Urgency Ignites Major League Baseball’s Labor Negotiations Thanks To February 28th Deadline

It is safe to say this week’s labor negotiations between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) will be intense as both parties are under tremendous pressure to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement by February 28^th for the regular season to start on time. Major League Baseball’s announcement last week postponing the opening of Spring Training until March 5^th was not surprising given the glacial pace of negotiations. However, it still elicited a terse response from the MLBPA regarding the decision to lockout the ball players in the first place. Baseball parlance tells us both parties are swinging for a grand slam with no one on base instead of hitting doubles. Besides the sense of urgency, the first couple of days of negotiations must focus on building positive momentum and achieving small victories even if conversations become contentious in nature.

The reality is no one wants further disruptions to Spring Training or an abbreviated 2022 regular season that starts later than March 31^st. Any delays would be catastrophic even as extraordinary time has already been wasted throughout the lockout. Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. has been steadfast in his belief that it only takes one breakthrough in negotiations to work towards an agreement. Members of the owners’ bargaining committee will attend an in-person meeting with the MLBPA and are willing to work throughout the week to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

As both sides embark upon only the seventh meeting since the beginning of the lockout on December 2^nd, they must fight the temptation of immediately going after the Competitive Balance Tax as it will evoke feelings of frustration and hostility with little room for compromise. Instead, they should initially focus on matters affecting younger ball players regarding minimum salaries, pre-arbitration bonus pools, and Super Two eligibility. The draft lottery and postseason expansion will also serve as an impetus for productive conversations. These topics can establish reasonable and measurable goals that have been unfortunately absent due acrimony and distrust.  

In Major League Baseball’s latest proposal regarding minimum salaries, they presented two options. The first option would be a single minimum salary of $630,000 for the 2022 season and ball clubs would be allowed to give raises to ball players until they become eligible for salary arbitration. The second option is a tiered structure over the pre-salary arbitration years beginning with initial 2022 salaries of $615,000 (less than a year of major league service), $650,000 (one year of major league service), and $725,000 (two years of major league service). The MLBPA would like to see a 2022 minimum salary beginning at $775,000 and reaching $875,000 by the 2026 season. In the recently expired collective bargaining agreement, the 2021 minimum salary in Major League Baseball was $570,500.   

The MLBPA wants a pre-arbitration bonus pool of $115 million but Major League Baseball has expressed a significantly lower level of comfort at $15 million. On top of the sizable financial disparity, there are questions as to how the money would be distributed to ball players by incorporating the usage of advanced statistics such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Major League Baseball has presented the notion of forming a six-person joint committee with the MLBPA on the creation of a WAR statistic to help in the process of awarding deserving ball players with bonus pool funds.

The idea of collaborating on the development of a statistic like WAR is logical given its relevance in today’s game and the infatuation with an all-encompassing metric. However, it is imperative to utilize a multitude of statistics when evaluating performance. A ball player’s contributions can go well beyond WAR. Individual awards, All-MLB Team honors, and being one of the top 30 ball players in terms of WAR would fit Major League Baseball’s criteria regarding pre-arbitration bonus pool eligibility. The MLBPA would like to see the eligibility extended to 150 ball players given their salary arbitration concessions.  

At first, the MLBPA wanted to see all ball players with two years of service time be eligible for arbitration. However, they made an adjustment to their proposal regarding Super Two eligibility. The MLBPA now wants the top 80 percent of ball players between two and three years of service time eligible for Super Two. Under the recently expired collective bargaining agreement, it was 22 percent. Major League Baseball has not expressed great warmth for the Super Two concept and initially wanted to eliminate it.    

A key question most people will be asking this week is what determines progress when it comes to Major League Baseball’s labor negotiations given its time constraints. Under normal circumstances, progress would be defined by continuous improvement. However, Major League Baseball needs to quickly demonstrate accelerated movement in several key economic areas beginning with minimum salaries, pre-arbitration bonus pools, and Super Two eligibility. If resolutions can be achieved in each of these areas by mid to late week, progress is being made in negotiations knowing challenges still lie ahead regarding the Competitive Balance Tax.