If Major League Baseball owners get their way, megadeals like those signed by Juan Soto with the New York Mets and Shohei Ohtani with the Los Angeles Dodgers will be a thing of the past, as part of their latest labor proposal to the MLB Players Association on Thursday.
The owners want to implement a maximum contract length of five years for all free agents who switch teams, along with six years for free agents who re-sign with their existing teams. They also want to remove contract deferrals like in the 10-year, $700 million contract Ohtani signed in late 2023 that deferred $680 million of the deal.
Among the other items on the owners’ agenda on Thursday was a $202 million limit on deals for free agents signing with other teams. There are more than 20 players in excess of that number, including four who more than double that proposed limit. Currently, the maximum contract value for a free agent staying put is six years at $265 million.