demolish the current system<\/a> by shrinking the draft, slashing benefits by hundreds of millions, and removing all players\u2019 right to negotiate, the MLBPA offered a framework that would maintain the economic structure of the Rule 4 draft, provide lower-revenue clubs enhanced access to amateur talent, and provide millions in benefits to such clubs that achieve (success) on the field,\u201d the union said in a news release Tuesday after the sides met in New York City.<\/p>\nMLB declined comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the amateur draft had traditionally taken place in June. It\u2019s now been in July since 2021, but the union wants to put it back in June \u201cto provide a longer season for recently-drafted players.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union also proposed increasing the number of draft picks that could be traded, which has been discussed by the sides many times in the past but never produces major change.<\/p>\n
The MLBPA wants to increase signing bonuses \u2014\u00a0it is always trying to drive more money to players \u2014 and to significantly decrease penalties for teams that spend over the annual amount they\u2019re allotted for the draft.<\/p>\n
Each team enters a given draft with a pool, which this year ranged from just under $4 million for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champions, to more than $20 million for the Chicago White Sox, who had the top selection in the draft.<\/p>\n
Today, a team that spends more 5 to 10 percent over its allotted pool loses a draft pick and pays a 75 percent fine on the overage. It also loses a first-round pick in the next draft. Teams that spend 10 to 15 percent over, meanwhile, pay a 100 percent tax and lose both a first- and second-round pick.<\/p>\n
When teams go at least 15 percent over their allotment, a 100 percent tax is again paid while first- and second-round selections are lost for two consecutive drafts.<\/p>\n
The union doesn\u2019t want draft picks involved so quickly. In its proposal, a team that goes up to 10 percent over its pool would pay a 75 percent fee, and a team that is 10 to 15 percent over would pay a 100 percent fee on the overage \u2014 but with no loss of picks.<\/p>\n
At 15 to 20 percent over, a team would lose a second-round pick, and at 20 percent over, it would lose a first-round pick.<\/p>\n
But MLB, which wants to greatly reduce signing bonuses, is unlikely to be on board with these changes.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Rob Manfred explained his view on the amateur draft at the All-Star Game last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe easiest way to explain it is (a) recognition of reality that has taken place: 70 to 75 percent of our players are college players. That\u2019s the state of play,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cThat is a dramatic change in the way that baseball operations people think about colleges. Years ago, decades ago \u2026 nobody had a good word to say about players that were developed in college. That has changed dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will also say this \u2026 Talking players out of going to college, I\u2019m not sure I agree with that. Just in terms of, you know, the overall development of the human being. So I just think the proposal reflects what\u2019s happening, and I think it\u2019s probably a good thing overall to be encouraging education.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union also is trying to funnel some perks to smaller-market teams in the draft.<\/p>\n
From 2027-31, the period of the five-year deal proposed by the union, any team that receives revenue-sharing dollars can increase its bonus pool by $2 million for one draft of its choosing over that period.<\/p>\n
The players also want to bring back major-league contracts for draftees. Once upon a time, a drafted player could sign a big-league deal right away, without first needing to sign a minor-league contract. The union proposed that revenue-sharing recipients can sign two players to big-league deals over the 2027-31 span.<\/p>\n
The union on Tuesday did not address the other piece of amateur entry, the international draft. When MLB made its amateur draft proposal last month, it also proposed an international draft. Back in 2022, the players were on board with the concept of an international draft \u2014 a notable development \u2014\u00a0but the sides weren\u2019t able to work out the specifics back then.<\/p>\n
Inside the industry, however, the progress made on an international draft last time was an indication for many that this go-around, the sides might eventually find common ground on that topic.<\/p>\n
The league also made proposals on Tuesday in a few buckets, including daily allowances and meal money, health and safety, and the playoff bonus pool for players.<\/p>\n
What complicates a lot of the discussion between players and owners at these early stages is that the league is making proposals in the context of a salary-cap system, and players are not. It is sometimes said in a labor negotiation that sides \u201care not speaking the same language,\u201d but that saying takes on a little more truth in baseball at present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a strong illustration of how far apart Major League Baseball\u2019s players and owners are in the early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85,3276],"class_list":["post-815476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}