NEWSLETTER
If you’re just tuning in, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLB’s owners and MLB players expires at midnight eastern tonight. Catch yourself up on the latest updates on those negotiations here, here, and here if you’ve missed anything – this post will assume you’ve got all of that.
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Last night, the tune was “optimism”, and that hasn’t necessarily waned today as it sounds like the sides are settling in for a final push to try to get things done today:
MLB and MLBPA officials back at bargaining table now, sources say, with less than 8 hours before midnight ET expiry of current CBA.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 30, 2016
Of note, today's MLB-MLBPA bargaining session involves a smaller group than earlier in the week. Good environment to make a deal.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 30, 2016
Yet there are still nitty-gritty specific proposals being bounced around:
Draft-pick compensation idea in play in CBA talks, per source: Rather than lose a pick for signing a qualifying offer free agent . . .
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 30, 2016
. . . a wealthy revenue-sharing payor would slide back, say, five slots in draft. So, if #Dodgers signed QO FA, picking at No. 25 . . .
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 30, 2016
. . . They would fall back to No. 30, a less onerous penalty than losing a pick. Again, this is simply a proposal, an idea being discussed.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 30, 2016
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On that proposal there, the idea – I presume – would be to reduce the impact of a qualifying offer on the players, but leave in the theoretical competitive balance elements (i.e., smaller market teams have a slight advantage when pursuing big-time free agents). In case you’re wondering, however the revenue-sharing formulas are reworked in this CBA, the Cubs will almost certainly still always qualify in the upper tier of teams, subject to revenue sharing (and thus, in proposals like this, they would be among the teams getting stung (much like, for one example, they will never qualify for a competitive balance draft pick)).
Jeff Passan writes about the negotiations, and, as others have, puts things in a “they’d be too dumb not to get a deal done and risk squandering goodwill” light. A deal is still more likely than not, but at this point, I’m just hoping no one does anything crazy (like a lockout) if a deal can’t quite be completed by the end of the night. Just agree to keep negotiating, and let teams and players operate under the old agreement until the new one is finalized.
The clock is ticking. I’ll keep following along and updating you as needed.
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UPDATE: Still no word floating around about imminent lockout plans, so at least the worst case scenario isn’t yet percolating.
Ken Rosenthal mentions a possible concession the owners are getting:
Under discussion in CBA talks, per sources: A cap for each team on spending for int’l amateurs, as opposed to current pool/penalty system.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 30, 2016
That would be a significant change to the system as it exists now, and something much closer to a draft, at least in terms of how much each team could spend, and how limited the returns would be for the international amateurs (the guys the MLBPA was trying to protect by opposing a draft in the first place). Maybe the cap would be sufficiently high that it’s less of a concern.
UPDATE: Good, good:
Strong indications now that there will be no lockout. Sides seem close enough that they'll get a deal by midnight or extend deadline a bit.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) November 30, 2016
UPDATE: If true, it would be nice to see things checked off the list:
Source: MLB, MLBPA have moved close to an agreement on parameters of luxury tax system, believed to be one of the major remaining issues.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 1, 2016
Of course, even then there’s still some hedging there – “close,” “parameters,” “believed.” But I’ll still take it.
UPDATE: OK, definitely good signs:
MLB CBA meetings have broken up for now. Handshakes all around. Deal? Stay tuned.
— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) December 1, 2016
Sources: Deal for new CBA is close, could happen tonight.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 1, 2016
Whether it’s a deal or some kind of agreed extension, I’d be happy with either one tonight.
