As the Major League Baseball lockout continues with no sign of serious negotiations, let’s review some of the main issues and how they might be relevant to the Orioles.
Service time
The Major League Baseball Players Association wants to end manipulation of service time, and to get younger players paid earlier.
While most attention is on the huge contracts given to superstars, and they are getting larger, the average salary of players dropped from 2019 to 2021. The average salary is $4.1 million,and the median salary is about $1.15 million.
Because many teams are getting younger, particularly the Orioles, they’re getting paid less. The Players Association wants to see more of that money go to younger players.
The top tier of players has no problem getting long-term contracts, but the second- and third-tier players have found few takers in free agency, especially if they’re over 30.
A player can become a free agent after six seasons. In the Orioles’ case, should the new Collective Bargaining Agreement not change the service time provision, the Orioles could prevent top prospect Adley Rutschman from reaching free agency until after the 2027 season by keeping him in the minor leagues for a short time to begin this season.
The owners have proposed eliminating service time and using age 29 ½ as a free-agent trigger. Players would like to see free agency after five seasons instead of six. That seems unlikely to happen and could hurt the smaller-market teams, specifically the Orioles.
Rutschman would turn 29 ½ during the 2027 season. A 29 ½ trigger would hurt young players, particularly young Latin American players who sign at age 16 and reach the major leagues earlier than American players drafted out of college.
Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is slated to be a free agent after the 2023 season and could attract the largest contract in baseball history. Soto, who’s 23, won’t turn 29 ½ until early in the 2028 season.
Arbitration
Players are eligible for arbitration after three major league seasons. The top 22 percent of players with the most service time in their second year of major league service are “super twos” and also eligible for arbitration.
Owners have a disdain for arbitration, feeling that it pushes up salaries artificially and creates unnecessary ill will between the club and players.
Clubs trumpet major free-agent signings and often experience a surge in ticket sales after an addition. They get no such boost after a successful arbitration case.
Players would like to reduce the time needed for arbitration to two seasons. It seems unlikely that could happen. The owners would like to replace arbitration with a formula involving WAR (Wins Above Replacement).
Since the Orioles have a young team, a reduction in the years needed to reach arbitration would likely result in more turnover.
Tanking
The Players Association would like to see more competition among teams. The Orioles have the first choice in the 2022 draft. This will be the fourth consecutive year they’ve chosen within the first five.
The owners have offered a draft lottery, but the players would like something more expansive.
In the NBA’s draft lottery, each non-playoff team is assigned a weight, and while the teams with the worst records have a better chance at the top draft pick, that’s not guaranteed. It’s possible for the team with the best record of the 14 teams not making the playoffs to win the right to draft first.
The union would like a formula based on both the previous season’s won/loss record and market size.
Payroll floor
The owners have proposed a minimum payroll of $100 million, which is far above the Orioles’ recent years. But they’ve tied it to a lower luxury-tax threshold.
The players like the idea of a minimum payroll but want higher luxury-tax thresholds to stimulate free agency.
It is appealing for Oriole fans to have a minimum payroll. Free-agent signings and possible extensions of current Orioles are fun to talk about.
Expanded Playoffs
Both sides seem to be in relative agreement that expanded playoffs are good. Increased revenues from television coverage of playoff games are positive for both.
It’s unlikely that there will be 16 teams, as they were in the 60-game, 2020 season, but 12 or 14, more than the current 10, seems likely.
It’s possible that in the future a reduction in regular-season games to 154 could be possible to ensure the World Series doesn’t drift into November.
An easier path to the postseason is attractive to Oriole fans, who have seen just six home playoff games since 1997.
What comes next?
At some point, negotiations will begin. If they can come to an agreement by the end of January or the beginning of February, spring training can begin on time. The alternative isn’t attractive.
Some issues won’t be hard to settle. The universal designated hitter seems to be a given, and in this ever-changing Covid environment, health and safety protocols must be agreed on.
***
New radio partnership: On Wednesday morning, the Orioles announced a multi-year partnership with Hearst’s 98 Rock FM and WBAL NewsRadio AM/FM as the flagship stations of the Orioles Radio Network. The six-year deal will include cross-promotion on WBAL-TV. Beginning in 2022, all 162 regular-season games and select spring training games will be broadcast on Hearst platforms, including 98 Rock (97.9 FM), WBAL NewsRadio AM 1090 and FM 101.5 (and FM 97.9 HD 2). The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network will continue to serve as the team’s home for television broadcasts.
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View Comments
Spring Training as scheduled is unlikely to happen. Baseball owners and players don’t consider fans.
You already know!
If the new CBA includes a $100 million minimum payroll floor, they may have to break out the smelling salts for the Brothers.
So true, since it was recently revealed they are among the paupers of MLB ownership with a paltry 2 billion dollars.
Something I used to tell my my children when they were little; every newspaper Article you read is true--except for the ones you have personal knowledge of...
Don't believe that $2B number....not even close.
Back in 2017 the Orioles payroll was an estimated 160 million. The Opening Day payroll in 2018 was an estimated 143 million. So getting it to 100 million isn’t a problem. Not going to happen since the players won’t agree to a lower luxury tax to offset the floor. And requiring teams to spend more money won’t necessarily make them more competitive. Look at Tampa Bay. You can’t force the top free agents to come here no matter how much they are offered. So what will end up happening is mediocre players will get huge contracts to satisfy minimum requirements. See the Washington Wizards. They gave Davis Bertans (who) 80 million for 5 years
ClayDal - Right on and perfectly stated!!! And very true on all points!!!
Thanks, Rich…..great outline. A couple of points.
No question after watching what has gone on with the O’s that some thing needs to be done about tanking. I like the change in the draft system and think a minimum team payroll in appropriate.
I also think the playoff expansion is a good idea. 154 games is plenty. Playoff games are much better for the fans.
Thank you oc.
...except for the fact that EVERY Playoff Game starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern or later---not a good idea for a Sport that has lost two generations of fans and counting... But who cares??? They have a great TV Contract w Fox Sports, right? These Owners and this Commissioner are destroying the game w their arrogance and hubris.
Mike, every World Series game starts after eight. However, there are a number of divisional series games and some LCS games that are afternoon games, and the ratings aren’t higher and young people aren’t watching.
It’s the pace of the games, not when they start.
Love to see the end of games, getting old, 7:00 starts would be awesome….go O’s…
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
I’d like to see and hear new broadcasters for O’s games now that they’ve moved back to WBAL. I know Chuck Thompson is gone and John Miller isn’t coming back, but aside for Palmer, the rest are unlistenable. It’s bad enough having to watch this team but it could maybe be tolerable with better announcers. Gary Thorne was great and even Mike Bordick and Dave Johnson were good as well.
BRobby, I agree with the exception of Dave Johnson. He can’t make a comment that is less than 5 minutes long. That plus his voice just wears me out. Buh bye.
Hey now! Melanie Newman won broadcaster of the year… somehow
Melanie Newman wasn't that bad. Besides ... who else would have deserved it more?
Oh yes, how could I forget Melanie Newman, maybe I was lucky. I will say, Ben McDonald is ok. Somehow though I think I liked him better on radio.
Since folks like to argue as a hobby, I'll preface my remark by saying I'm not responsible for the contents of any dictionary. With that being said, this particular dictionary I'm viewing shows "median" as a synonym of "average".
They’re the same…good call, go O’s…
5/6 math, mean, median & mode…go O’s…
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo for the love of all things mathematical...1, 10, 100
Average = 111/3 = 37
Median = 10
Yup, their the same alright! Fire CP! Fire jimcarter! Fire Elias now!!!
Nice one - Man I couldn't stop laughing!!! Goes to show how clueless some posers really are on things!!! Thank God they're not running the Orioles!!!
It worked. I knew I could get someone to bite! People are so predictable.
Nice try JC... Another one who can't admit when they're wrong!!! Go figure!!! I could hear the backup sound going off for you and Pansy back-peddling just like a tractor trailer going in reverse!!! Lol
Mean is avg, not median…nice try Deuce…go O’s…
Right there in black and white - "They’re the same…good call, go O’s…" and still can't admit when you're wrong!!! Pretty pathetic!!!
Mean and Median are NOT the same. Most programmmers have a pretty good math background. Why don't you?
Still a moron... Follow the posting trail Moron!!! And throw blame where it belongs!!!
Posted by jimcarter: "...I’m viewing shows “median” as a synonym of “average”."
Posted by CalsPals (your girlfriend): "They’re the same…good call, go O’s…"
Posted by FireEliasNow: "Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo for the love of all things mathematical…1, 10, 100
Average = 111/3 = 37
Median = 10
Yup, their the same alright! Fire CP! Fire jimcarter!"
Posted by OriolesNumber1Fan: "Nice one – Man I couldn’t stop laughing!!! Goes to show how clueless some posers really are on things!!! Thank God they’re not running the Orioles!!!"
Still a Moron!!! Now go and argue with your girlfriend!!!
GO DEUCE…& don’t call me pretty…
Pansy - Yeah you're right - you're just plain pathetic!!! Lol
Tee hee…go O’s…
I’m sure I missed some salient detail, but isn’t it expected and even appropriate that the best (“top tier”) players get the longer, more lucrative contracts? Don’t less talented (2nd and 3rd tier) players have fewer suitors in free agency because they are also less talented or less productive? When these players crest 30, to me it makes sense that their agent’s phone rings less. Is there some inequity or hidden nefarious plot there that needs to be corrected?
I realize last minute negotiations create public anxiety, bring attention and increase drama, but why not start constructive, focused meetings much, much earlier? Dragging this stalemate out longer just repels more fans while crippling incomes of many who depend on the season.
It gets getting more difficult for me to maintain interest in our great sport. The phrase “pyrrhic victory” keeps coming to mind.
Marty, in the past, I’ve used Adam Jones as example. He was an outstanding player, but had to settle for a $3 million contract after he left the Orioles, far below what he would have gotten a few years before at the same age and with similar stats.
Rich, I’m sure it wasn’t your intention and I absolutely get your point, but when I read that someone “had to settle” for a $3 million contract I simply can’t muster up a ton of sympathy for them. I’ll say this tho, if there’s any player to use as an example of the point you’re making, it’s AJ. He made plenty of money in his career but I admit I was very disappointed the O’s didn’t offer him a contract that would’ve allowed him to end his career as an Oriole. He earned that and he deserved that.
How one views the appropriateness of salaries in baseball and elsewhere is ultimately a value judgment. If you believe strongly in the free market system, a "just" and appropriate salary would be defined as whatever an individual can extract from an employer by non-violent means. And you would want free agency rules to favor players' freedom to move. If you place fairness and benefits to society at large above unfettered free market forces, then the multi-million dollar salaries paid to sports superstars and most corporate presidents can be seen as somewhere between unjustifiably excessive and obscene. The question of fairness also applies to big market cities and ultra-rich owners being able and willing to handle bigger team payrolls than small markets. I don't see a big change coming unless enough fans get so fed up with spiraling contracts (in any of the major team sports) that they massively stop buying tickets and watching televised games. Probably won't happen, at best, until after the first billion dollar athlete's contract.
WorldlyView, while I basically agree with your points I don’t view salaries of athletes/entertainers at all in the same way I view salaries of corporate execs. Corporate execs have their shareholders to answer to. No one is paying to be entertained by them whereas entertainers, be they athletes, musicians, actors/actresses or even announcers are paid to bring us entertainment. The Rolling Stones were the top grossing musicians in 2021 and grossed over $110 million. They certainly are not as entertaining now as they were 20, 30, 40 or even 50 plus years ago yet people gladly paid very high prices to see them perform. Until people are not willing to pay the going price, it will continue to rise.
There are many things wrong with the CBA, arbitration, length of contract, guaranteed contracts. Arbitration rules are a big culprit to experienced players being released. The reality is there are not enough players to staff all of the teams. Players want to be paid for their performance, but unwilling to be accountable for their performance. Soto should be paid much more, but Chris Davis should have been paid much less....and so it goes.
Phil, players are paid for past, not future performance.
Finally, they're back on 1090 - a signal I can get up here in the frozen north ...
Other than Rich, there doesn't seem to be any of us who lives within the city limits of Baltimore. Does that mean anything?
Rich isn't the only one who lives close to the BallPark.. Some of us live very close.
Doesn't that make you a 'Baltimore Denizen' rather than a 'Castaway'?
Steve, I have often wondered about that.
Hope the new radio deal means new announcers. Preferably ones who don’t get dumbfounded in the middle of balls in play: “it’s a hit!…. Into left field!! …. And it’s caught! Double play!!” Anything other than a ball or strike and you have to wait till they explain what happened 20 seconds after the play is over. All of them are terrible. My only access to the O’s is the MLB radio app and I’m convinced none of our radio announcers have any specific background with baseball. They all seem like generic “Mass Comm” grads who’d be just as happy (and bad at) calling hockey games or car dealership openings.
Man 33rd, Your comments are hitting on something close to my heart too.
Seems like the days of the true art form of making it feel like your at the park and part of the action are gone. Our announcers struggle to paint that mental picture in your mind. Many times you can hear the crack of the bat with men on base and your wondering what’s going on because there this gravid pause, but no play by play happening on air. It’s really sad, as well as frustrating.
I live in the Eastern Shore. You can’t hear WBAL well at night because I think they change their broadcast direction after a certain time. Gaaaaa!
The quality of their broadcast signal compared to 105.7’s quality at any time is substandard.