Play Ball!
CBA ratified, camp opens Sunday, it’s go time..
Image credit: Chris Simon
Start working those gloves and loosening those arms, friends. It’s time to play ball.
Following a torturous three-plus month saga of pushing, pulling, power plays, and ploys, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association ratified their new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday evening, putting to bed one of the darker chapters in the game’s recent history.
Thank goodness. The doom and gloom were getting to be a bit much.
The union achieved its broader goal of making up lost ground with increases in minimum salary ($700K in 2022, $780K by 2026), a newly-instituted $50 million pre-arbitration performance-based bonus pool, and a significantly raised competitive balance tax threshold ($230 million in 2022, up from $210 million in 2021; $244 million by 2026).
Was it all they had hoped to get back in this round of battle? Probably not. But with the way the league had been playing its hand since locking out the players in December, waiting for the perfect deal to come around may have taken a while.
Thursday’s agreement gave the MLBPA tangible progress to hang their hat on and may have even set a precedent with regard to getting through to the league in future negotiations (give and take seems like the only way with these folks; there’s no “hey, you earned it” here).
The league added a fourth tier to their tax threshold system to balance out the largest CBT hike in the game’s history, an 80 percent surcharge on all overages once a team has gone $60 million over the CBT threshold unofficially known as the Cohen Tax. Flattering, I’m sure.
For inquiring minds, the Mets’ luxury tax payroll currently stands at $271 million (per FanGraphs), $41 million over the third CBT threshold with $19 million to spend before hitting the next level of taxation. If that even comes into play for New York, of course.
Cohen’s made it clear on multiple occasions that he’s undeterred by the competitive balance tax and reportedly was in favor of the fourth tier being added for the “greater good” of the game, or at least to level out the playing field a bit.
Gamesmanship. We like that.
With a blizzard of roster moves expected across the league in the coming days and camp opening up across the league on Sunday, the Mets’ brain trust is likely plotting out their course at this very moment.
Bullpen help. Another starting pitcher, perhaps. A fourth outfielder. Maybe a trade or three. We’ll have to wait and see what Eppler & Co. have on the menu.
Exciting times. LFGM.
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