2020 MLB Draft: League, MLBPA have yet to agree on the Draft
By Clint Manry
2020 MLB Draft: League, MLBPA have yet to agree on the Draft
A limit of five undrafted players at $20,000
Now this one is just weird. Just like the slot value issue, both MLB and the MLBPA had already come to an agreement about undrafted players.
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The two sides, as shown above, decided to cap all undrafted players’ bonuses at $20,000, which was already a pretty big change, given those types of players usually could land bonuses five or six times that amount in previous years.
Well, now MLB wants to put a limit on how many players a team can sign at that amount, setting a limit of five for $20,000 and an unlimited amount of players for $5,000 or below.
The issue now, though, is that the MLBPA is running against time. As Rosenthal and Drellich mention in their article, MLB has all the leverage at this point, considering they could just simply cut the draft all the way down to the minimum of five rounds if the Player’s Union doesn’t corporate.
The impact of no revenue gives the League plenty of reasons to cry poor if they don’t get exactly what they want.
Although, perhaps the best strategy for the MLBPA is to just do nothing. As we’ve seen with this latest proposal, MLB isn’t interested in giving up anything; in fact, they’re obviously trying to take away more from the players.
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It may be best for the MLBPA to just have the 2020 MLB draft along the lines of the original terms before the draft is completely stripped down by the League.