THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Whew. That breeze you felt recently might just have been the collective sigh of relief from baseball fans around the world as Major League Baseball owners unlocked the gates and let the players back in to play ball.
MLB owners and representatives of the players' union shook hands on a new collective bargaining agreement March 10, 99 days after the owners locked out the players when their previous deal expired at the end of last season. Fortunately for everyone, the agreement came just in the nick of time to salvage a full 162-game season, and avoid a serious self-inflicted shot in the proverbial foot for the entire sport.
So what was it all about? Don't they all make an awful lot of money already? Well, yes, but the players' main aims were to prevent the existing luxury-tax threshold from becoming a faux-salary cap, to allow younger players to get something closer to their true market value - including addressing teams' manipulation of sTiervice time to suppress their earning power - and to discourage teams from going into severe rebuilding mode i.e. tanking.
For the owners it was about not giving up any more of the pie than absolutely necessary to keep the players on the field and the cash rolling in. In the end, everyone got at least a little bit of what they wanted, even if some of it amounted to little more than tinkering around the edges.
The minimum player salary, set at $570,500 in 2021, will rise to $700,000 this year and to $780,000 in 2026. The luxury-tax threshold, which was $210 million last season, will also rise, from $230 million this season to $244 million in 2026. Both mean more money in players' pockets, though only theoretically as far as the luxury tax goes, as teams have no obligation to spend more.
For the younger players, finishing in the top two in voting for Rookie of the Year will now come with a full year of MLB service time, regardless of when they were brought up to the majors (players can only become free agents, and get the big bucks, after six full years). There is also a $50 million bonus pool that will go to the top performing players not eligible for salary arbitration. All of which feels more like dancing around the issue than fundamentally getting budding stars like Vlad Guerrero or Corbin Burns the kind of cash they could command on the free market.
As for addressing tanking, a draft lottery was implemented that will end the guarantee that the worst performing teams get the highest draft picks. That didn't stop the Oakland A's from promptly trading away their four best players before the ink was dry on the new CBA though.
The owners got their wish of an expanded playoff field - from the current 10 up to 12 - which will create more television revenue for them. The win-or-go home wild card games are out and will be replaced by a wild card round - two best-of-three series in each league that includes the lowest seeded division winner and the three wild card teams. Let's hope an expanded playoff field means more meaningful games come September.
Oh, and then there are the rules changes. The National League gets a permanent designated hitter, the rule placing a runner on second to start each extra inning stays and seven-inning doubleheader games go.
The biggest benefit, at least to the fans, is a full season of games on the field.
The AL East is a beast, with four of the five teams able to stake legitimate claims to grabbing the division crown. The New York Yankees will rely on the lumber of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and hope the likes of DJ LeMahieu, Joey Gallo and Gleyber Torres can return to form. The Boston Red Sox added Trevor Story to a lineup that includes Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and JD Martinez, but are light on pitching. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays will look to wunderkind shortstop Wander Franco and continue to rely on solid pitching, a lights-out bullpen and textbook fielding to befuddle opponents.
The Toronto Blue Jays may be the team to beat, however, if shooting stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette can continue their skyward trajectories, and new Gold-Glove third baseman Matt Chapman can return to the All-Star form he showed as recently as 2019 in Oakland. Throw in the likes of George Springer, Teoscar Hernández and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and there is a lot to like for a team that will, for the first time in three years, finally get to play all 82 home games in front of their crazed Canadian fans.
After going from two-time division champions to the AL Central basement last year, the Minnesota Twins shocked the baseball world when they were able to land prized free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa. They also got catcher Gary Sánchez and infielder Gio Urshela in a trade with the Yankees for Josh Donaldson, and added starters Sonny Grey and Chris Archer.
They'll need a big bounce-back, though, to catch up with the Chicago White Sox, who ran away with the division last year. The Sox return their stacked starting nine, led by Luis Robert, Yoán Moncada, José Abreu and Tim Anderson, and feature a deep starting rotation and a solid bullpen. Staying healthy will be key, but the ChiSox have a team that will be able to play with anyone.
This looks to be the Houston Astros' race to lose, as they chase their fourth World Series appearance in the past six seasons. Third baseman Alex Bregman, second baseman José Altuve, outfielder Kyle Tucker and designated hitter Yordan Álvarez will lead the way, and prospect Jeremy Peña will look to fill the sizeable shoes left by the departure of Correa. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander returns from Tommy John surgery, and will look to contribute to an improved rotation.
The defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves have won four straight division crowns, but will have to overcome the loss of first baseman, and franchise cornerstone, Freddie Freeman, who upped stakes for Los Angeles in the offseason. Former Oakland A Matt Olson steps into Freeman's place in a lineup that should be boosted by the return of Ronald Acuña Jr., who missed last season with a knee injury.
The Philadelphia Phillies added sluggers Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber to a starting nine that already included Bryce Harper. It was the New York Mets, though, who really opened the purse strings, with second-year owner Steve Cohen committing nearly $260 million to five free agents during a spending spree that propelled the Mets to the second-largest payroll in baseball behind the Dodgers.
The hopes of the Big Apple faithful took a hit when it was announced ace Jacob deGrom will miss time due to a shoulder injury, but newcomers Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt should somewhat lessen the sting. Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha all came with high price tags, but injuries and age could be a recipe for a pricey let down.
This looks to be a two-horse race between the St Louis Cardinals and the defending division champ Milwaukee Brewers, with the rest of the division in rebuilding mode. 2021 Cy Young winner Corbin Burns, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta form one of the stronger rotations in the league, but the Crew's hopes may ride on a return to form of former MVP Christian Yelich.
The Cards ran off a 17-game September winning streak to almost catch Milwaukee a year ago. Paul Goldschmidt, Tyler O'Neill and Nolan Arenado provide pop at the top of the lineup, but there are questions to be answered in the rotation and the bullpen.
The San Francisco Giants were the surprise of the baseball world last year when they won 107 games and edged out the favored Los Angeles Dodgers for the division crown, but then they promptly lost to LA in the Division Series.
It's hard to see the Giants reach those lofty heights again against a Dodgers team that added Freddie Freeman to a powerhouse lineup which now features three former MVPs plus Trea Turner, the reigning NL batting champion.
The Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball, and that has bought buckets of talent that will be hard to beat. They'll have to take care of business on the field though, just the same as all other 29 teams, and things don't always go to plan - which is half the fun!
Here's thanking the baseball gods that we'll get to see it all unfold over a full 162 games. Bring it on!
