MLB and MLBPA Announce Unique Transaction Deadline and Changes in Membership Size

10:10: The league and the Union have officially announced the changes. A complete overview of the new rules is available, but here's a more concise overview:

Effective immediately

• There will be no more transactions after July 31st. Waivers of August transactions have been eliminated, although players can still be placed and claimed as they would during the rest of the year.
• The star vote will always be made by fans online, but the top three players in each position in each league will now participate in a star election day. The first three voting winners at each position in each league (the top six in the case of field players) will receive bonus payments.
• The Home Run Derby will now have $ 2.5 million, including a $ 1 million prize for the winner.
• The maximum number of mounds per game will be reduced from six to five.
• Advertising breaks between rounds are reduced to two minutes for all games.
• The MLB and the MLBPA will form a "joint committee" to look at other issues and change the rules.

Effective from 2020

• The standard alignment size in regular season games and post season games will increase from 25 to 26 players. As of September 1st, the size of the roster will be extended to 28 players maximum (against 40 currently). A maximum number of launchers will be designated by the Joint Committee. (Passan said the league only proposed that half of the players in a team could be pitchers.)
• Players in the position are allowed to throw only in extra innings or when a team leads or is driven by seven or more points. Some position players may be referred to as "two-way players", but to be eligible they must have accumulated at least 20 innings and started 20 matches as a designated position / batter for the current season or the previous season . (including at least three round trips to the plate in each of these appearances).
• A pitcher must face at least three batters per appearance unless he is retired due to injury or the half-run in which he throws is over before three batters have reached the plate.
• The minimum duration of stay of the launchers opted for the minors or registered on the list of the wounded will pass from 10 to 15 days. This change is still "subject to comment" by the new joint committee.

March 14th at 7:10 am: Passan has several updates this morning, adding that there will be cash prizes in the annual Home Run Derby starting in 2019, including $ 1 million to the winner, in order to entice the league's top talent to participate. Commercial breaks between games are also shortened for the second time.

The pitchers will face a minimum of three batters starting in 2020, barring injury (previous reports on this possibility suggested that this decision would also exempt cases in which a pitcher ends a round). More controversial issues among fans, including the setting up of a 20-second clock and a universal DH, have been filed for the moment but will continue to be discussed.

March 13th: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reached an agreement on a series of changes to the lineup, both by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required) and Jeff Passan of ESPN. Although it seems that this wave of agreed changes will not have any technical impact on the actual rules of the game, both parties have agreed to make July 31 as a deadline for the day. Completion of the transactions, thus eliminating the complicated waiver system of August. This change will come into effect for the 2019 season and, starting in 2020, the standard alignment size will increase from 25 to 26 (with up to 13 launchers). The September lineups, meanwhile, will be reduced from 40 to 28 (with a maximum of 14 throwers).

As Passan points out, the Star Match selection process will also get a new look in 2019. Fans will still be allowed to vote online, but the top three players in each position will then be included in a new All-Star rollout. "Election Day", which offers new ways to market the best talents in the game, both in the mainstream media and via social media.

The precise way in which the particular maturity of the exchanges will have an impact on the summer exchange market will not be known with certainty until we have several seasons of data, but we can think that at a distance the intensification of the commercial activity of July. We can imagine that the clubs in the running will be forced to be more aggressive in their search for talent, while the teams limit that had been waiting until mid or late August to sell their assets in a series of requests for renunciation will now obliged to make a decision much sooner. The idea divides the general managers to whom Rosenthal spoke, but it seems the union hopes that pushing the final date for seasonal improvements will also spur the expected competitors to be a bit more aggressive in the off-season.

The largest and most ambitious development comes from Passan. As part of the recent agreement, the League and the union have already agreed to start "imminently" to discuss labor issues that have been brought to the forefront. despite the fact that the current collective agreement does not expire until 2021. The state of the free agency, the manipulation of service time and the tax on luxury will be among the topics discussed.

The MLBPA, the representatives of the players and the players themselves are increasingly frustrated by the current state of the free agency, lamenting the stagnant market (especially for second and third tier free agents). Although many quickly point out that in some cases, players have hurt their own markets by aiming too high early in the off season (for example, Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel), one of the major problems on the side of the players was the slow disappearance of the so-called "middle class" of the free agency. Players such as Adam Jones (via Bob Nightengale from USA Today), Matt Wieters (via Jenifer Langosch from MLB.com) and Brad Brach (via The Athletic's Patrick Mooney) are among the many who have spoken openly about frustrations about the frustrating incursions into the free market. Veterans Justin Verlander, Marcus Stroman and many others have actively mobilized social media to denounce the frantic pace of free agency.

Although Commissioner Rob Manfred strongly rejected claims that a large part of the league is no longer trying to win, players and union officials have decried the tanking / rebuilding efforts that have led to a drop in parity and discouraged the teams to embark on a free activity with record MLB revenues.

It is an exorbitant conversation and has no clear and easy solution. It is therefore promising that both parties have agreed to at least initiate preliminary discussions that could lead to a system that all parties would consider more acceptable. Certainly, there will be no solution to these problems in the near future, but the first efforts to maintain the peace of work will undoubtedly be one of the most fascinating stories to follow in the months and years to come.