#mlb-labor

#mlb-labor

Signing Konnor is a meaningful commitment to this team, this city and our fans. It reflects our belief in Konnor, in this season's club and in the future of our organization.

We apologize for that. We've done it for a while, but we won't be doing it any longer.

The owners of Major League Baseball's 30 teams, who made their wealth through the workings of free enterprise capitalism, want to limit what players can be paid. This apparent political and philosophical irony will most likely lead to a shutdown of baseball at the end of this season.

"I'm done at the end of this contract," Manfred said. "I've told them (the owners) that, and I'm gonna stick to it. I'll be 70. It is enough. ... You have a certain period of time when you have things that you want to accomplish, you take your best shot, you try to get as much done as possible. And then it's sort of time for the next guy with his set of things. And I think that's healthy and good for this."

The big news this week is the Dodgers winning the Kyle Tucker and the Mets grabbing Bo Bichette. It's some big money. Kyle Tucker is getting that partially deferred 60MM AAV and Bo Bichette is getting an player option protected 43MM AAV. I don't begrudge them. They're both at the top of a very high profile profession where the top get the tippy-top cash. It might be getting hard to see anything but the bucks though.

If you go and you have a lockout right now, during peak Shohei Ohtani time and Aaron Judge time and coming off a World Series that had 51 million viewers at a time when the NBA has struggled with its ratings, where it's very competitive to get eyeballs in this day and age, if Major League Baseball had a lockdown, it could set this sport back by a decade at least,

MLB is the only one of the four major American sports without a minimum and maximum limit to spending, and some owners may be looking to change that. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the early projections from the league suggest a salary cap of around $260-280 million, along with a salary floor of around $140-160 million.

Throughout the offseason, one of the more awkward times of the year is the subject of arbitration for players and teams around Major League Baseball. Their case is a true first, as Skubal and his camp are seeking $32 million in salary for 2026, which would be a record awarded in arbitration. The Tigers filed at $19 million, which leaves the side $13 million apart as rumors of Skubal being traded to the highest bidder will only surely increase moving forward.

Many in the industry expect a lockout and some even worry about the potential for lost games in 2027. Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of The New York Post report that the league has put aside a war chest of about $2 billion, roughly $75MM per team, from a central fund to help weather a potentially lengthy stoppage. The MLBPA has made similar preparations but the report doesn't provide specifics for that side.

As for me, the move this year is particularly wonderful, since it means that the annual Trade Deadline Blogathon will be August 2 and 3, with zero overlap on The Wife's July 30th birthday. I have missed her birthday almost every year for 15 years, so this will be a nice change. Also: lordy is she understanding. ( It's a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish, dear! It's a good cause!)

When you have momentum like we have that you've worked as hard as we have to get, you know that is a force that puts people in a frame of mind that they should understand they need to make an agreement, OK? Despite that momentum, we have a couple of issues that we hear about from our fans all the time: blackouts and the perception that some teams are not competitive. We got to address those issues. How we figure out the way to address those issues is the challenge of the bargaining process, and jumping to the idea that it's going to be salary cap, no salary cap is a premature thing to do. To maintain the momentum we all understand we have, I think we need to address those two issues and I think we'll figure out a way to do it.

The league is now set to implement the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) Challenge System on a regular basis in 2026, which should have a huge impact on the sport. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has continued to search for ways to improve the game and has floated the idea of shortening the 162-game regular season schedule on several occasions. That remains a possibility along with potentially adding an in-season tournament similar to the NBA, via Chad Jennings, Andy McCullough and Sam Blum of The Athletic: