Major League Baseball didn’t see a new Collective Bargaining Agreement announced today, although there have been a few reports of progress that was made today:
–Ken Rosenthal said that significant progress was made in the CBA talks today.
–Buster Olney reported that the owners and the union were looking at solutions for Type A free agency. Olney mentioned two solutions:
1. Instead of the new team giving the old team a draft pick, the old team would get a compensation pick between the first and second round. Currently Type A and Type B free agents get a first round compensation pick. The difference with Type A players is that they also get a second pick, coming from the team. Olney wasn’t clear on whether teams would still get two picks for their departing Type A free agents.
2. Teams would have to offer 120% of the player’s previous salary, or an average of the top five highest-paid players at his position, whichever is higher. This is similar to the NFL’s Franchise tag. This would still net picks for the top free agents, but would pretty much make it impossible for lesser players to land draft picks.
-Kevin Goldstein had two updates. In his first update he mentioned that the rumor on the draft is that there will be a luxury tax if a team goes over a certain threshold on all amateur signings. In a follow up he added that there was a discussion on the compensation rules that would greatly reduce the number of compensation picks.
