MLB and the MLBPA finally reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, ending a contentious lockout that spanned over three months. The major elements of the deal, such as the CBT levels and the bonus pool for arbitration-eligible players, were reported on as the negotiations transpired, but some of the minor details are still trickling out. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com revealed one such detail on Twitter, writing that, “Beginning after 2022, salary arbitration eligible players who settle with their teams on a salary for the subsequent season without going to a hearing will be eligible to receive full season termination pay, even if released prior to the start of the season.”
This is a small change that could potentially have significant ramifications. Under the previous CBA, arbitration contracts were not fully guaranteed until Opening Day, with players cut during Spring Training only earning a portion of the agreed-upon salary. If a team released a player more than 15 days prior to Opening Day, they only had to pay the player 30 days’ salary as termination pay. If the player was released less than 15 days before Opening Day, they would get 45 days’ pay.
This makes for an interesting tradeoff. On the one hand, this could be viewed as a gain for the players, as they now have access to greater security, knowing that the salary they accept will be locked in once they agree to it. But this also gives them incentive to accept terms without the hearing, perhaps leading to them accepting lower terms than they otherwise would have earned, thus benefiting the teams. It is well established that teams put a high priority on stifling salaries as much as possible. In 2019, it was revealed that MLB holds an annual symposium where the team that best succeeds at opposing the players in arbitration is awarded a wrestling-style championship belt, something that surely didn’t help with the animosity that’s lingered between the players and the league since the signing of the last CBA. This wrinkle in the new CBA could help the teams further those goals, but at least could give some borderline non-tender candidates the silver lining of greater financial security.
Elsewhere in the CBA, Jayson Stark of The Athletic provides an interesting nugget on Twitter. “If a team has already claimed a player once on waivers that season, it can’t claim him again until every other team has passed.” Stark aptly refers to this as the “Jacob Nottingham Rule,” in reference to the fact that Nottingham was the centerpiece of a game of hot potato between the Brewers and Mariners last year. Beginning the season with the Brewers, the catcher was put on waivers in April, claimed by the Mariners, who put him back on waivers on May. The Brewers brought him back on a waiver claim, only to send him back onto the waiver wire two weeks later. On May 2oth, Seattle claimed him again, before putting him back on the wire in early June, when he finally cleared. Waiver claim priority generally goes in reverse order of the current standings. (For the first 31 days of the season, the standings of the previous season are used.) In the case of Nottingham, there would have been some teams that never even had the ability to make a claim on him for most of that sequence last year, as he would have been scooped up before their turn. Going forward, they will have a greater chance to interrupt such a unique back-and-forth as occurred with Nottingham last year.
In a detailed column about the CBA, Stark adds some details about the schedule changes that will begin in 2023. While it had been previously reported that teams would play all 29 of the other squads in the league each year, with the number of divisional games being reduced, the details were not known at the time. Stark lays out the format that will begin next year, with each team playing its divisional rivals 14 times per season, down from 19, for a total of 56. Teams in the same league but not the same division will be played six times each, a total of 60. When it comes to interleague play, each team has a “rival” that they will play four times, with three games against the other 14 teams in the opposite league. That amounts to 46 total interleague games. All of those categories are evenly split between road and home, except for the final one. In the case of the 14 non-rival teams that are in the opposite league, the home team for the three-game series will alternate from year to year.
Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com has a couple of other details in his rundown of the CBA. In terms of PEDs, he says, “There will be an increase in the number of in-season urine tests for performance-enhancing substances and drugs of abuse, as well as adjustments to the scheduling of these tests to make them less predictable.” He then adds that, “the program will now utilize dried-blood spot-testing rather than venous blood draws for hGH testing, making Major League Baseball the first professional sport drug testing program to adopt this new technology.”
Finally, while the increase in the minimum salary for MLB players was reported throughout the negotiations, there is also a bump for some players in the minors. From Kubatko: “The minor league minimum salary for players signing a second major league contract or with prior big league service will increase from $93,000 in 2021 to $114,100 in 2022, $117,400 in 2023, $120,600 in 2024, $123,900 in 2025 and $127,100 in 2026.”
Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com has a couple of other details in his rundown of the CBA. In terms of PEDs, he says, “There will be an increase in the number of in-season urine tests for performance-enhancing substances and drugs of abuse, as well as adjustments to the scheduling of these tests to make them less predictable.” He then adds that, “the program will now utilize dried-blood spot-testing rather than venous blood draws for hGH testing, making Major League Baseball the first professional sport drug testing program to adopt this new technology.”
Cue the mad scramble by the cheaters to figure out ways to keep cheating.
Sigh.
They don’t call it StanozoLOL for nothing!
i thought you quit baseball.
I did, almost 25 years ago. But not the internet.
Real ones know that Adam Rosales walked so that Jacob Nottingham could fly.
I like the new schedule format. This, along with the universal DH, really water down the differences between the two leagues, which I like.
Expansion and realignment are likely major components of the CBA.
Right, water down the differences. Bland is good just like American food.
The point is to have a more balanced schedule, not more bland.
“Bland” will be the term for the watered-down playoffs bringing mediocrity to the hunt for WS champ after a 162-game season.
Balanced is more fair, but less interesting. I’d rather watch exciting meaningful games with division rivals rather than more games against the Reds and Pirates and such where I haven’t heard of half the players and fall asleep. It’s a bit much to ask most fans to keep up with all 30 teams enough to be invested in games against them.
So stop watching. That simple
“Bland” is being a fan of an AL East team and having to see the Orioles 19 times per year (no offense to Orioles fans).
From what we’ve seen with the teams that have made the playoffs over the years, more division games didn’t seriously impact the playoff races when we’ve had 3 teams from the same division make the playoffs a few times now.
All the unbalanced schedule did was give ESPN more Red Sox/Yankees, Cubs/Cardinals, and Dodgers/Giants games for Sunday night Baseball, which gets old very quickly.
Based on what? Have you seen a copy of a schedule that hasn’t come out yet?
I actually liked that the leagues were different myself.
I’d like to abolish interleague play and make one of the leagues (presumably the NL) play by traditional 20th century rules while the other implements all the experiments. Then there’d really be a reason to follow a team in each league, and the world series would be a real clash of the unknown.
I’m fine with abolishing interleague play after the next round of expansion. Once you have 16 teams in each league there would be no year round interleague play and really no need for it all. Plus it give excitement back to the World Series when its teams that don’t get to play against eachother during the regular season
It’s crazy to have two teams playing the same sport in the same city and NEVER play each other unless they both get in the WS. The White Sox and Cubs last met in the World Series in 1906. So yeah, a WS matchup in a non-interleague environment would be really exciting except multiple generations of Chicago fans have lived and died waiting for it to happen. Yankees-Mets WS has happened once in 59 years. If either of these matchups happens again, it’d be incredibly exciting for the respective fans and not at all diminished by the fact that they’ve played each other a few times during the regular season.
Giants/A’s was an earthquake dud.
No
Retro, the Cubs and White Sox have played each other every single season (or something close to it) since interleague began.
yeah. its 2022. why do people fear interleague play, especially in an era where now the rules are all the same?
I like it too. It will be nice to see teams like the Nationals with Soto and Phillies with Harper and Braves with Acuna coming to Anaheim. We get to see more of the exciting players in baseball. We still get 14 games against division rivals. For those of us in SoCal it means we can go up to LA or down to SD to see AL teams if we really miss those extra few games against the AL West.
Wonder why the option of being able to trade draft picks for the teams wasn’t discussed? That seems like it would be a win/win. Certainly would make the trade deadline a bit more exciting and the draft as well
Preventing tanking was what the two players that spoke about it early in the negotiations said.
Baseball has never allowed trading draft picks and draft picks don’t have the same impact on MLB as they do on the NFL/NBA. Very few and far between first round picks see MLB action in the same year they are drafted compared to NFL team trading up to take a QB that will impact the team immediately
Have you seen a 1st round draft pick play in the majors the same year they were drafted? I don’t remember one over the past 20-25 years.
Ryan Zimmerman in 2005 got a handfull of AB’s with the Nationals at the end of the season.
But to your point thats why i said “very few and far between”
Chris Sale I believe. Also a Royals player played in the playoffs recently the year he was drafted.
I know the MLB draft is different then other sports, but trading a first round pick would still be just as big trade value wise.
Brandon Finnegan. Forgot about him (as has Baseball, apparently…)
Nice. I didn’t remember either of those guys making it that fast. Thanks. Trading draft picks would mean teams like the Pirates and Marlins that are spending less on major league payroll then they are receiving in revenue sharing could just keep trading away their good players for more draft picks in order to keep payroll as low as possible and maximize profits in stead of trying to win. A perpetual rebuild.
Yes! There is another one. Relievers mostly. After that eminently forgettable 2021 performance will Flanagan still be in MLB in 2022?
Garrett Crochet, 2020.
Mike Leake went straight to the Reds from ASU.
“There will be an increase in the number of in-season urine tests for performance-enhancing substances and drugs of abuse, as well as adjustments to the scheduling of these tests to make them less predictable.”
Robinson Cano is not gonna like that!
“It is well established that teams put a high priority on stifling salaries as much as possible’
Gee, I can’t imagine any other business that would want to keep payroll as low as possible. Or can I?
Yeah I never got the outrage about that. The championship belt thing was kind of tacky but nothing wrong with trying to reduce expenses.
None of the other major sports do it. They value their players, market their players, and pay them fairly. Only MLB thinks its ok not to.
A little known fact about salaries is how much guys with ML experience are paid in the minors. I don’t know much about those rules but, if accepted on its face, the difference between an 8 year minor league veteran’s salary and that of an 8 year minor league veteran with one day of major league time might be huge.
Gives players a reason to stick it out after being sent down, I guess. And it’d be hard living on a minor league salary after acquiring major league tastes.
“It is well established that teams put a high priority on stifling salaries as much as possible.”
=====================================
The CBA has been signed. You can stop shilling for the players for a little while.
Here’s a news flash. In the entire history of the world, in the billions if interviews that have taken place, there is one certainty:
The employers want to pay you less.
The employees want you to pay them more.
In the entire history of EVERYTHING, the supplier wants more money and the buyer wants to pay less money.
Difficult concept for sure, but hopefully I have elucidated the concept.
Amen
Also throughout history grumpy frumps like you have loved to bring the vinegar.
Let’s just stop the moralizing and play ball.
The CBA has been signed. You can stop shilling for the owners for a little while.
Updated and more effective PED testing is a good thing.
Stronger punishments would be a better thing.
someone not caught isnt punished, so better testing is a good start.
That said, I like this a lot.
Playing the NYY 19 times was ridiculous. And there are probably a lot of people in every city that are transplants, and would like to see their home team.
And always glad to see the minor leaguers get a few more shekels.
The Arbitration rule will only affect borderline non tender candidates so that makes sense. Your superstars or grossly underpaid 1st time arb eligible players won’t have this issue. Interesting trade off that shouldn’t suppress salaries by that much, and when it does, it eliminates the risk of that player not getting that money.
Not all in the minors making minimum wages.
This is just the guys who have played in the majors or have been on the 40 man longer than a year.
So the minor league pay thing affects very few players in the grand scheme things. Unless I missed something.
Yes, if you don’t get a draft bonus, you will be making poverty wages until you make the 40 man, if you can make it.
And full insurance coverage. Which for some reason no one talks about.
You do realize that the minor league players insurance costs MLB a total of $1.8 million for all players and that half of the cost comes out of the players salaries, right?
The MLB is making the divisions meaningless. Playing every team is stupid idea.
14 games per division rival is plenty. I think traditionalists will be upset about the 46 interleague games.
“The Nottingham rule”
Jacob Nottingham may never be more than AAAA filler but he’ll always be remembered for the reason teams can’t essentially “share” players
Every other sport has a schedule like this, except for football which has to rotate due to the number of games. It’s time to enter the 21st century beyond Sabrmetrics.
What does Sabermetrics have to do with schedules?
The MLBPA went over and above in getting money to those that make the least in this CBA. Even those that are not currently part of the union. Great job!
This is why the Rule 5 Draft is valuable to players. Even if they do not work out after making the 26-man roster out of Spring Training and are sent back to their original team, they will at least be eligible for the MLB minor league minimum salary for subsequent seasons.
Sad to see DH in NL, but it was inevitable. The new schedule will be okay if the last month of the season focuses on divisional games as much as possible.