MLB Negotiations: Breaking Down the MLBPA's Massive First Proposal

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]But why don't we talk about this hot news off the press right now, Zach? And it's around the MLBPA's new proposal. And when I was walking in, you said it just happened, so walk us through. What's going on? Yeah, so we have the official proposal, I guess the first proposal of many. The owners are apparently countering the proposal tomorrow, but Jeff Passan gave us a quick SparkNotes about what the first proposal includes. Things like a competitive integrity tax for any team that does not spend $150 million on their roster, increases minimum salary from $780,000 to $1.5 million, uh base thresholds from $244 million to $300 million, because some teams want to spend more money, uh changes to the revenue-sharing system that would distribute more money from local television revenue, but decrease the amount of distributed from in-stadium revenue to incentivize teams that win and draw larger crowds. Free agency for players who are 30 at 5 plus years of service. That's actually a I like that one. Uh teams that do not spend revenue-sharing dollars cannot collect money. Teams that receive revenue-sharing and win receive bonuses.

[00:01:14]Pre-arbitration bonus pools increases from $50 million to $180 million.

[00:01:19]Minimum tender and arbitration of $3 million in arbitration super twos jump from 22% of players to 44.

[00:01:27]So, not all this will happen.

[00:01:30]I would pretty much guess to say none of this will happen in these exact terms. It will all be negotiated, but here is the official we've been waiting for the collective bargaining agreement uh these negotiations to start, and we officially have our first proposal. So, here it is. And we're off and running. And here it is.

[00:01:52]>> Let the fun begin. Let the fun begin.

[00:01:55]You know, the one thing that's interesting to me is going to be around the having a salary conversation.

[00:02:05]Like salary cap, I should say. I'm sorry. Salary cap conversation.

[00:02:09]Because that has been probably one of the loudest talking points over the last year.

[00:02:17]You know, and when you see other leagues have it, you know that that's been brought up. It's been said. The players said absolutely not. But it seems like in this case, Zach, if I'm reading it correctly, it's not saying that there's a salary cap, but it certainly seems like there has to be a salary floor Yeah. from what we're seeing. And that if they don't spend 150, and and that's that's what I talked about before this. If if you guys recall, and if you're not, I'll tell you.

[00:02:45]Half of Major League Baseball had a salary uh situation of less than 150 million. So, that's where that number is coming in, in my opinion, is because half of baseball is not spending that on their roster. Mhm.

[00:03:03]So, for the players, they're not giving No one wants to give a cap. I don't think that that's going to be the starting point, nor would I expect that.

[00:03:09]But that was the interesting part for me is what would be any type of quote floor? Well, the floor would be right there.

[00:03:16]150 million. And what does that do? That raises players getting paid, if I'm reading that correctly. Now, um the minimum salary is a big jump. That obviously would help in the process. And then the arbitration system's always been one of the most fascinating. Now, we could go all through it, but those are things that jump out to me, Zach, because players, when it comes to the arbitration, that's for the team control aspect. And if you keep that in place, that's something that players have felt certain types of ways about.

[00:03:51]And the super twos, right? That's the eligibility situation there for players for their eligibility, for their arbitration, and for their ability to eventually get the free agency, right?

[00:04:01]So, that's Nothing surprises me, I guess, from all of this list because those are all points.

[00:04:10]But, Zach, I'm just curious what would be the first owners' proposal cuz I'm I'm certain at some point we're going to see the cap side come in from the MLB owners. Yeah, and I would assume they rip the band-aid off. I don't think this is something where they're going to pretend like they don't want this or oh, no, we're not I would I would assume in bold font at the top of tomorrow's proposal, it's going to be like a salary cap and and that's going to be that and then we'll start the actual negotiations from there.

[00:04:41]Yeah, they're going to ask for a salary cap.

[00:04:44]Uh do we get one? Is that how it ends?

[00:04:46]Not sure, but it has been pretty well documented and noted that the owners want a salary cap. That that that's not a negotiable for them. The unfortunate thing is it's a non-negotiable for the players to have one and it's a non-negotiable for the owners not to right now.

[00:05:02]Something's got to give, but it's definitely going to be in that first proposal.

[00:05:07]I'm intrigued to see some of these like uh you brought up I I really like the free agency for players who are 30 at 5-plus years of service. If you see so many guys that especially I I I want to say this is a lot for pitchers, especially like relief pitchers, when they're sending you up and down, they can kind of control your uh timeline and manipulate it in ways so they get extra years of you.

[00:05:35]Um actually, I think one of the more recent ones just with the Orioles, at least, was uh Tyler Wells. I think he was 23, he was kind of being sent up and down even though he was having a really good year. Trying to keep some contract stuff. He's not even an unrestricted free agent until after 2028. He made his debut in 2021.

[00:05:54]I I think it's something that it's for guys like that. It is for the guy who has been there for 5 years, who's been a relief pitcher, but I he hasn't gotten that opportunity to go get paid even after 5 years because oh, you have two, three more years of arbitration where you're making pennies on the dollar, it feels like, to what other pitchers top end relief guys are making.

[00:06:16]So, I really like that one. That that one stood out immediately to me as one that I'm like, "Okay, I I think that needs to be something in that case." Yeah, I mean, it's a good point about the the free agency side.

[00:06:29]Because with the arbitration, if you break through with 6 years of control, you know, with Cedric Mullins, just think about this. Ceddy finally broke through for free agency, and hasn't it felt like he had been in the league for 84 years?

[00:06:42]Shout out Cedric Mullins, man. I uh He he's had a lot of things going on today, specifically. And let's just say you you might be hearing from him soon. But he's 31 years old, Zach. And to think about the amount of time that Cedric was there, and now he's on the closer side to 30. So, I don't think that that's a crazy ask to go, "Hey, 5 plus 5 years of service." That essentially means you just take 1 year off, right? Take 1 year off for them um to be free agents. The one part that it's really that we hadn't touched on yet as much is the revenue sharing system.

[00:07:17]Specifically with teams that if they the incentivizing teams to that win and draw larger crowds. Because that's essentially a performance-based situation, meaning the team has to play well. And if the team plays well, and there's fans in the stands, that's great. Now, I can see how I think that will be a problem. When anything has to do with revenue sharing, and anything has to go with a lot of these details, you're going to get a lot of pushback. We already know that, but I'll say for from top to bottom for the first proposal coming out on the MLBPA side, I'm I'm uh impressed. Like I'm I'm I'm I'm impressed with the details. Now, I saw Laura make a point of this, the guaranteed contracts talk, cuz that's a non-negotiable that MLBPA said, "No, no, they're they're guaranteed. Like we're not changing that."

[00:08:12]>> I'm curious if the MLB side and the owners, what their proposal will be back to it because I think the biggest I think I honestly think the minimum salary raise won't be that much of a of a head-scratcher or worry. I don't know if they'll get one I don't know if they'll practically double it. Yeah, yeah, but I I wouldn't be surprised if that finds its way in the 1.1, 1.2 range if and if that's $400,000 raise, that's not slight work, you know, especially the guys when they first get up there.

[00:08:43]You know, it's I would >> [clears throat] >> the arbitration one is still that's still whole process is the most complicated to me. Just overly complicated.

[00:08:56]>> Super overly complicated cuz it's it's just the way that it has been that a lot of people when you're still looking at they'll just say like, "Ryan, what the hell is the arbitration system?" It's like, "Well, well, you go to arbitration after you have X amount of years in the big leagues and then you go to arbitration for multiple years and then you can become a free agent. Yeah, and then there's like, "Oh, we signed him to this massive extension." And you're like, "Oh, awesome." It's like, "Yeah, we bought out all of his arbitration years." It's like, "So, you you just got that out of the way. You didn't you did It's like the same way with sides.

[00:09:27]Like in reality, they added what? A year, 2 years to the or after arbitration, but it's put as, "Hey, it's an 8-year deal." It's like, yeah.

[00:09:37]Well, you just get the money. You just now know how much you're making that year instead of every single season having to go out there and be like, I think I'm worth this much. And then the awkwardness in the room of like the Tigers this past season where Tarik Skubal's like, hey, I deserve 30 million. And the Tigers were like, 19.

[00:09:57]>> 19.

[00:09:58]We don't think you're that good. And it's like, okay. And then it's super awkward. So, >> where the Corbin Burnes situation started. Corbin You know, you don't want to try to take things personal in the business of sports. But it is sometimes hard to not feel the emotion.

[00:10:17]It's the same thing, right? Where as a day-to-day player, you can understand going out there and playing and giving your all. And when you don't play well or you do play well, there's the emotions of the people invested, meaning the fans, family, everyone above.

[00:10:33]And on the business side, you're a player where you care about the organization.

[00:10:39]And you think you're doing a good job.

[00:10:40]And then, yeah, they're trying to be as business as they can.

[00:10:46]But that hurts because you're human. It It does It's awkward. It's an awkward exchange, but that's how it is. So, I'm really curious how it will play out. Um I I think above all, Zach, and I'm still going to stick with that. It's what I started with. If the owners want to have any chance at a salary cap, there was going to have to be a guaranteed amount of money that each team is going to have to spend. But here we go. First of many, but I will say this, above all, what's exciting to me is baseball, there's a lot The parity, I know, isn't very fun for teams or fan bases that their team's struggling. But there is a lot of parity throughout the league. The competitiveness is there.

[00:11:36]Mhm.

[00:11:37]And that to me is an exciting uh product moving forward. Yeah, we can talk about the gameplay and teams doing things better.

[00:11:45]But there's a lot of teams here that I think could make this baseball league continue to rise cuz that's what it's done over the last few years. Yeah. So, I think that both sides understand that this needs to continue on. Yeah, it needs to because baseball is in probably one of the one of if not the best spots it's been in in decades.

[00:12:08]And the excitement around the game, World Baseball Classic, last year's World Series was unbelievable. You're hoping that we have another magical October that can kind of keep that momentum rolling. Uh viewership is at an all-time high.

[00:12:24]It it sucks because there's so much on the line.

[00:12:29]This collective bargaining agreement talks, you know, with these proposals and uh this negotiation, and you feel like there's really no way to win unless this gets solved and we miss no games. Because even missing a quarter of the season next year, like it has its impact. Even missing any games is going to have its impact. Baseball, like you just said, like it is rolling right now.

[00:12:55]>> It's rolling, people. It is becoming I it is overtaking other sports.

[00:13:01]Especially when you compare it to the National Blowout Association, uh and foul baiting, it's it's kind of taken over again. It's coming back. I mean, and I think it's a huge tip of the cap to Major League Baseball. No shift, we get the ABS system, we get the pitch clock, things that maybe at the time even I was like, what are we doing tweaking all these things? It's worked.

[00:13:24]I was wrong. They've nailed it.

[00:13:27]Don't now throw it all away. You you've made all these incredible changes, all these small tweaks that have made the game the best it feels like it's been in a long time, especially from just a casual viewer standpoint.

[00:13:39]But man, can they throw it all away in just one off-season?

[00:13:43]And time will tell. Time will tell how this all plays out. But the last thing to to finish that off, Zack, the beauty of baseball, you know, we found out football is king for content, right?

[00:13:56]>> Yeah. You're glued. One game a week, maybe twice depending on how you view the week, you know?

[00:14:02]But Or how the NFL views it.

[00:14:03]>> Or how how you're viewing it. Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:06]But for baseball, even with the old school versus new school mentalities, right? Where people it's a fight. No, it's this is how it used to be. Back in my day, why the guys are doing this now.

[00:14:19]They're the the quote-unquote better athletes. Look at how hard they throw, how hard they hit. Whatever you want to say. What I love is is that baseball has such a history to it that you can draw people that are older and bring in a younger audience and have it blend and have baseball be talked about cuz that's what we're doing on the show. Mhm. We're having the old school guests and then we're having the new school baseball guys coming on and we're talking shop and you know what? People are talking about it cuz people at the end of the day, deep down, there is a core love for the sport. So, I hope that continues on. I'm excited for it. And we're excited to keep this show rolling with you guys. If you're new to the channel, hit that like and subscribe button. Ryan Hurkens Show are live Monday through Friday right here on YouTube, X, and Facebook.