Major League Baseball on Tuesday revealed portions of its labor negotiations with the MLB Players Association, four weeks before the current collective bargaining agreement expires. Chief among the changes in the latest proposal is not implementing a salary cap until the 2028 season, making 2027 a year of transition.
MLB’s latest proposal called for a salary cap of $258.2 million, with a salary floor of $180.2 million. MLB’s previous proposal with actual numbers, on June 25, including a salary cap of $245.3
million in 2027 and a floor of $171.2 million.
Using competitive balance tax payroll for 2026, the Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays, Padres, and Red Sox all spent more than that.
Twelve teams — the Marlins, Brewers, Guardians, Cardinals, Rays, Nationals, White Sox, Twins, Rockies, Pirates, A’s, and Reds — were this year all under that proposed $180.2 million floor. MLB says the additional spending by those 12 teams to reach the floor would add a combined $636 million in salaries, while the eight teams cutting spending to get under the proposed cap would subtract $528 million, for a net gain of at least $108 million.
Considering the total competitive balance tax payrolls in 2025 for all 30 teams were just over $6.06 billion, and this year’s were undoubtedly higher, a $108 million increase by 2028 is less than a two-percent increase over three years earlier. It would require other teams to spend more than just reaching the floor for the players to realize any real gain, especially compared to revenues in the sport.
Understandably, the Players Association does not think this proposal does enough. In a statement from the MLBPA:
Despite MLB’s proposal to delay implementation to 2028, at its core, the negative impacts of the owners’ salary cap remain the same:
-Massive reduction in player compensation
-Elimination of fundamental player rights, including guaranteed contracts
-Gutting of domestic and international amateur entry systems
-Replacement of market-based fundamentals with a zero-sum system that harms the middle class and pits player against player
“Even with a so-called ‘transition year’ in 2027,” MLBPA’s statement continued, “The owners’ latest offer would result in rejection of dozens of player proposals on issues from minimum salaries to revenue sharing to rosters and transactions, and many more; immediate restrictions to player contract rights; stagnant luxury tax thresholds; a $400M reduction in amateur signing bonuses, stripping current competitive advantages for smaller market teams.”
Other parts of MLB’s proposal
Tuesday’s proposal by MLB owners also would increase the minimum salary in 2027 to $1 million for players with at least two years of service time, and $900,000 minimum for players with fewer than two years. Dodgers not yet eligible for arbitration with two years of service time include Bobby Miller, Kyle Hurt, Ben Caparius, Jack Dreyer, and Roki Sasaki.
MLB says the 28.2-percent increase over the 2026 minimum salary of $780,000 would be the largest year-over-year increase in league history. In our offseason roster breakdown in October, we looked at previous recent CBAs, with the 22.7-percent increase from 2021 ($570,500) to 2022 ($700,000) the previous high.
MLB as part of its proposal accepted two items the Players Association proposed in May — the elimination of the qualifying offer and thus draft pick compensation for losing free agents; and allowing players age 30 or older to reach free agency with five years of service time instead of six, with the caveat that clubs have the right to sign said player for that sixth year at an average of the top 125 salaries for the previous year (that’s how the qualifying offer is currently calculated).
Owners also proposed reducing the number of times a player can be optioned to the minors within one season from five to four, and the elimination of the current fourth-option-year rule. The rule as currently stated is this:
Players typically have three option years, but those who have accrued less than five full seasons (including both the Major and Minors) are eligible for a fourth if their three options have been exhausted already. For the purposes of this rule, spending at least 90 days on an active Major League or Minor League roster during a given season counts as one full season. Players also earn a full season if they spend at least 30 days on an active Major League or Minor League roster AND their active-roster and injured-list time amounts to at least 90 days in a given season.
Brock Stewart, who was drafted in 2014, used his fourth option year in 2019, for instance.
MLB in previous negotiations this year proposed the idea of weekly rosters, and in its proposal on Tuesday added language prohibiting optioning or outrighting a player during the week, and also restrictions on a team being able to continually cycle a player on and off the 40-man and active rosters throughout the season. This is to combat roster churn, something we saw with the Dodgers in 2026 with both Jonathan Hernández (sent outright to minors three different times, signed twice by Los Angeles during the season) and Charlie Barnes (sent outright to minors three times, optioned three other times), among others.
MLB proposed a few tweaks to the current Rule 5 Draft setup, including making players eligible for the Rule 5 Draft one year earlier than presently. The also proposed allowing teams who select players in the Rule 5 Draft be able to option said players to the minors immediately, which would encourage teams to add players to the 40-man roster to protect from losing them.
“We recognize that clubs will need a full offseason to prepare to operate within the cap and floor system. Therefore, with this offseason already underway, we proposed today to begin the cap and floor systemin 2028. This proposal would allow a smoother transition into the cap and floor system without delaying key player benefits, including earlier free agency, a $1 million minimum salary, a 30% increase to the pre-arbitration bonus pool, and transactional reform that will reduce roster churn,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said in a statement. “The projected salary cap and floor for 2028 continues to provide more money for major league players while leveling the playing field and giving more teams the ability to participate in the free agent market and retain their homegrown stars so that every fan believes their team has a fair chance to win it all.”
“Coming off another incredible season of baseball, MLB owners continue to propose blowing up the current system and replacing it with one designed to line their pockets and increase their franchise values,” the Players Association said in a statement. “Players stand ready to negotiate in good faith toward a new CBA that will capitalize on our sport’s unprecedented momentum and benefit players, clubs, and fans alike.”
