MLB, MLBPA come to terms on new collective bargaining agreement

Here’s what we know thus far about the new agreement, and how it will affect the Pirates and baseball.

It may have come down to some dramatic, final-hour negotiations, but there will be baseball in 2017.

The deal extends the sport’s labor peace to 26 years since 1995 and was reached about 3 1/2 hours before the expiration of the current agreement.

There will be labor peace in baseball for at least the next five years. While details about the new agreement are few and far between, it is safe to say there there is no worldwide draft. The NFL had a preseason lockout in 2011, the National Basketball Association lost 240 games to a lockout that same year, and the NHL lost 510 games to a lockout in 2012-13.

As first reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the two sides agreed in principle to a fresh labor pact on Wednesday night in NY. As Thursday’s deadline approached, it became clear neither side wanted to ruin a good thing.

The other key point of contention that had generated the most discussion in recent months was MLB’s plan to institute an global draft. The owners offered to resolve two of the biggest ones by offering a straight exchange, telling the players they would eliminate direct draft-pick compensation in free agency in exchange for the right to implement an worldwide draft, sources said at the time.

The union has always been fundamentally opposed to artificial restrictions on salaries and remained mindful of that in these negotiations. The owners reportedly dropped the issue in the days leading up to the deadline.

Although owners dropped their demand for an global draft, they will introduce tighter restrictions on spending for worldwide amateurs. Clubs that exceed the luxury-tax threshold, though, would lose a pick later in the draft.

In a concession to reach an agreement by the December 1, the league relinquished aspirations of an global player draft, according to Stark. That’s exactly where the figure has stood in each of the past three seasons. The cap will continue to rise, to $197 million in 2018, $206 million in 2019, and $208 million in 2020 before reaching $210 million in 2021.

Sherman also reported there will be a greater penalty of about 60-70 percent for teams in excess of $250 million in payroll, compared to the previous CBA penalty of 50 percent.

The uninterrupted play has been central to Major League Baseball growing to a $10 billion annual enterprise (and rising) with record sales prices for franchises and record salaries for players. Teams can be penalized by 60 percent or more, going up to 90 percent. Those in the middle forfeit their second-highest pick and have their global bonus pool reduced by $500,000 next season.

NEW YORK (AP) – Having finalized a $110 million, four-year contract with the New York Mets, Yoenis Cespedes declared: “God willing, I will finish out my career with this team”.

Should a team lose a qualifying free agent, reports say that the team losing the player will only receive draft pick compensation if the player’s new contract is for more than $50 million.

In another critical detail, players can be given a qualifying offer – and thus saddling his signing with the loss of draft picks – only once.

The first round pick associated with those players offered a qualifying offer and decline. This document will need to then be ratified by membership on both sides.

Details are still coming in but at this point there are a few key changes from the last CBA. It seems likely the system will be reworked moving forward. Changes to revenue sharing, as well as the banning of smokeless tobacco use (grandfathered for current players) are in the new agreement. Each one of the changes will alter teams in different ways. Such a step, now becoming a distinct possibility, would both put a halt to the off-season free-agent and trade markets and jeopardize the Major League portion of next week’s annual MLB Winter Meetings. And luckily for both the owners and the Players Association, a new CBA was agreed upon nearly three hours before the deadline. With that cleared, the fun can finally begin.