Collective Bargaining Agreement

Major League Baseball and the Players Association have scheduled a noon central press conference for tomorrow, and MLB.com's Barry Bloom says they'll announce the new five-year Basic Agreement.  Some of the expected changes:

• The Astros will join the American League in 2013 and two wild card teams will be added.
• There will be limits for draft pick and international free agent spending, above which penalties will be incurred.  Loss of future draft picks is one such penalty.
• The luxury tax threshold will remain at $178MM for 2012-13, then increase to $189MM for 2014-16, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  He says repeat offenders will be taxed at 50% beginning with the 2014 season. The Yankees currently pay at a 40% rate.
• Teams signing the remaining Type A relievers will not surrender a draft pick this offseason.  Those seven teams will still receive compensatory picks, though I assume they must offer arbitration on Wednesday first.
• Starting next season, the Elias rankings system for free agent compensation will be eliminated.  According to the AP, "Starting next year, teams will have to make a 'qualifying offer' of a one-year guaranteed contract to their players eligible to become free agents in order to receive compensation if the player signs with another club. That amount will be at least $12.4 million and could rise by next year, depending on a formula."
• The minimum salary will increase from $414K this year to $480K in 2012 and $500K in later years.
• The Super Two cutoff will rise from the top 17% of players with 2-3 years service time to the top 22%.
• Blood testing for human growth hormone will begin.  

Baseball's owners and players have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that should be announced early next week.  This afternoon, we learned that teams won't have to sacrifice picks to sign top free agent relievers this offseason and the Elias rankings system will be no more starting next winter. We'll keep track the rest of the day's CBA news right here…

• The AP (via The Star Ledger) reports that the minimum salary will rise from $414K this year to $480K next year, and then to $500K in later years.
• Within the same article, the AP also reports that the Super Two cutoff will be increased to 22% of players with 2-3 years of service time. The previous cutoff had been 17%. An additional five or six players will be arbitration-eligible each year due to the change.
• The new CBA will include blood testing for human growth hormone, two people in baseball briefed on the matter told Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times.  It appears that players who test positive will be served with a 50-game suspension, the same as the first-time penalty for a positive steroid test.
• ESPN's Buster Olney hears from a source that the rule forbidding teams in the same division from meeting in the LDS round of the playoffs will be eliminated (Twitter link).

Under the new CBA, teams that sign the remaining Type A relievers will not be forced to surrender draft picks, a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).  The teams that sign those relievers and certain other Type A free agents will not forfeit draft picks but the teams that lose those players will still receive compensatory picks (from Twitter).

This means teams can sign Ryan Madson, Francisco Rodriguez, Heath Bell, and other top relievers this offseason without penalty.  The measure is not retroactive, however, meaning that the Phillies will still surrender their first-round pick for signing Jonathan Papelbon.  For a full list of this offseason's free agents, including their Type A/B designation, check out MLBTR's free agent tracker.

Furthermore, the new CBA will do away with the Elias rankings altogether starting next season, Rosenthal tweets.  Under the new system, the top free agents will be subject to compensation if teams make them qualifying offers north of $12MM.

Baseball's owners and players have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that should be announced early next week. Here are some details on the CBA, which ensures 21 years of labor peace for MLB:

• There are rumblings that there will be a tax on teams that don't spend enough on their MLB payroll, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark (on Twitter).
• Dan Knobler of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter) that teams can lose future draft picks if they spend beyond the recommended bonuses.
• Several GMs are livid over the restraints on draft spending, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal also points out that commissioner Bud Selig, Rob Manfred of MLB and union leader Michael Weiner deserve credit for coming to an agreement peacefully.
• There won't be hard caps for draft choices under the new CBA, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). However, there will be recommended bonuses and tax implications for teams that go way over the suggested limits.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding baseball’s upcoming collective bargaining agreement, general managers around the league say they’ve been able to operate as usual to this point in the offseason. None of the six GMs who discussed the topic with MLBTR yesterday said uncertainty about the CBA has slowed them down significantly.

“I think this time, early in the offseason, is always slow,” Mets GM Sandy Alderson said. “A club like ours is not anxious to give up draft picks.”

The Mets are one of many clubs that will remain relatively quiet until they see which ranked free agents obtain offers of arbitration from their former teams seven days from now. In the meantime, the Mets are in limbo, since major changes to the free agent compensation system remain possible.

“There’s some uncertainty about compensation as it relates back to the CBA,” Alderson continued, “but as I said, I don’t think uncertainty is all that meaningful right now because we’re waiting.”

Other general managers have been too busy for the pace of the CBA talks to slow them down. Cardinals GM John Mozeliak, for example, has already conducted a managerial search this offseason — and his team wrapped up its World Series title less than three weeks ago. The CBA will affect Mozeliak once the players and owners reach an agreement, but the Cardinals have been too busy for it to slow them down so far.

“It doesn’t feel like it yet,” he said.  “It doesn’t seem to be creating any type of paralysis on movement that I’m aware of.”

Like Mozeliak, Cubs GM Jed Hoyer is conducting a managerial search. Hoyer reads up on CBA talks when possible, but at this point he’s more concerned with hiring a manager and improving his team’s run prevention than the collective bargaining process.

“It’s something that’s on the back of our minds,” Hoyer said. “Hopefully it happens soon and when it does we’ll look over the details and make decisions.”

Pirates GM Neal Huntington hasn’t had to adjust to a new front office or hire a manager like some of his peers in the NL Central. He says it’s basically business as usual in Pittsburgh, but acknowledges there’s some hesitation.

“You have to be aware of what the rumblings and rumors are on what could change and what the impact would be,” he said. “At the same time, you’ve got to conduct business and keep moving forward to improve the quality of play on the field.”

Chris Antonetti of the Indians echoed Huntington's thoughts, explaining that the uncertainty surrounding the new labor agreement slows offseason movement down to a degree — especially when it comes to ranked free agents.

“To some extent it can,” he said, “depending on the compensation issues. But there are other players where that doesn’t really affect [discussions]. You’re still able to conduct some business, but once we have clarity on the CBA, I think that will give everyone the framework they need to progress.”

Though GMs have been able to work uninhibited to this point, they’ll want certainty within the week. Arbitration decisions for ranked free agents are due next Wednesday and it will be significantly easier for teams and players to progress if the sides announce a CBA, and the uncertainty that currently surrounds issues such as draft pick compensation disappears.