One of the biggest issues in collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations has been MLB‘s minimum salary.
It was $570,500 in 2021, and players have proposed taking it up to $775,000.
The league, however, is countering with either a flat $630,000 salary, or a tiered system: $615,000 in year one, $650,000 in year two, and $725,000 in year three.
As you can see, there is still a huge gap to fill, and negotiations have been extremely slow to this point, with no side willing to budge.
Former MLB general manager and current writer for The Athletic Jim Bowden has famously sided with owners in most of the lockout issues.
He shared the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB’s minimum salaries with other considerations, like the fact that all the non-MLB league have salary caps.
He used the hashtag “#JustSharingFacts.”
NFL Minimum $660,000
NBA Minimum $925,258
NHL Minimum $750,000
MLB Minimum $570,500MLB has offered tiered rate of $615k 0-1; $650k 1-2 and $725k over 2; Union wants $775k up each year to $805; $835,$855; $895. NFL/NHL/NBA all have salary caps. #JustSharingFacts #MLB #MLBPA
— Jim Bowden⚾️ (@JimBowdenGM) February 23, 2022
He appeared to imply that the league’s offer is on par with the other leagues, so that makes it respectable: again, not his words, but that’s the takeaway from his tweet given its nature and timing.
MLB Plays A Lot More Games Than Those Leagues
Fellow Athletic writer Fabian Ardaya, who covers the Los Angeles Dodgers, quoted Bowden’s tweet and added some facts to the conversation.
“Games played per regular season: NFL: 17 NBA: 82 NHL: 82 MLB: 162. Bit of a difference there,” he tweeted.
Games played per regular season:
NFL: 17
NBA: 82
NHL: 82
MLB: 162Bit of a difference there. https://t.co/l6ntCw9M34
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 23, 2022
MLB plays, by far, the most games of all the four professional leagues in America, and their minimum salary is currently the lowest.
That doesn’t make sense and is not fair.
Minimum salary is obviously not the only stumbling block in CBA negotiations between the league and the union, but it’s one of the most important.
About 60 percent of MLB players are slated to earn near the minimum in 2022, so it’s something they will need to agree before the start of the season.
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