Major League Baseball requested the power to eliminate hundreds of minor league jobs in its latest job offer to the MLB Players Association, sources familiar with the proposal told ESPN.
Currently, the National Reserve List — which governs the number of minor league players a team can roster at any one time — is 180. The league has proposed keeping the number at 180 for 2022, but allowing the commissioner’s office reduce the maximum number of players. players to as few as 150 for the remainder of the collective agreement, the sources said. The proposal says the league could adjust the size of the reserve roster “up or down.”
MLB, according to a league source, has no plans to reduce the size of the roster in 2023 but wants the flexibility to do so in future seasons.
The league had previously proposed controlling the size of the National Reserve List several times, each of which was rejected by the MLBPA, a union source said. While the union has not formally responded to the most recent version of the plan, the source said, the players intend to reject it and any future proposals that could eliminate minor league jobs.
The minor leagues have already gone through a massive overhaul in recent years. In December 2020, MLB eliminated 42 teams — and an unknown number of playing positions — by implementing a structure in which 120 teams were distributed evenly among the 30 Major League clubs: one Triple-A, Double-A, Class A High and Class A Low each. Any change in the size of the reserve roster would not affect the number of minor league teams, as there are nine years left on the 10-year contracts the 120 clubs signed with MLB.
The National Reserve List was implemented as part of the changes. The league, a league source said, considered 180 players to be a high number due to the new minor league system and the year of development lost due to COVID-19. Previously, teams were not limited in the number of players they could have under minor league contracts. Five teams currently have more than 180 minor league players on their National Reserve List, according to the source. (Teams can have up to 190 players during the offseason.) Two teams, the source said, have fewer than 150.
The potential roster cut was part of a 28-point transaction package that included a proposal to limit the number of options — or the number of times a player can return from the major leagues to the minor leagues in a season — to five, according to sources. Currently, teams have unlimited options for classifying players within a single season, allowing some to move between Triple-A and the major leagues.
MLB declared a lockout on December 2 after the expiration of the previous basic agreement. While the union doesn’t represent minor leaguers, issues affecting those not on the 40-man rosters — such as the amateur draft and the international signing system — are part of the negotiations.
During earlier negotiations in July 2021, the union proposed a 20-round domestic amateur draft, one of the few items the union and league agreed on, according to sources. During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the draft was shortened from the previous standard 40 rounds to five. Last year, the draft went 20 rounds, with 612 high school and college players selected. Under the 20-round proposal, undrafted players are free agents who can sign with any team.
Issues related to the treatment of minor league players have come to the fore in recent years, with a low-wage class action lawsuit currently in federal district court, sub-minimum wages for minor league players it’s a longstanding problem and teams in 2022 for the first time have a league mandate to provide housing for minor league players. MLB increased pay for minor league players in 2021, with the minimum salary for a Triple A player at $16,800, Double A at $14,400, Class A at $12,000, Complex League at $9,600 and Dominican Summer League at $3,000.
At a hearing Friday in the federal case, an MLB attorney argued that minor league players shouldn’t be paid during spring training because they “reap more benefit from the training opportunities they’re given than clubs, which they really only incur the cost of having to provide that training.
Under the league’s proposal, it would inform the union of changes to the National Reserve List before the first date in spring training that a team can opt for a player, according to sources. Anyone who signs a minor league contract would be added to the National Reserve List within 15 days of signing the deal or when he appears in his first game, the sources said.
Teams can have an additional 70 minor league players on an International Reserve List if they have two teams in the Dominican Summer League and 35 if they have one. Players on the National Reserve List who are not assigned to one of the four affiliated teams may be on a team’s rookie league rosters in the Arizona League and Florida League complex, where they play on-site. team spring training.
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Sources: MLB seeks to cut players in the minors