Author: Spencer Reyes
After a successful 2021 season and a very active beginning to this offseason, everything has come to a halt. The most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement has expired on December 1st at 11:59 PM. The CBA is an agreement that must be reached every ten years between the MLB and the MLB Player’s Association.
Once everyone was finally able to get through the 2020 COVID season after a 4-month delay, most fans were skeptical about the partnership between the league and its players. People have a right to be worried as after only one day of meeting between both parties, they have decided that a lockout is the best course of action so they can reach a new agreement.
The MLB Player’s Association wants to alter the idea of a professional baseball player having six years of MLB service before they can receive a big payday, super-two eligibility, which allows a player to become eligible for arbitration depending on their MLB service, and revenue sharing between MLB teams and the league’s front office. The bottom line for the players is that they want more opportunities to make more money. If they are eligible for arbitration earlier in their career, they have a chance to get higher-level contracts at a young age. The players are also against the luxury tax, which is a line that is set for all MLB owners. If they spend past that line, they owe the league a specific percentage of what they spend. If owners are scared to spend because of the luxury tax, this will affect how much teams will spend on their players’ contracts.
The MLB proposed to get rid of qualifying offers, which is a set offer that teams can give to players worth $18.1 million, and if that player signs with another team, then the original team will receive a compensation draft pick. The league also wants to use a draft lottery that would operate based on how many wins a team gets in a season and would be like the NBA. They want to activate a universal DH, which will discontinue the idea of pitchers hitting in baseball games. Lastly, the MLB front office would like to increase the minimum player salary and increase the amount of time between each CBA contract.
This lockout may be as quick as a couple of weeks, or it could last four months and delay the start of Spring Training and the regular season. Both sides have strong opinions, and their proposals have opposite values regarding how money will be spent in the MLB for the next decade.
Sports Are Our Universe
コメント