MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement between the players and the owners is in the process of being formally ratified by both parties. Players have agreed; owners are expected to do so Thursday.
MLB’s New CBA: More Replay, No Corporate Logo Tattoos
There are quite a number of interesting new features in this agreement, according to ESPN.com. At long last, replay is being expanded to include:
fair-or-foul calls, “whether a fly ball or line drive was trapped” and fan interference all around the ballpark. Umpires still must give their approval and it’s uncertain whether the extra replay will be in place by Opening Day.It also doesn’t say whether video review will be done the same way it is now (umpires leaving the field to look at replays on tiny little monitors in cramped hallways) or whether they’ll institute some kind of press-box review or centralized review (similar to NHL reviews). Hint: the latter would be better; leaving the field, as umpires now do for home-run reviews, would slow the game down. The other ways wouldn’t. Guess which one they’ll probably choose?
Also:
The All-Star break will be expanded to four days, rather than the traditional three-day gap. The five-year deal says starting in 2013 that MLB “shall have the right to elect to switch the All-Star game from Tuesday to Wednesday and the Home Run Derby from Monday to Tuesday.“The expanded break is already in effect for 2012; no games are scheduled for the Thursday after the 2012 All-Star Game. Enjoy your extra time off, players! Soon, this will be like Thanksgiving breaks from school: years ago, kids used to get just Thursday and Friday off. But then some families started taking their kids out of school on Wednesday so they could get to Grandma’s, and now some schools have an entire week off. Get ready for the week-long All-Star break in 2025!
Players can't have any "logos tattooed" on their bodies, so any player who thought he could make some extra cash by having a Coca-Cola logo plastered on his arm: forget it. Then they have to figure out whether there are any logos already on Ryan Roberts' body. Does he have to get them removed?
In addition, if a player wants to make a uniform-number change:
Players must tell the commissioner’s office by July 31 of the preceding year if they want a new jersey. That is, unless “the player (or someone on his behalf) purchases the existing finished goods inventory of apparel containing the player’s jersey number.” As in, every replica jersey, jacket, T-shirt, mug and anything else with a number that’s anywhere in stock.The only exception is if a player is traded during the season.
If you've been wondering how the schedule will be arranged once the Astros move to the American League, they think they've got it covered:
The deal includes a new schedule format starting in 2013, when there will be six five-team divisions, with no more than 20 interleague games per team. Teams will play 17 or 18 times against division opponents, with the exact format still to be worked out.The “exact format still to be worked out.” In other words, they still haven’t quite been able to figure out how to make an equitable schedule -- something almost mandatory with the switch to equal leagues and divisions -- when you have to have interleague play throughout the season. “17 or 18 times” against division opponents? An odd number of games? Then where do you fit in another game to make up for that?
Finally, the article points out:
For the postseason, the sides agreed to negotiate on tiebreaker rules -- do teams tied for the last wild-card berth meet on the field, or will the tie be broken by a formula?
This is something that, someday, is going to cause great teeth-gnashing by the players involved in such a tie and television networks anxious to not have anyone trifle with their precious postseason broadcast schedules. Consider this scenario: the AL division champions are the Yankees, Tigers and Rangers. The first wild card has been wrapped up by the Rays, while the Angels and Red Sox wind up tied for the second wild card. But the Red Sox have finished their regular season in Tampa, the Angels in Seattle.
To give the most ridiculous example possible, say the Angels -- through head-to-head play or a coin flip or a game of rock/paper/scissors -- had won the right to host a “second wild card playoff game”. That would force the Red Sox to fly from Tampa to Anaheim to decide the winner of the berth, and then if they win, fly back to Tampa the next day for the one-game playoff with the Rays. Or the Angels would be forced to fly from Seattle to Anaheim to Tampa on the same schedule if they win.
On the other hand, if a tiebreaker formula is used, is that fair to anyone? Unless there’s a regular-season schedule where everyone plays essentially the same strength of schedule -- something emphatically not the case now -- it wouldn’t be.
Clearly, this needs more thought. Good luck with that 2013 mess.
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