Major League Baseball is in the midst of negotiating with the MLB Players Association over the future of the collective bargaining agreement between the two sides.
Commissioner Rob Manfred, who, not long ago, praised the league’s competitive balance, is now fully committed to pushing for a salary cap to ensure owners can pocket more in profit. But as a new report on Thursday has revealed, those efforts aren’t limited exclusively to reducing spending on player salaries for those currently in the big leagues.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Thursday that the owners had proposed a key change in the CBA that would severely impact the MLB Draft moving forward. Currently, players are eligible after finishing their high school career, and players in international markets are signed through a separate system and bonus pool removed from the draft process.
Under this new proposal, high school players would no longer be eligible to enter the draft, and the owners would get their long-dreamed-of wish of an international draft.
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While the draft, for years, went well past 50 rounds, the current format has shortened it to 20. The owners’ proposal would shorten it further, to just 12 rounds. And here’s the most important factor for MLB and the ownership groups: The amateur signing bonus pool would be cut, nearly in half, to $200 million. The numbers are even more stark considering international signings.
Last year, per The Athletic, domestic amateur players received “about $402 million” in bonuses. International amateurs received “about $197 million.”
Between the two pools of talent, that’s nearly $600 million in bonuses. This proposal would save owners $400 million in its first year, since the league is proposing skipping an entire class of international amateur players before starting a second, 12-round draft. Moving forward, it would amount to an annual savings of around $200 million. Over seven years, that’s a total savings of $1.6 billion.
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The league also wants to raise the age of players who are eligible for the draft, with domestic amateurs needing to turn 20 by Sept. 1, as well as two years removed from high-school graduation. International players would need to be 18, when the current rule is 17.
As if the obvious money savings weren’t motivation enough, it’s clear the league intends to use college baseball as a form of pre-minor league development.
“Over the last several years, college baseball has undergone a remarkable transformation,” the league said in a statement. “Today’s top programs provide players with resources, competition, and national exposure that were unimaginable a decade ago.
“By creating a draft system centered around college-aged players and making most college players eligible one year earlier, more players will benefit from both a college education and an elite development environment while reaching professional baseball — and ultimately the major leagues — more quickly.”
Reaching the major leagues quickly, as the league puts it, is code for, “we can save more money on player development, waste less money on prospects who never pan out, and move some of those costs away from the teams and toward colleges.”
Unsurprisingly, the Players Association did not respond well.
“Today, MLB made another set of proposals that are flat out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game,” MLBPA said in a statement. “Players remain committed to bargaining in good faith and leaving baseball better than they found it – the league’s proposals fall woefully short.”
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There’s certainly some merit to the league’s proposals; the minors are filled with players who will never reach the big leagues, and the more physical development a player undergoes, the easier it is to scout. But MLB is not the NFL. There are young high schoolers who are able to quickly reach the big leagues. Arbitrarily limiting that possibility has nothing to do with bettering the game and everything to do with limiting what ownership spends.
As it relates to college baseball, the owners are clearly intending schools to shoulder some of the financial burden. But there’s a limit to what programs and outside collectives are willing to spend. And if top high schoolers, like, say, pitcher Seth Hernandez or No. 1 overall draft pick Eli Willits, are forced to go the college route, it’s going to push budgets higher and take spots away from other athletes who want to play.
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Owners have enjoyed the benefit of public support in this process, as misplaced fears of competitive balance have led to widespread demand for a salary cap. Hopefully this proposal, and its obvious motivation of reducing spending and maximizing profits, will lead to more baseball fans realizing that owners’ only goal in this process is keeping more of the money they make.
That doesn’t make them evil. Or villains. But these savings aren’t going to be redistributed to players, since owners have already proposed spending less on MLB talent as well. It doesn’t go to fans through reduced ticket prices, parking fees or concession costs. It goes directly into real estate investments near stadiums to make more revenue. Salary caps won’t fix baseball, not that it needs fixing, and neither will giving owners more license to spend less.
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