Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reached a new collective bargaining agreement Thursday afternoon, finally halting a 99-day owner-imposed lockout fraught with rampant tension and colored by heightened mistrust.
Twenty-six of the 38 union leaders voted in favor of a five-year CBA that saw its members make significant gains with regard to minimum salaries and the competitive balance tax threshold, among other areas. The 30 team owners ratified the deal by a unanimous vote, according to the league, finalizing a CBA that provided them with an expanded postseason field and the ability to place advertisements on uniforms.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, the face of pointed criticism from players throughout the process, said he “could not be more excited about the future of our game” and vowed to work more closely with MLBPA executive director Tony Clark with hopes of bridging a noticeable gap.
“One of the things that I’m supposed to do is promote a good relationship with our players,” Manfred said during a news conference from MLB headquarters in New York. “I’ve tried to do that. I think that I have not been successful in that. I think that it begins with small steps. It’s why I picked the phone up after the ratification and called Tony and expressed my desire to work with him. It’s gonna be a priority of mine moving forward to try to make good on the commitment I made to him on the phone.”
With the end of the second-longest work stoppage in the game’s history, the market officially opened, paving the way for trades and free-agent signings. Players are required to report to their respective spring training facilities by Sunday, and the first exhibition games will take place four or five days later. Opening Day will come on April 7, a week later than originally scheduled, but 162 games will nonetheless be played.
Under the new CBA, minimum salaries will begin at $700,000 in 2022 — an unprecedented 23% increase from the prior year — and rise to…
Source : espn
