MLBPA proposes – The MLB Players Association proposed cutting optional minor-league assignments from five to three per season, while boosting major-league pay and service time for pitchers sent down after specific workload triggers. The package also includes roster, Rule 5 dra
When teams shuffle relievers in search of matchups, pitchers often feel the cost of that churn twice: once on the mound, and again in the fine print of pay and service time.
On Wednesday during a bargaining session in New York. the MLB Players Association laid out a proposal aimed at slowing the roster rotation that sends pitchers to the minors in an era when relief arms are being used more heavily. The union wants optional assignments to the minors to be reduced from a maximum of five per season to three.
The bigger shift is what the MLBPA wants to attach to those movements. It proposed that a pitcher who is optioned after an outing of at least nine outs or 50 pitches during the seven days before the All-Star break would receive major league pay and service time up until his team’s fourth game after the break.
For pitchers sent down at other points, the union’s plan is more immediate. A pitcher who is optioned at any time after a game or the next day after an outing of nine outs or 50 pitches would receive major league pay and service time for the four days following the appearance.
The union also pointed to a pay gap created by split contracts. While the major league minimum is $780,000 this year, the minimum in the minors for players on split contracts is primarily $127,100, with $63,600 for those signing a first big league deal.
The timing of these requests is tied to how the sport has changed. The Elias Sports Bureau shows teams have averaged 4.2 to 4.3 pitchers per game in each season since 2022, and the last season under 4 was 2014 at 3.98.
Another part of the MLBPA’s proposal would expand when major league pay applies. Players asked for major league pay for those optioned from Sept. 1 through the end of the season—a group that currently receives big league service time but minor league pay.
The churn issue sits alongside a wider set of roster and procedural asks. Players proposed increasing active rosters to 28 from 26 during the first 15 days of each season. including a maximum of 14 pitchers. up from the current 13. They also asked to move the trade deadline slightly earlier to the July 21-27 range from its current July 28 to Aug. 3, while maintaining that some players assigned outright to the minors after the deadline still could be dealt.
Injured list timing is also on the table. The union proposed that the 60-day injured list be open at the time of the November tender deadline rather than the first day players can report to spring training. The change would allow teams to protect more players from the Rule 5 draft during the winter meetings because players on the 60-day IL do not count against the 40-man roster limit.
The MLBPA also wants the Rule 5 draft eligibility rules accelerated back to the ages used through 2005. Under its proposal. a player 18 or younger on the June 5 preceding his signing would be eligible for the fourth succeeding Rule 5 draft rather than fifth. and a player 19 or older would be eligible for the third rather than fourth.
On the calendar, players asked that the Rule 5 draft be held this year on Nov. 24, moving it ahead of an expected management lockout after the current five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1. The union would shift the draft from the winter meetings to November, just after the tender deadline, in future seasons.
The package extends beyond rosters and drafts. The union proposed a new 1-to-2 day religious accommodations list in which a player could be inactive “based on a bona-fide religious observance.”
Players also asked that all players in an organization as of noon on Sept. 1 be eligible for the postseason. Under the current rules, players not on 40-man rosters can be eligible as injury replacements.
On contract mechanics, the MLBPA proposed a way for some free agents with no options to gain an additional option without split pay: players who sign within 10 days of a team’s opener and have no options would be able to give consent to an additional option as part of a contract with no split pay.
For players involved in roster churn through trades, the union also wants protections. It proposed that a player acquired in a trade who is then designated for assignment would receive major league pay and service time until the end of the assignment window.
The union’s rehabilitation proposals are also specific. It asked to increase the sort of players eligible for up to three 10-day extensions of minor league injury rehabilitation assignments. adding to the group already returning from Tommy John surgery. Players rehabbing from shoulder surgery for capsule and labral tears and thoracic outlet syndrome would be included as well.
There is also a data-access request: players want a guarantee of access to team performance and video data that is not proprietary.
While the MLBPA is focused on how the day-to-day grind of usage translates into pay, MLB owners have also moved the conversation forward. Owners have proposed a salary cap for the first time since the 1994-95 strike, which led to the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.
Talks next winter may be constrained by timing. While a lockout next winter is expected. negotiations are not likely to intensify until late February or early March 2027. when the risk of losing regular-season games and revenue near. If regular-season games are lost. the union’s and owners’ positions could harden into a standoff over which side can absorb the biggest economic blow.
MLBPA Major League Baseball bargaining session optional assignments minors pay and service time relief pitchers Elias Sports Bureau Rule 5 draft 60-day injured list postseason eligibility salary cap