MLB tweaks some rules now, more coming in '20
Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 12:22 pm
MLB tweaks some rules now, more coming in '20
A single trade deadline, an All-Star Game election day and a million-dollar bonus for the Home Run Derby winner will be implemented in 2019 -- and a three-batter minimum for pitchers and roster expansion will happen in 2020 -- as part of a deal between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association.
Spurred by labor relations discord amid a second consecutive free-agent market that has left players disappointed, the mid-collective-bargaining-agreement negotiations represent a step forward between two sides that had squabbled privately and publicly.
Perhaps the most important part of the deal isn't the elimination of August trades, the tweaking of All-Star Game starter selections, the incentives for stars to participate in the derby, the elimination of one-out relievers or the addition of a 26th player next year. It's the provision that the sides will begin discussing labor issues imminently, far earlier than they typically would with a CBA that doesn't expire until December 2021.
Those discussions, sources told ESPN, will center on the game's most fundamental economic tenets -- not only free agency but other macro issues with deep consequences. The bargaining over distribution of revenue could be the most difficult gap to bridge, with teams clearly paring back spending on aging players while players chafe at the notion that those 30 and older are no longer worthy of the deals they received in the past. While a compromise could be reached in distributing more money to the younger players whom the current system underpays, the complications of doing so warrant a long runway for discussions.