St. Louis – Money used to cost baseball too much – producing work stoppages that alienated fans and widened the chasm between players and owners. On Tuesday night before Game 3 of the World Series, the former adversaries functioned as partners, agreeing to a five- year collective bargaining agreement two months before the current deal expires.
“I remember in 2002 waiting to see if we were going to get on a bus, if play was going to get interrupted,” said Diamondbacks infielder Craig Counsell, a member of the players union executive board. “You have to pinch yourself that we got this done this quickly.”
Dollars made the rapid negotiations make sense. The industry will produce $5.2 billion in revenue this season, according to commissioner Bud Selig, leaving little room for contentious posturing. Even the All-Star Game was left untouched, meaning the winner will continue to give its league home-field advantage in the World Series through 2011.
A look at the notable items:
* Revenue sharing will be extended where large-revenue clubs help prop up smaller-market teams like the Rockies.
This season, $326 million was transferred, with the Rockies receiving $16 million. While the sharing figure was not changed and will increase if overall revenue does, the funding was. The contribution rate of the large- revenue clubs is reduced from 40 percent to 31 percent. For instance, the Yankees would pay $123 million if they made $400 million rather than $160 million under the old agreement. The structure of revenue sharing reveals that the sport is betting heavily that unprecedented financial growth will continue.
*Minimum salaries will spike dramatically, which directly impacts the Rockies’ payroll. The $327,000 floor for first-year players inflates to $380,000 next season, $390,000 in 2008 and $400,000 in 2009.
“I hope the increase makes teams think twice before they nontender guys eligible for salary arbitration. With the minimum higher, maybe there won’t be as much incentive to always keep the (most inexperienced) player,” said Cardinals second baseman Aaron Miles.
* The stricter drug-testing program extends for the lifetime of the CBA. It was re-opened twice in recent years to address the steroid problem. Union leader Donald Fehr said Tuesday the union would consider re-opening it again if a “reliable blood or urine test” is developed for human growth hormone.
* The luxury tax remains, with offenders paying 22.5 percent for the first time exceeding the negotiated threshold of $136.5 million, followed by 30 percent (second time) and 40 percent (third time) penalties. The threshold will increase each season.
* There is less bureaucracy with free agency and quicker certainty. After a player files for free agency, there will be no more deadline dates – meaning a replay of the Roger Clemens salary arbitration mess won’t happen again. In the past, a club had to offer salary arbitration to free agents by Dec. 7 and players had to accept by Dec. 19, with Jan. 8 the last date a team could re-sign its own free agent and have him available before May 1.
The nontender date has been moved up from Dec. 20 to Dec. 12. This was important to players and teams so they would have more time to negotiate before the shutdown for the holidays.
* Draft pick compensation for teams losing free agents – a baseball stipend that teams such as the Rockies, A’s and Twins rely heavily on – was tweaked. The loss of Type A and Type B free agents will be compensated, but from a smaller pool since fewer will be classified in those categories in subsequent seasons. There will be no compensation for Type C free agents.
* Salary slotting for amateur draft picks never materialized, but there were some revisions regarding the draft. Teams will get same-slot compensation for unsigned draft picks – meaning if they fail to sign their fourth- rounder, then they get an additional fourth-round pick the following June. Also, the whole starting-school drama has been removed. It used to be if a draft pick began classes, he was ineligible to sign. Now if a player does not sign by Aug. 15, he goes back into the draft.
* “It’s not a perfect system,” Selig said. “But we believe small- and medium-market teams are in far better shape than before 2002.”
