a position player has never recorded a save in an MLB game? On July 25, 2019 in an Orioles vs Angels game? If it happened please promise you’ll never post again because you are simply comment room fodder. Easily replaceable and won’t be missed.
syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2847183-orioles…
My god… you are an exhausting horse to lead to water. More like a donkey… or even a jacka… nevermind.
Man… some people are simple but you’re SIMPLE! Like, WHOA! I almost feel bad giving you the business now.
Is that save comment directed at me? We are talking about two year players who would be underpaid under the current conditions and you bring up position players who got a save?
Man you’re a nut.
I’ve already talked about the plenty of guys who go up and down. They are replaceable. That’s why the are constantly going up and down.
I’m telling you that’s the player I know who’s hard work and accomplishments are worth 700K. Keep up.
I think the players will get more of what they want.
The players are mostly in the right. They strongly believe they are in the right. The owners are mostly wrong, I think they realize they are damaging their brand, and I think they will capitulate sooner rather than later.
It’s going to take a long time for the players to cave. It’s a competitive group.
If the season is cancelled, then what? A full year service time for every player on a MLB roster? No service time for unsigned players? What about rostered players with options — no service time assuming an option is used?
Great writing- thanks Steve. Cancel the season, owners. Shove it in the players’ GREEDY faces!!!
Hey, you got some brown stuff on your nose. Must be from Manfred’sass.
Rob Manfred is not going to sleep with u
Voice–Just once, I’d like to hear something from you that justifies your name here.
Eff em all. Greedy SOBs.
The MLPA has a PR problem.
Their leadership consists of people making tens of millions of dollars a year. Like Scherzer.
For 30 starts throwing 100 pitches, he’s paid $10,000 a pitch!!!
He should not be seen anywhere near these negotiations.
Max Scherzer was elected by his fellow players to represent them.
Why do you hate democracy?
Democracy is also mob rule. I prefer a republic Scherzer getting an elected is an example of the later.
Just had to write it. 🙂
Sound like a John Bircher in the ’60s “This is a republic, not a democracy. Let’s keep it that way.”
Not trying to start an argument.. just a weird sociological question.
Imagine if the owners would lock out for 2 years. How many current players (not under contract) would you assume come back to play for flat rate $2m a year?
75% of the league would be my guess..
If not $2m, how much more for the 50% mark.
I should of added.. I believe anything lower than $2m would start undermining the integrity of the game. Maybe the whole scenario would in your eyes. Advertisement, fame, goal orientation are some important factors for players to be as competitive as possible.
Again, not trying to argue. Just a curious fella
Why are you ok with the best players on the planet having their earning power suppressed to $2M for no reason other than for owners to make more money? Do you think universities like Harvard and Yale should do the same to top professors while keeping tuition the same so they can take in more. I can’t even fathom a solid thought process for this?
I was just curious.
But, noted.
Them universities need to get rid of most of them so called professors
I gone and trained a new employee at my factory job. They think they’re better than me? Roll Tide.
No way, no how, is the MLBBA going to allow cancelled games to not count towards service time.
At this point it’s only six or seven games for every team. Does that really even make that much of a difference as far as service time goes? It’s their fault if this keeps going on. I understand that the owners locked out the players but that’s because the players went on strike in August of 1994…long enough to collect most of their paychecks but just in time to cancel the postseason for the owners. Also, the MLBPA has some ridiculous demands.
Having players’ free agency eligibilities get pushed back by a whole year makes a HUGE difference. 6 months ago I would have thought that service time manipulation would be the first thing the MLBPA would want to fix in the new CBA.
I know. I’m just saying that the sooner they get this done, the less effect it will have on stuff like that. Right now it’s only one week that has been canceled.
As mentioned in the OP, names like Shohei Ohtani, Jonathan India, Jake Cronenworth and Pete Alonso could have their free agencies delayed if 2 weeks are cancelled and the players aren’t given credit for those two weeks. THOSE are players the MLBPA cares about.
It isn’t two weeks yet though. All they have to do is agree to a CBA that actually gave them increases since the last one. I don’t see why they have such an issue with this.
“It isn’t two weeks yet though.”
Yes and the two sides aren’t going to agree to anything before 2 weeks of games have been cancelled. No matter what happens, the MLBPA will never accept players not getting credited with a full year of service time for 2022 if they spend the entire season (however long it is) in the majors.
“I don’t see why they have such an issue with this.”
Because there are a couple key issues that both sides refuse to budge on.
They’ve signed a bunch of CBAs in the past. Why is this one so much different? Players are getting bigger contracts than they ever have before. Young players should have to prove themselves before getting a huge payday. I have no issue with a pre-arbitration bonus pool but their plans to make players free agents or arbitration-eligible a year earlier would not help the game. They would make it even harder for smaller markets to compete.
Just stick to conjuring up your stupid expansion plans or your inane crystal ball World Series.
@DonnyDownvote
You must be a Mets fan. I offer my deepest condolences.
@48-team MLB The point is the MLBPA will never ever ever agree to players not gaining a full year of service time if they spend all of the 2022 season (however long it ends up being) in the majors and they aren’t going to agree to a CBA that they don’t like just to get it finalized before 15 games are cancelled and avoid having to worry about the matter. They have reasons to agree sooner rather than later, but that isn’t one.
@ 48 team MLB. You’re wrong on two counts. Average salaries have gone DOWN over the last 4 yrs, while team revenues have gone up. And the players dropped their demands regarding earlier eligibility for arbitration and free agency.
A league making record revenues off the back of those players.
Nobody pays to see an owner.
It’s slavery I tell Ya!!!!!!!!!!! Nobody knows the trouble I seen, nobody knows my sorrow!
And the players can start local teams using HS fields. No one will play to see that either. I’m not sure some folks can’t see this is a partnership. I’m guessing that I speak for a large percentage of fans, but while I love the intricacies of BB, I also root for the RS.
Some impressively well-considered thinking on the state of baseball from Joe Kelly.
latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-03-03/mlb-jo…
Not that anyone will actually read it.
I read it. I agree about other sports…especially basketball. I can just tune in to the fourth quarter of an NBA game and feel like I haven’t missed anything. Baseball takes so much more effort and strategy to score.
Hey guys! I found someone that doesn’t understand basketball!
Basketball takes talent to play but it’s very repetitive and high-scoring so you can easily miss a few minutes without actually missing anything. Malice at the Palace doesn’t happen every night.
Thanks for reading this. Hardly ever happens.
F the players! I liked Kelly when he was pounding Yankees in the face but now he can go to he!!
So theoretically, the players can hold up the CBA for six years and they think they should get service time which will allow all of them to be free agents? Geniuses I tell ya!
The owners went Joe Pesci on the players with this service time issue. “I got your service time right here!”
Time to bust the union and send “Black Santa” Tony Clark back to the South Pole.
Time to send “White Manfred” to Russia where they can toast each other.
The comment was in reference to his beard but I’m sure you are a butt hurt liberal that took it as racist.
yeah I wonder why someone would have took it that way…smh.
This is likely a non-issue.
1-They miss a couple of weeks, and the owners waive the service time as a concession.
2-They miss 3 months and no one is getting 3 months free service time.
If the players are really worried about ANY of this mentioned and want to aid their younger players to get to fee agency on time (yes, I did say fee … especially with Boras around), then they need to sign the great deal laid in front of them and get back to work! They are making it obvious they have no desire to get back on the field or to help out the younger players!
Poor take. They ARE the product. If revenues go up, their salaries should follow in proportion. That’s why your name is KidBryant and not KidRicketts
doesn’t work that way in the real world. you get whatever they pay you, regardless of the owners profit
That’s not true at all. Lol
How depressing that you think that.
Strictly a random thought here… I’m pretty far from being a legal expert…
That said, if the owners dig in and refuse to credit the players with service time for cancelled games, how much of a case does the MLBPA have to take it to court? “The owners locked the players out, and now they want to further benefit financially because THEY refused to let US work…” I’m sure the owners have plenty of well-connected political friends and all… but it also seems like there’s enough grey area in there that some court on some level would hear it, and I doubt MLB wants the courts to get involved in their money-minting monopoly.
Who wants to start a new league?
Players should just start some pick up games and see who wants to come watch — like the old days.
This is an owner lockout. That means all back pay and service time will eventually be covered in the new agreement. That’s standard. There will be no agreement without it. The side that will lose money here is the owners. The MLBPA, through their own licensing, have built a war chest that can take them through the entire season.
As I’ve said, I remain optimistic because I don’t view the gaps as being that large where owners will try and hold out for the year. On the CBT, the players are asking 238 while ownership is on 220. Meet at 230 with increases and then we have an agreement. It’s really annoying though to think that ownership would shut down MLB because they don’t want the Dodgers or Mets or Red Sox or Yankees to spend an additional $8-12M in any given year. This is an owners/small-market created crisis.
Why am I optimistic? Because the owners will break before players simply because the players are more united. They’ve planned and funded to go an entire season, but the owners haven’t. Oh, they can fund it, but it will be a financial disaster with long-term damage that they may never be able to repair. Right now there is likely five or six owners who are playing hard ball. The small-market guys along with Darth Reinsdorf, the large-market owner who has always wanted to break the union. I guess there is something fitting that his own team will be one of the biggest victims if a season was lost considering they are a win-now team. Anyway,. the top revenue teams are playing along, being nice, but eventually they’re going to start pushing back, and then some of the mid-market owners will cave too. The union knows this, so MLB is going to have to broker the best deal they can with the MLBPA before ownership begins to crack.
So, yeah, this owner-led lockout sucks, but it will end because enough owners will say enough is enough. Let’s meet in the middle and move on. The dollars here we’re fighting for aren’t enough to justify the damage. The players, however, have picked this hill to fight on because it’s a long-term issue for them. They should have fought this battle previously.
The players will die on this hill. Good riddance.
I was worried there wasn’t a reasonable take left on this site. Thanks for that.
according to cns sports a fee oners said no to cbt more than $220 million. the lower the cbt the more the penalty that can feed small market leaches.
4 owners.
On one hand you and the players cry about competitive balance and on the other hand you want the huge market teams to spend with little to no consequence.
so a player with 186 days get 1 year, 14 days, but cannot ever have 1 year, 173 days.
The players rejected the offer knowing full well that games would be cancelled.
Actually, the players reps rejected the offer. Most of the reps are making well over the minimum salary but “spoke” for the minimum wage platers that will now miss paychecks and service time.
it shouldn’t be written like, 1.027. it should be 1&27
if i was commissioner, i would announce the season starts, on time, with or without mlb players. mlb owns minor league baseball now.
That’s why you’re not and never will be the commissioner..
Among myriad other reasons. This just happens to be the one he broadcast to the world.
That’s just what we need is more fighting.
So this lockout was all a conspiracy to manipulate service time? Crying out loud talk about getting your undies bunched up in a wad. Why doesn’the players association put their dress on a let’s get this done
Countries everywhere are trying to get over this pandemic. We have political divisiveness. We have a conflict over with Russia and Ukraine. We have an island in the Pacific that almost got blown out of the water, and then covered with Ash. And these patsies are moaning and groaning about money?
STEVE ADAMS — Thank you, this is an excellent overview of the Service Time issues. Even as a long-time, die-hard fan, this post clears up so much for me.
Steve: it’s not “players could, then, receive” it’s “players could then receive”
Cancel the MLB season. I am fine with watching minor league games all summer. I got 15 teams within 2 hours drive. Batter UP!!!