On the heels of yesterday’s quietly eye-popping report that MLB is willing to discuss economic issues with the Players Association *before* the expiration of the current CBA, which does not expire for three more seasons, I wanted to update you with a companion and confirming report from Ken Rosenthal.
Owners, players making progress on rules changes, with economic discussions to come. Story: https://t.co/q8TwtmJeHT $
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 28, 2019
Per Rosenthal, the sides are making significant progress toward getting together on much of the other rule stuff, and then will turn their attention to the things that impact the economics of the game – competitive integrity, player compensation, service time, etc. – after the season opens. It’s crazy to think that the sides could actually negotiate core CBA elements so far before the CBA expiration, but it’s absolutely something they need to consider, given how ugly things have become in the two years since the current iteration kicked in.
In the meantime, it sounds like the rules changes proposed in MLB’s latest now have a very good chance at being agreed to by the players before this season begins. That would mean, among other things, no pitch clock this year, mound visits down to four this year, shorter inning breaks, rosters increase to 26 players with a 13-pitcher maximum (starting in 2020), 28-man rosters in September with a 14-pitcher maximum (2020), and a three-batter minimum for pitchers (2020).