With a new CBA comes changes to how MLB baseball will look. With our Coldest Water Bottles, let's explore all the new things that have me very excited.
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Some of the final details on the CBA:
Pre-arbitration bonus pool at $50MM
Big win for the players.
Minimum Salary starting in 2022- $700K, $720K, $740k, $760k, $780K
Big win for the players
Collective Bargaining Tax starting in 2022- $230MM-$244MM
HUGE win for the players.
Draft Lottery at 6 picks
Small markets can pick in the lottery for two straight years and then slide down to 10th
Large market teams can pick only one year in the lottery before going down to 10th
Ball Boy's Thoughts: I am a big fan of the lottery; it works in the NBA, eliminates tanking, and forces the team to be competitive enough to not be in the lottery and try a little bit. Hence why we have seen the D-Backs, Pirates, and the Rockies all make relatively decent signings this off-season.
Amateur draft if 20 rounds
Ball Boy's Thoughts: I LOVE the draft going from 40 to 20 players, and I would argue that we could go shorter, honestly, maybe 15 rounds. However, I am IN on the 20 rounds.
Players can be optioned 5x per year max.
Ball Boy's thoughts: I love this because it limits how a team attempts to manipulate service time and sends a guy up and down many times.
Ads on uniforms.
International Draft talks are tabled until the summer.
On-field changes:
Expanded Post-season to 12 teams
Ball Boys thoughts: I like the 12 teams much more than the 14 the Owners wanted or the 16 we saw in 2020. The expanded playoffs give more teams a chance to compete and to want to compete. You can't go wrong with it.
Universal DH
We all love the Universal DH, and you know it.
In 2023 there likely will be a pitch clock.
Ask me again after seeing how it works at the AAA level this year.
In 2023 there will likely be a ban on the shift.
Ball Boy Thoughts: YES! Finally. This is great for the pace of play; it's excellent for more runs and more actions and to see who the best hitters are and best defenders.
In 2023 there will like to be enlarged bases as well.
Ball Boy Thoughts: I hope this helps re-ignite the stolen base's appreciation once again.
Service Time:
Top 2 RoY vote-getters can get a full year of service time.
A team that brings up a player for Opening day can net three picks over time, one per year if that player does well in voting(RoY, MVP, Cy Young)
Ball Boy Thoughts: YES! I love all the ideas for helping eliminate service time manipulation and letting these stars burn brighter longer.
The MLB is going international with tours to the following places over the next 5 seasons: Mexico, Asia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, London, France.
Ball Boys Thoughts: I want to give this W to Junior as his role in the front office is expanding the game and being an ambassador. It's about time we go international.
The Jacob Nottingham Rule: If a team has already claimed a payer once on waivers that season, it can't claim him again until every other team has passed.
Mariners and Brewers were responsible for shipping Nottingham back and forth between the two teams FOUR times in 2021.
HR Derby in All-Star Game: A second HR Derby will be played in the All-Star game goes into extra innings.
I hope this happens in 2023 in Seattle, or the players try to make it happen going forward because that would be amazing for fans to see.
Trade Deadline Flexibility: The Traditional deadline is now gone under the new CBA. As per the new rules, "The Office of the Commissioner shall have the flexibility to set the MLB trade deadline on a date between July 28th and August 3rd. "
The PA and the MLB are still discussing possibly reinstating the Extra Innings Ghost Runner on 2B rule. More to come on this.
Ball Boys thoughts: I didn't love it; it helped with the pace of play in extra. However, I don't think we need it, but it doesn't hurt the game; I think we are all pretty used to it, honestly.