What Would You Like to See in the New CBA?

[DuWayne Steurer]

There's a lot of changes being brought up here, but I think in any one CBA, you're likely to only see a few. I'll rank the things I'd like to see, in order of my own inportance.

 

1.) Re-alignement. I don't care if we add 2 teams, cut 2 teams, or whatever, I just don't like having a 6 team division, and a 4 team division.

2.) Split revenue sharing of TV contracts. I'm not talking 100% revenue sharing. I'm not saying that the Yankees should have to give up the lion's share of like, the YES network, but I do think TV revenue should be part of the pot.

 

3.) Add a wild card. If we stay with 3 divisions, I like the idea of 2 wild cards playing a 3 game series for the right to advance. That way there's some 'penalty' for not winning the division. Obviously, I think this is prefaced by a drop to a 154 game schedule.

 

4.) Start actually enforcing the size guidelines on new ballparks. Everyone likes homeruns, but some of these tiny little bandboxes just suck. Every single team that's requested a break in the rule has been granted.

 

5.) DH. I honestly don't care if the leagues have a separate rule here. I don't want the DH brought to the NL, and I know they won't get rid of it, so I'd just as soon keep the status quo.

[CheezWizHed]

Ok, here is a new one:

 

World Series locations:

- as little as it actually effects the World Series, having the All-Star game decide anything about the WS bugs me. So how about if:

 

Allow the two teams in the WS to have 3 games each, but hold one at some pre-determined location. This could possibly be the first game, just to ensure that that game actually happens.

 

There are probably a lot of different ways it could be handled (with each WS team having 1, 2, or 3 home games with the others played at X different locations). But obviously, each of the teams in the WS should have at least one game at home. After that, including at least other location would spark a little more interest in the game and generate a bit more non-baseball revenue (more people traveling).

[joepepsi]

I don't remember who came up with this, but I like this idea for broadcast revenue sharing. Each team keeps 50% of their local broadcast revenue. The other 50% (since it takes two teams to play a game!) is thrown into a general fund which is then distributed equally among all 30 teams. The Yankees would still be rich, but at least the other teams would benefit.

 

This will be the third time I've posted this since last summer for my idea of realignment.

 

Houston moves to the AL West. Each league consists of 3-5 team divisions.

 

Each team plays the other 4 teams in their division 12 times--48 games

Each team plays 6 games against the other 10 teams in the league outside their division--60 games

Each team plays a 3 game series against each team in the other league, alternating home field year to year--45 games

 

That's a total of 153 games. You could make it 164 by having teams play their division rivals 15 times instead of 12.

[logan82]

I don't remember who came up with this, but I like this idea for broadcast revenue sharing. Each team keeps 50% of their local broadcast revenue. The other 50% (since it takes two teams to play a game!) is thrown into a general fund which is then distributed equally among all 30 teams. The Yankees would still be rich, but at least the other teams would benefit.

 

I am not sure I had the original idea but that is what I have been thinking for a while. I am not sure I would go with 50%. That might be a little low. I don't mind the big teams having a big revenue advantage. This would let teams lock up one player long term without the player having to take a hometown discount like Braun did.

 

I was actually thinking something like 80% or whatever number would put the payroll difference at $50m between the highest and lowest teams.

[joepepsi]

Yeah, the exact percentage could be negotiated. There's never been perfect economic parity in MLB. The Yankees have always been filthy rich and able to buy just about any player that another team is willing to give up.

 

What they need to do is get back to a system similar to the pre-1994 strike, when any well run team had the financial strength to sing their "franchise" players long term, without crippling their payroll. You can make the argument the Brewers have been able to do that reasonably well the last couple years.

[FVBrewerFan]

All these are great ideas. Reallignment, including ALL players in the draft, another WC team, etc., would love to see all these things. Ultimately though, MLB's biggest issue continues to be competitive balance. Whther that's addressed through more revenue sharing, cap, or both...that needs to be priority one with a bullet.

[Baldkin]

Invader3K wrote:

The draft needs to be fixed quite a bit. They should have hard slots for signing, and do something where players can't just not sign and then re-enter a year or two later.

 

I don't know what you can do. Some players would rather go to college (or finish college) before singing. If you have them locked up for one team, most players will start being drafted before entering college. Then a player will be property of a team during their college years. How soon before teams start giving orders to colleges about playing time, positions, etc.?It's simple, really. You allow players to declare for the draft. Once they are drafted they are ineligible to play college baseball. I don't understand why the same rules the NFL and NBA use can't be used for the MLB draft.

[danzig6767]

If the problem with the DH is that it creates separate rules between the leagues, then it's the NL who should adopt the DH, since most levels of organized baseball now use it.

I don't see the big problem with the AL having the DH and the NL not having it.

 

It only is a noticeable thing in the World Series and while there is usually an advantage for AL teams when they play at home because they have a set DH who tends to be a better hitter than a bench NL guy asked to DH, the AL pitchers aren't used to hitting or bunting when games are in a NL park.

 

In fact, i kind like the two leagues being different in that regard. I like an AL manager in the World Series having to decide in road games whether to play a great hitting DH who is miserable defensively.

 

So long as the NL doesn't switch to the DH, i don't care much either way what the AL does with the DH.

 

Besides that, the main thing i want is more revenue sharing. That said, teams getting the money, their owners shouldn't be able to just pocket the cash.

[paul253]

It's simple, really. You allow players to declare for the draft. Once

they are drafted they are ineligible to play college baseball. I don't

understand why the same rules the NFL and NBA use can't be used for the

MLB draft.

 

I actually think the NBA should do their draft more like the MLB. Allow HS kids to enter, but if they don't they have can't declare until they are 21. I am sick of all these one and dones in college basketball. I hate the fact that these kids have so much power and make so much undeserved money as the next guy, but I think a hard slotting system would be an adequate solution. I can't emphasize this enough though as something I want.....there needs to be a major overhaul of the draft compensation system. WAY too many picks being handed out for losing players and there is no consistency.

[Flood Pants]

If the problem with the DH is that it creates separate rules between the leagues, then it's the NL who should adopt the DH, since most levels of organized baseball now use it.

It only is a noticeable thing in the World Series and while there is usually an advantage for AL teams when they play at home because they have a set DH who tends to be a better hitter than a bench NL guy asked to DH, the AL pitchers aren't used to hitting or bunting when games are in a NL park.

 

In fact, i kind like the two leagues being different in that regard. I like an AL manager in the World Series having to decide in road games whether to play a great hitting DH who is miserable defensively.

It's always an advantage for the AL team. Even in the NL park. If their DH is on the bench, then their #1 pinch hitter is better than the NL team's. And most pitchers, even in the NL, can't hit, so it's not like it's a huge tactical advantage for the NL team to make the AL team's pitchers hit.

[Funketown]

1) 20% of all signing bonuses must be paid to funketown.

[HiAndTight]

THIS. If MLB wants to regain it's place among the hierarchy of American sports, they need to fix the financial inequality.

 

It's simply not a level playing field. The Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and the LA and Chicago teams are simply on another level. It extends to every facet of their baseball operation. They can outspend teams such as the Brewers in the draft, foreign scouting and signing foreign players, and then the obvious ones, big league payroll.

The thing is, what incentive is there really for teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, who have built up their own highly lucrative networks, to do this?

They don't have to have an incentive. They're the minority. Just as Jimmy Jones is determined to eliminate revenue sharing in the NFL, and will almost certainly lose in that endeavor, the rest of the league can vote to change the current system.

 

They can't make money without the other teams in baseball...

[pingman]

* hard salary cap & legit revenue sharing

* DH for the National League .....I don't like it but I accept that it's here to stay

* eliminate salary arbitration

* fix the draft a) world wide draft, b) reduce it to 15-20 rounds, c) slot the signing bonuses & teams are capped on total bonuses they can pay including non-drafted free agents

* end the unbalanced schedule

* make the games faster..... enforce the time-between-pitches rule...... shorten the time for television breaks between innings & pitching changes (new technology can be used to ensure advertisers get there time but some of it will be "during play")

* no more than one off day during playoffs (make baseball the same game that's played during the regular season)

* scorekeepers should be a professional position similar to umpires (currently some drunk slob from the media keeps score & "homer" decisions are insulting)

[endaround]

HiAndTight]

They don't have to have an incentive. They're the minority. Just as Jimmy Jones is determined to eliminate revenue sharing in the NFL, and will almost certainly lose in that endeavor, the rest of the league can vote to change the current system.

 

They can't make money without the other teams in baseball...

And a minority of owners can basically block anything. On anything major you need 25 owners to agree to it. I think people need to understand that the CBA really doesn't matter because the big issues are owner vs owner. The last CBA allowed for a worldwide draft and more draft changes if the owners could agree to them, they couldn't.

[CheezWizHed]

It's simple, really. You allow players to declare for the draft. Once they are drafted they are ineligible to play college baseball. I don't understand why the same rules the NFL and NBA use can't be used for the MLB draft.

 

Actually the NCAA allows players to return to play basketball after being drafted by the NBA IF they did not sign with an agent. The player still remains property of the team that drafted him. Not sure if that same rule applies for football...

[FVBrewerFan]

* make the games faster..... enforce the time-between-pitches rule...... shorten the time for television breaks between innings & pitching changes (new technology can be used to ensure advertisers get there time but some of it will be "during play")

 

I don't agree. Baseball is unique, and shouldn't be forced into speeding the game up. TV breaks are the result of breaks between innings and pitching changes, not the cause. I really don't see how you could ask the players to sprint out faster and warm up, tell the pitchers they have to limit the number of warm-up pitches, etc.

 

And I really hate enforcing any rule that requires the pitcher to have a certain amount of time between pitches. What's next, a limit on how many throws to first to keep a runner close? This is all part of the game. A pitcher may want to wait a bit longer between pitches to freeze the runner. Or maybe there's disagreement between P/C on what to throw. The vast majority of pitchers want to work quickly anyhow, so I don't really see it as a problem.

 

Baseball can't be forced into a certain time window, and I would never want it to be. If casual fans want to boo every time a pitcher throws to first to hold a runner, sobeit.

[Ennder]

The DH is also an advantage because it keeps the AL pitchers healthier. Every year a dozen or more pitchers in the NL get hurt while hitting or running the bases and over time it really weakens the NL pitching league wide.

 

The hardest thing to do in all of sports is hit a baseball, the most lopsided matchup in any sport is watching a pitcher pretend they can hit(a kicker tackling is probably the second most). They simply do not get enough AB to expect them to be able to hit at the major league level and there really is no reason to not have the DH in the NL. I can't see owners ever getting rid of the DH so it will be in the NL in the future at some point, just a matter of when. I'm guessing it will take another 20 years or so, once the people in charge of things all remember the DH being a part of baseball and aren't as traditionalist.

[pingman]

I'm old enough to remember when most games were 2:00 to 2:30 hours..... never going to grow the game, especially with the youths, until the time of play is shortened ....consistent enforcement of the strike zone would also help

[FVBrewerFan]

That's because back in the day you had a lot more complete games, maybe one reliever. These days, it's not uncommon to see 5 or 6 pitchers for each team in a game. That's probably the biggest factor in longer games, and I don't know how you control that. Plus, more runs are scored these days, meaning longer innings. Again, can't control the fact it takes longer to score 7 runs a game than 2.

 

So shorter games would offer less scoring, which is what the youth, casual fans, etc. want. Chicks (and casual fans) love the HR. So you can have a 2-1 game that lasts 2 1/2 hours, but that won't be popular either. Personally, I think if the commentators did a better job of explaining strategy more casual fans wouldn't mind a pitcherd dual or a 3 1/2 hour game. Instead, broadcasters tend to dumb it down thinking fans don't want to (or can't) understand game strategy.

[danzig6767]

The DH is also an advantage because it keeps the AL pitchers healthier. Every year a dozen or more pitchers in the NL get hurt while hitting or running the bases and over time it really weakens the NL pitching league wide.

 

The hardest thing to do in all of sports is hit a baseball, the most lopsided matchup in any sport is watching a pitcher pretend they can hit(a kicker tackling is probably the second most). They simply do not get enough AB to expect them to be able to hit at the major league level and there really is no reason to not have the DH in the NL. I can't see owners ever getting rid of the DH so it will be in the NL in the future at some point, just a matter of when. I'm guessing it will take another 20 years or so, once the people in charge of things all remember the DH being a part of baseball and aren't as traditionalist.

I'd bet against it being just a matter of when for the NL. I have no doubt that if fans of all NL teams were polled on the DH, they would vote heavily in favor of keeping the NL how it is without the DH. Owners won't ignore that and it's not just 50 and 60 year old guys who don't want the DH, so my money is on things staying the same for a long time and i hope i'm right.

[nate82]

I would like to see the DH added to the NL, international draft excluding players that are older than 29-years old, and the last game of the season is on August 31st with the playoffs starting the first weekend of September.

[paul253]

I'd like to see MLB eliminate the 6th and 7th innings and go right from the 5th to the 8th. It seems like the Brewers ALWAYS give up huge leads in the 6th or 7th inning.

[crewcrazy]

Fix the free agent compensation system. I'd probably just throw out the idea of sandwich round picks, at least between the first few rounds. The Pirates were the worst team in the league last year. There's no reason why the Tampa Bay Rays should pick 10 times between the Pirates' 1st round and 2nd round picks. If you still want to use the protected "1st round + supplemental" format, don't start the sandwich picks until after the 5th round. Let the league's worst teams have a chance at rebuilding through the draft.

[razzzorsharp]

I would love for the CBA to include that no deals with the devil are allowed and any existing (Larussa/Duncan) have to be ripped up.

[paul253]

I would love for the CBA to include that no deals with the devil are

allowed and any existing (Larussa/Duncan) have to be ripped up

 

I was going to start a thread entitled "How in the heck is St. Louis still winning?!?!" but this does make sense.