February 23, 2022

Deadline for the Players, Too

Ronald Blum describes the losses on the side of the players if the season doesn’t start on time. The most damaging might be service time:

Stoppage costs would compound in future seasons due to the major league service time that wouldn’t be accrued. Once 15 days of the regular season are missed, the free-agent eligibility of some players would be delayed by one year unless management agrees to give credit in an eventual agreement, which it hasn’t done in the past.

Chron.com

I am somewhat surprised that the service time issue fell so quickly. A simple rule that gave a player a year of service if he appeared in the first half of the season would not have stopped service time manipulation, but it would have made it less lucrative. Once again, the MLBPA will disappoint in its ability to make meaningful change.

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