2020 MLB Draft: League, MLBPA have yet to agree on the Draft

2020 MLB Draft: League, MLBPA have yet to agree on the Draft

First reported by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich from The Athletic, MLB came to the Player’s Union with an updated proposal that basically elaborated more on several key items: draft length, limits regarding the selection of un-drafted players, and slot values; but the players didn’t bite. Here’s a rundown of what MLB was asking for:

A 10-round draft

This is actually a larger draft than the minimum the two sides agreed on earlier, as the MLBPA was prepared to allow a reduction to just five rounds in length. However, as you’ll see in the next point, MLB’s interest in a 10-round draft wasn’t for the MLBPA’s sake, but more for allowing a split in slot values (save more money!).

A reduction in slot values

The reason the MLBPA balked at a 10-round draft is quite understandable, given what MLB was really after, which was essentially a draft cut in half. MLB wanted rounds 1-5 to have slot values equivalent to last year’s draft (which is what the two sides had already agreed on for the ENTIRE draft), while rounds 6-10 would have slot values cut by 50%. This was most likely the main reason the two sides couldn’t form a compromise this week.