I Have Two Rosters, One for Each of You
There are currently two rosters. The 40-man includes all the players eligible to play at the big league level, among other considerations.
However, to play in the MLB, a player must be placed on the more exclusive 27-man roster. It is perhaps most comfortable to think of them as an active list and an active-plus-reserves list. These two comprise the most valued members of any team and protects them as such.
Expanding both might serve the interests of players and owners.
The player’s side is easy to see. Expanding the 27-man to 29 or 30 automatically brings more players into The MLB. While some of those will be from within the organization, a few at least will end up free agents. This could work nicely with an accelerated tax ceiling.
And the owners would like to see the 40-man expanded to a 45.
Each year, MLB teams must either put coveted farm hands on this roster or leave them exposed to other teams; this is called the Rule Five Draft. The Yankees, first instance, recently lost highly valued catcher Luis Torrens to the Padres.
If the owners could keep more of their potential stars with an expanded 45-man, they might be willing to spend more at the MLB level.
One caveat here is that it might be time to implement a limit on pitchers, and maybe even pitching changes.
Teams have for far too long shown a propensity for sacrificing offense for defense, eschewing powerful but limited hitters for match-up pitchers. It might be time to insist on a cap on pitchers per 29-man roster and force more offense into the game.
Well, that wasn’t all that hard; try this one on for size.