Five takeaways with baseballs about to return

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association on Thursday agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement ending the shutdown imposed by the league’s owner.

The union approved a new proposal by a majority of 26 to 12 (a simple majority or 20 votes was all that was required to pass the new agreement, but it is noteworthy that the eight members of the executive subcommittee all voted have. No”). Owners ratified the new five-year CBA agreement Thursday night, voting in favor of it by a 30-0 margin. MLB’s offseason business (free trade and agency business) is expected shortly. Players will report for spring training in the coming days, and MLB teams are scheduled to play a full 162-game season in 2022. Opening day is April 7, according to CBS Sports HQ’s Jim Bowden.

The closure ended on the 99th day. Owners first enacted the closure on December 2 when the previous CBA expired, marking the first outage for the MLB since the 1994-95 players’ strike. Though the league described the work as a defense mechanism it hoped would speed up negotiations, owners waited more than six weeks to submit their first proposal. Talks finally heated up in the last week of February when the two sides met daily in Florida. Thursday’s agreement was reached in New York this week after hours of negotiations.

Below are some of the key details of the accepted proposal. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic:

• CBT threshold: $230 million in 2023 and peaking at $244 million last year by the CBA
• CBT Strafklasse عقوبة Punishment: Introduction of a new denomination starting at $60 million after the final result (the highest level used is $40 million above the final result);
• Minimum wage: $700,000 with a high of $780,000 last year in the CBA;
• Collect rewards before ARO: 50 million dollars
• Postseason format: 12 teams

Commissioner Rob Manfred had previously announced the cancellation of the first fortnight of the 2022 regular season as talks stalled but all games were back on schedule. Reportedly made up during the holidays and doubleheads.

Throughout the process, the union sought to raise minimum wages and tax thresholds for competitive balance; Implement a centralized pre-judging player reward package that would be performance-based; and the introduction of some measures that would curb anti-competitive behavior, such as B. Tanks. For their part, the owners prioritized the postseason, an international draft and the opportunity to make rule changes, likely including installing a stadium clock and larger bases, and limiting defensive positions.

It was the first stoppage in league history to affect the regular season.

Here are five takeaways from the new CBA.

1. The deal has taken a scenic route

From the start of the closure (December 2), it took 99 days to complete the deal, making this the longest closure in league history and the first eruption of the regular season. (The previous record is from the 32-day shutdown of 1990.)

The owners waited more than six weeks after the lockdown was placed to show players their first show. Then the two sides met here and there, but it wasn’t until the end of February that they began to meet in person several times a day.

The league officially canceled the first two series of the season on March 1, but the two teams remained engaged and continued to break the league’s artificially imposed deadline after the league’s artificially imposed deadline. As of Thursday, the league had set a 3pm “deadline” which passed without players voting to ratify or reject the agreement, which included a clause for the federation to drop a complaint against the league during the truncated 2020 season had to leave. . (The federation claimed the league chose to play fewer games than it could have done.)

Despite all the public wrangling and false start negotiations, the league and association were able to sustain a 162-game season, albeit in a different format.

2. More money for young players

One of the union’s main goals in these negotiations was to reward players who were in the early stages of their careers. The way the MLB compensation system is set up essentially guarantees players with less than three years of service that they will not earn more than the league minimum no matter how well they play.

The new CBA law not only increased the league minimum by more than $100,000 (up from $575,500 in 2021), but also introduced a pre-arbitration bonus package that was funded with $50 million. Players who are not yet eligible to arbitrate have the opportunity to earn additional cash based on their rank in Wins Over Subs. It won’t give them their market value or anything like that, but it’s a huge boost for talent who would otherwise be paid dramatically less compared to their performance. During negotiations, it was suggested to split the money in the pool among the top 30 players pre-based on WAR.

3. It’s now a 12-team postseason

Since Wild Card Game’s inception in 2012, 10 teams have worked post-season every year except for the 2020 season, which was canceled due to the pandemic. This number is now increased to 12 teams. (The owners paid for a 14-team format.) Exact details are not known, but the league has resisted the “ghost win” technique used in Japan and South Korea.

4. There will be rule changes and uniform fixes

The 2020 season mentioned above also included global DH. This CBA is sure to make this the norm, creating 15 new jobs for players in the process. As part of the agreement, the league was given the opportunity to implement rule changes for the 2023 season, including the stadium clock; Restrictions on defensive positions; and the installation of larger bases for health and safety purposes. Two on-field bases from the past two seasons, seven double-header runs, and a second base runner to start extra innings are not part of this new deal.

Tanks have become a hot topic in baseball over the past decade. This CBA will at least try to reduce this behavior by introducing a six-team lottery. The CBA also incentivizes teams to promote their best prospects when they are ready, rather than when it makes financial sense, with draft pick bonuses. Players can also only be selected a limited number of times in a season.

In addition to the extended postseason, the league will create a new revenue stream by allowing teams to add promotional patches to their jerseys and badges to their helmets. by ESPN.

5. The international draft will stimulate further discussions

As mentioned elsewhereThe two sides agreed to continue talking about the international draft until the end of July. If they can agree on a structure, the design of the selection compensation is taken out of the window. If not, the draft pick fee will be reinstated and the international amateur process will remain unchanged.