Headlines

  • Braves Extend Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025
  • Mets To Extend Jeff McNeil
  • Rays Sign Pete Fairbanks To Extension
  • Athletics Sign Jesús Aguilar
  • Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s
  • Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

CBA Notes: Arbitration, Waivers, Schedule, PED Testing, Minor League Salary

By Darragh McDonald | March 12, 2022 at 8:31am CDT

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.”

Share 0 Retweet 3 Send via email0

Collective Bargaining Agreement Jacob Nottingham

Cardinals Notes: Hicks, Reyes, Designated Hitter, Shortstop, DeJong,
Main
Nationals To Sign Steve Cishek
View Comments (62)

Comments

  1. whyhayzee

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
    • raisinsss

      11 months ago

      They don’t call it StanozoLOL for nothing!

      Reply
    • aragon

      11 months ago

      i thought you quit baseball.

      Reply
      • whyhayzee

        11 months ago

        I did, almost 25 years ago. But not the internet.

        Reply
  2. ntorsky

    11 months ago

    Real ones know that Adam Rosales walked so that Jacob Nottingham could fly.

    Reply
  3. astros_fan_84

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
    • Skeptical

      11 months ago

      Right, water down the differences. Bland is good just like American food.

      Reply
      • gbs42

        11 months ago

        The point is to have a more balanced schedule, not more bland.

        Reply
        • Pete'sView

          11 months ago

          “Bland” will be the term for the watered-down playoffs bringing mediocrity to the hunt for WS champ after a 162-game season.

        • smuzqwpdmx

          11 months ago

          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.

        • johnnymac09

          11 months ago

          So stop watching. That simple

      • Rsox

        11 months ago

        “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.

        Reply
        • johnnymac09

          11 months ago

          Based on what? Have you seen a copy of a schedule that hasn’t come out yet?

    • Ducky Buckin Fent

      11 months ago

      I actually liked that the leagues were different myself.

      Reply
      • smuzqwpdmx

        11 months ago

        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.

        Reply
        • Rsox

          11 months ago

          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

        • RetroBeers

          11 months ago

          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.

        • Pete'sView

          11 months ago

          Giants/A’s was an earthquake dud.

        • johnnymac09

          11 months ago

          No

        • gbs42

          11 months ago

          Retro, the Cubs and White Sox have played each other every single season (or something close to it) since interleague began.

        • DarkSide830

          11 months ago

          yeah. its 2022. why do people fear interleague play, especially in an era where now the rules are all the same?

    • outinleftfield

      11 months ago

      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.

      Reply
  4. LABeachguy

    11 months ago

    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

    Reply
    • outinleftfield

      11 months ago

      Preventing tanking was what the two players that spoke about it early in the negotiations said.

      Reply
    • Rsox

      11 months ago

      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

      Reply
      • outinleftfield

        11 months ago

        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.

        Reply
        • Rsox

          11 months ago

          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”

        • LABeachguy

          11 months ago

          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.

        • Rsox

          11 months ago

          Brandon Finnegan. Forgot about him (as has Baseball, apparently…)

        • outinleftfield

          11 months ago

          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.

        • outinleftfield

          11 months ago

          Yes! There is another one. Relievers mostly. After that eminently forgettable 2021 performance will Flanagan still be in MLB in 2022?

        • BBB

          11 months ago

          Garrett Crochet, 2020.

        • douger007

          11 months ago

          Mike Leake went straight to the Reds from ASU.

  5. FSF

    11 months ago

    “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!

    Reply
  6. Devlsh

    11 months ago

    “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?

    Reply
    • reflect

      11 months ago

      Yeah I never got the outrage about that. The championship belt thing was kind of tacky but nothing wrong with trying to reduce expenses.

      Reply
    • outinleftfield

      11 months ago

      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.

      Reply
  7. CIPERSPECTIVE

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
    • smuzqwpdmx

      11 months ago

      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.

      Reply
  8. JoeBrady

    11 months ago

    “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.

    Reply
    • matthew07

      11 months ago

      Amen

      Reply
    • Jah Broni

      11 months ago

      Also throughout history grumpy frumps like you have loved to bring the vinegar.
      Let’s just stop the moralizing and play ball.

      Reply
    • outinleftfield

      11 months ago

      The CBA has been signed. You can stop shilling for the owners for a little while.

      Reply
  9. Halo11Fan

    11 months ago

    Updated and more effective PED testing is a good thing.

    Reply
    • miltpappas

      11 months ago

      Stronger punishments would be a better thing.

      Reply
      • DarkSide830

        11 months ago

        someone not caught isnt punished, so better testing is a good start.

        Reply
  10. JoeBrady

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
  11. CHS O'sFan

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
  12. not alkaline

    11 months ago

    Not all in the minors making minimum wages.

    Reply
    • DonnyDownvote

      11 months ago

      This is just the guys who have played in the majors or have been on the 40 man longer than a year.

      Reply
  13. WillDS

    11 months ago

    So the minor league pay thing affects very few players in the grand scheme things. Unless I missed something.

    Reply
    • DonnyDownvote

      11 months ago

      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.

      Reply
      • Halo11Fan

        11 months ago

        And full insurance coverage. Which for some reason no one talks about.

        Reply
        • outinleftfield

          11 months ago

          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?

  14. dlw0906

    11 months ago

    The MLB is making the divisions meaningless. Playing every team is stupid idea.

    Reply
    • DonnyDownvote

      11 months ago

      14 games per division rival is plenty. I think traditionalists will be upset about the 46 interleague games.

      Reply
  15. Rsox

    11 months ago

    “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

    Reply
  16. NostraThomas

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
    • outinleftfield

      11 months ago

      What does Sabermetrics have to do with schedules?

      Reply
  17. outinleftfield

    11 months ago

    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!

    Reply
  18. Lydiad

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply
  19. Arnold Ziffel

    11 months ago

    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.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Braves Extend Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025

    Mets To Extend Jeff McNeil

    Rays Sign Pete Fairbanks To Extension

    Athletics Sign Jesús Aguilar

    Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s

    Astros Name Dana Brown General Manager

    Rays Extend Jeffrey Springs

    Royals, Red Sox Swap Adalberto Mondesi For Josh Taylor

    Red Sox Designate Matt Barnes For Assignment

    Scott Rolen Elected Into Baseball Hall Of Fame

    Red Sox Sign Adam Duvall

    Brad Ausmus Reportedly Among Astros’ GM Finalists

    Mike Clevinger Under Investigation For Domestic Violence Allegations

    Arte Moreno No Longer Pursuing Sale Of Angels

    Twins Acquire Michael A. Taylor From Royals

    Padres Sign Nelson Cruz To One-Year Deal

    Sal Bando Passes Away

    Twins, Marlins Swap Luis Arraez For Pablo Lopez In Four-Player Trade

    Marlins To Move Jazz Chisholm To Center Field

    Pirates Sign Andrew McCutchen

    Recent

    Rangers Sign Danny Duffy, Clint Frazier, Travis Jankowski To Minor League Contracts

    Cardinals Sign Andrew Suarez To Minor League Deal

    Braves Extend Manager Brian Snitker Through 2025

    Mets To Extend Jeff McNeil

    Rays Sign Pete Fairbanks To Extension

    Nationals Sign Alex Colome

    Big Hype Prospects: Baty, Colas, Waters, Grissom, Hernaiz

    Athletics Sign Jesús Aguilar

    Royals Sign Matt Duffy To Minor League Deal

    Dodgers Agree To Minor League Deals With Jordan Yamamoto, Dylan Covey

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Offseason Outlook Series
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version