One of the things that surprises me is the lack of knowledge surrounding the owners, the players and the topics that have led to the 2021 off-season lockout. Most folks know that money is not only the root of all evil but the source of discord between MLB and the Players Union. However, if you asked someone to delineate everything that's on the table right now, chances are that they would miss an issue or two.
Service Time, Free Agency & The Franchise Tag
Right now the ballplayers are subject to an arbitrary policy of six years in the league before they become eligible for free agency. Yes, there are some manipulative variations of this number with the so-called Super Two game and the artificial holding back of advancing prospects to the majors, but that's the gist of the deal.
Free agency has become the bane of teams without the payroll resources to hang onto the players they've developed. They know that once free agency arrives they will lose the players they built as they go off in quest of megabuck contracts from other teams. Consequently they wind up trading away players in year 5 or 6 rather than risk losing them for at best a draft pick if they are in the Qualifying Offer situation where the player in question turns them down.
MLB's proposal is to make an arbitrary cutoff for free agency at age 29.5. This plan is great for players who are late arrivals to the majors like the 26 year old rookies, but not so good for the youngsters who crack the majors at 20. The Players Union offered up a transitional plan over several years to achieve this plan, but the MLB owners simply want to implement it immediately upon signing the new CBA.
The MLB owners are also looking to foist off the NFL style Franchise Tag for players who would not be allowed to depart as free agents regardless of age so long as they are compensated by an as yet unnegotiated average of the top salary for others in major league baseball. Some like this approach as it ensures continuity and familiarity will continue for clubs without the phenomenon that's evolved with frequent player movement and fans simply rooting for laundry rather than the actual players wearing the uniform.
Changes to the Draft
All of the sudden major league baseball has an issue with the reverse order draft that's been in place as long as most folks can remember. They suggest that many teams artificially sabotage their own competitiveness to finish lower in the standings in order to attain the top position in the draft.
While Mets fans prior to Steve Cohen's arrival know well what it's like to have the team refuse to bid on the top free agents, develop their minor leagues properly, or do what it takes to invest internationally, the fact is that the tanking argument can go either way.
Yes, some teams are not taking the steps forward to invest properly in the product they put on the field, the varied NBA and NHL approaches to drafting are not a guarantee of improvement. The NFL follows a similar scheme to MLB. What changes will be made are uncertain.
Competitive Balance Tax
Another avenue the league is pursuing to ensure competitiveness is to charge the more well-heeled teams an escalating percentage of the money above the luxury tax threshold. Not coincidentally, the teams that have paid this tax generally finish in first place. Consequently the owners are looking to make it more possible to get the less successful teams to invest in payroll the same way as their richer competitors. The thinking here is that spending more leads to greater success, so reducing the barrier of the tax significantly will induce a greater number of teams to try to buy a pennant since their is a track record of success in that methodology.
Arbitration
The owners are not happy about how much the arbitration process increases their payroll obligations. They propose eliminating it altogether. The corresponding move that might make it somewhat acceptable to the Players Union is to increase the base pay given to new major leaguers who trail far behind other sports in compensation. The owners have even talked about setting up some kind of metrics to associate with compensation rather than getting into individual negotiations. Needless to say, the Players Union won't like this approach though increasing base pay would be appealing.
Increasing Post Season Revenue
Right now baseball lags behind the other three major sports with only 33% of the teams in the league advancing to the playoffs. This percentage trails the NHL, NBA and NFL by a sizable margin.
Baseball would like to have more teams in a playoff picture where ticket prices, parking prices and refreshment prices all spike in October. Furthermore, the extra playoff teams would increase the enthusiasm of the fan base which would lead to more revenue during the regular season.
Finally, the TV revenue for advertising would jump dramatically for each playoff team. This issue should not pose much resistance between the two sides as it truly benefits everyone.
So there you have it -- a Reader's Digest version of the issues behind the lockout. If and when actual negotiations begin it is clear that with this much change on the table it's going to be a long and drawn out process. You'd better start planning for a 2022 without baseball nearly every day as a delay to the start of the season (if it happens at all) seems incredibly likely.
11 comments:
Reese, very informative.
I like shortening up free agency eligibility - if so, then clubs will need a steeper luxury tax rate schedule to inhibit free agent contract size and length.
I think these issues ought to be resolved without interruption to play. Nothing there seems to be a reason to miss any of the 162 games.
Reese
Thank you for not only posting it but explaining it in simple terms
Thank you also Reese. Admittedly, I don’t care what their issues are and if they resolve them at all as long as there’s a game to watch - and I’ve felt those games would be minor league games. The reason I don’t feel there will not be resolution anytime soon is the owners have had it good and won’t like that changing while the players want big changes and are ready to support players through a union war chest of funds, and the gap between big market teams and smaller market teams is expanding and that’s not good for the game. So, until the owners swallow a little pride and the players swallow a little and until the teams can manage the difference in market size leading to bigger war chests caused by local tv revenues, there won’t be movement.
As for the tanking, I totally agree that it’s gotten out of hand.
Gus, the Mets haven't been good at making the playoffs - or tanking, either.
They could have tanked in 2021 and kept Crow. Instead, Crow flew the coop.
Thank you Reese...helped clear up some confusion on my part.
What is actually mind blowing is these 2 sides don't realize that they are about to destroy the game I love. If there's another delay to the season they are just risking losing more fans.
How much longer can we as fans, the same people who spend half our rent money to take our family to a game, sit back and watch 2 giant A**holes stomp there feet and cry like spoiled babies while they are making millions and billions of dollars.
They have already taken any strategy out of the game with these idiotic rule changes: Starting extra innings with a man on base...yeah that's great, the DH...yuk. There is absolutely no strategy left in the game (which was my favorite part).
They better get their heads out of their A**SES before the FUBAR the sport.
That's just my 2 cents...LETS GO METS
On a sidebar nice article on Oller in BA
Joe, I can understand starting a guy on base in extra innings, given the incredible fragility of today's pitchers. But I'd start them on first base, not 2nd base. Second base is like an NHL shoot out. Very tacky.
Gary, how hard did the article on Oller say he throws, if mentioned? I heard he can touch 97. Curious, since having a good fastball is almost an essential in today's game.
Good info, Reese.
I don’t see any movement in this standoff until it starts costing both parties some money (I.e. Spring Training and beyond). I too am concerned about the damage this will do to the sport……baseball’s popularity has dropping for decades.
If they want to make some changes, figure out how to speed up games a bit. In this age of immediate gratification, attention spans are getting shorter and the kids are finding different things to occupy their time. The season is also crazy long……adding more playoff teams\series will make this worse. If you want more playoff games, reduce the regular season at the same time.
Oh and MLB needs a salary floor to make teams spend some of their revenue (looking at you Tampa)…..that would generate more revenue then hammering the teams who are spending at the top of the scale with crazy taxes, etc.
I hope they play the 2022 season, but who knows.
Tom it said his four seamer touches 95.
Gary, that's a decent Oller FB with a good mix of other pitches
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