New CBA proposal focuses on the offseason

Major League Baseball has proposed a new three-week free-agent signing period as part of its revamped offseason calendar.  Per reports by Jeff Passan of ESPN and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the new proposal looks to create an offseason agenda similar to the NFL and NBA.

Free agency proposal

MLB proposes free agency would begin on the Monday that the Winter Meetings begin in December and would close on Dec. 21. It would reopen on the first Monday of February before Spring Training and continue through the season.

Advertisement

Trades would be allowed during the same time that free agency is “frozen.” 

Players and teams could negotiate during the frozen periods, but no deals could be signed until the window opens. Players can re-sign with the team that they were contracted with but can’t sign with a new team until the window opens.

Weekly rosters

The proposal includes new rules for in-season rosters. 

The 26-man rosters would be set by the teams every Monday. From the end of Sunday’s games until the afternoon before Monday’s game, all routine roster moves would be made. Exceptions would include injury transactions, paternity and bereavement leave, trades, and waiver claims. Those moves would occur as needed.

Advertisement

Changes to the injured list rules would be enacted. Position players would have a one-week IL instead of 10 days, and pitchers would have a two-week IL instead of 15 days. The 60-day IL would be replaced by a 12-week minimum. 

The proposal includes new rules for in-season options to the minor leagues. The current five options per season would be reduced to four, while the minimum option period of 10 days for players and 15 days for pitchers would change to one week and two weeks, respectively.

The number of players on the active roster would stay at the current 26, but 14 pitchers would be allowed instead of the current 13 pitchers.

The stated reasoning for these changes is to allow fans more familiarity with the players on their team, increasing fan attachment, and to encourage longer outings for starters to maintain bullpen durability and increase strategy in-game.

Advertisement

Rule 5 draft changes

The player draft that occurs every year during the Winter Meetings would be changed to allow players stuck in team affiliates the opportunity to be claimed by other teams. The players under 20 years old would be available with four years of service time instead of the current five years. Those over 20 years old would be available for the draft in three years of service time instead of the current four years.

Those players could then be optioned to the minor leagues on their new teams instead of having to stay on the 26-man roster for the entire season, as the rule now requires. They would be required to remain on the 40-man roster for the entire year.

The MLBPA response

“MLB expressly conditioned these proposals on the players’ agreement to a salary cap system, which would drastically reduce overall player compensation, eliminate fully guaranteed contracts through escrow, and turn back the clock on fundamental player rights,” Meyer said as part of a statement. “Their latest proposals regarding free agency would eliminate player rights by establishing an artificial free agency window, subject to a salary cap, which would reduce player leverage and create a game of musical chairs pitting player vs. player.”

Advertisement

MLBPA interim head Bruce Meyer released their response when the proposal was made public on Thursday.

Negotiating window ends December 1

The current CBA expires at 11:59 pm EST on Dec. 1. It is expected that if no deal is reached by that time, the owners will lock the players out. A lockout will stop Spring Training and any free agent activity from occurring. If an agreement isn’t reached by sometime in March, games will be lost in the 2027 season.

While the two sides appear to have nothing they agree on at this point, they are meeting regularly and hope remains that a sense of urgency will kick in as we get closer to the December deadline. 

A lockout and/or impact to the regular season would seriously harm the positive trend that baseball has been enjoying for several seasons. The rhetoric isn’t encouraging at this point.