Day 106

Fresh Start_106: Oh, how the rules have changed…
With the Winter meetings coming up, last Thursday, Major League baseball announced their new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for the next five years. With the new CBA being in affect for the 2017 season and the game not going on any short of strike, the game of baseball will look a lot different to future and the youngsters might not know why.

One of the biggest changes to the new CBA is the All-Star game. The game will go back to not meaning a thing to the playoff picture and just stand as a game where fans around the world get to see the best of the best in the game. I personally like the rule change, because it makes the regular season actually mean something. The Wildcard winner that just snuck into the playoffs can no longer host a 100-win team in the World Series. What this rule does is put more pressure on teams as a whole to go for the division title, which mean competing for more wins. That doesn’t mean that the regular season didn’t mean anything, it just seem deluded and nonsense to people around the game.

The Luxury Tax will be going over a major overhaul. The tax will go from the current number $189 Million to eventually $210 Million over the five-year deal. This means higher contracts for the All-Stars in the game, and if my name is Bryce Harper or Manny Machado I am thanking my lucky stars that I will be receiving a hefty check when I become a free agent in the winter of 2017.

That Segway’s perfectly into the Qualifying Offer changes that were made. The teams that lose free agents that were offered a QO will be broken down into 3 categories. If a player declines a teams offer and signs a deal worth more than $50 Million, the team will receive the 3rd highest draft selection that the team that signed the player has. This does not mean that the 3rd round pick will go to the team, i.e. if a team has 2 first rounders, the QO compensation will be the second round pick. The next category is if a player signs a deal under $50 Million, the team who offered the QO will get the 3rd highest pick and $500 Thousand in international signing bonus. The 3rd is the team that offered the QO will get the 3rd and 5th round draft pick.

The last major thing I would like to talk about is the grandfather rule with chewing tobacco. New CBA stats that any player currently in the league can chew chewing tobacco, but any minor leaguer that will be making their MLB debate in 2017 will not. It is an odd rule, but I get the rule with the health concerns around the product, and from a leagues stand point, you have to make this move for the future generations. It just seems odd that you let the veteran players still use it… Whatever, it is the Winter Meetings and it is one of my favorite times of year!
Sources:(mlbtraderumors.com, si.com, mlb.com)

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