How MLB and the Players Association can fix what they have broken

Major League Baseball is flush with cash and talent. Yet no one but the owners seems happy with the current state of the game, most notably free agency. Here is what the MLBPA got wrong, and how they and MLB can fix it.

The MLB is in its glory.

The sport is almost printing money with even many small market teams taking control of their broadcasting. Players just negotiated more off-days and better amenities. And they look forward to West Coast expansion to ease travel requirements.

Add that to football’s decline in popularity and major league baseball might reclaim its title as America’s sport.

But not everyone is happy. The most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the players and owners was signed before the 2017 season but already seems anachronistic.

What the players focused on during negotiations seems to be benefits to existing MLB players primarily. This shortsighted approach left in place long-standing tenants of baseball, from roster construction to free agency, that no longer fit the modern mode.

One year into this five-year deal and it is clear that the owners cannily took the players to school.

Evolution is Messy

None of this sits well with players, fans or observers. However, it is the fans this article is more concerned about, caught between millionaires and billionaires. And all of them have their money only because of the rabidly loyal fans.

The good news is that everything broken can be fixed. Here I have taken a throw-everything-at-the-wall approach, with every idea considered. That doesn’t mean they are all good, just considered.

We will start with one the players should have known they got wrong before they left the negotiating table, to wit, agreeing to raise the luxury tax penalty threshold gradually.