Texas Rangers: Effects of the new MLB, MLBPA agreement

The MLB and MLBPA reached an agreement regarding several key issues on Thursday night in the wake of COVID-19. How does it affect the Texas Rangers?

Late Thursday night it was reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN that the MLB and MLBPA had reached an agreement on a handful of key issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressed in the agreement were significant changes to the MLB draft in 2020 and the international signing period as well as service time and salary discussions. With all the key changes being made, how will the Texas Rangers be affected moving forward?

Changes to the Amateur Draft

Perhaps the change that will be most immediately noticed by fans, both heavily invested and more casual, is the significant adjustment to the 2020 MLB Amateur Draft. The draft, usually held in June, could be pushed back into July but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic noted that it won’t be held later than July. Most notably though in the agreement is that the draft could be reduced to as little as five rounds down considerably from the standard 40 rounds.

Passan notes that the MLB reserves the right to increase the rounds in this year’s draft and signing bonuses for draftees will be deferred rather than paid at signing. Jon Heyman of MLB Network added on that undrafted players can signing for bonuses of up to $20,000.

For the Rangers, as with all teams in the MLB, this will hamper the ability to stock the minors with prospect talent. Often in the later rounds in the draft, the Rangers will go outside the box with their draftees hoping to take raw potential and convert it into a big league caliber player. Without the security of extra rounds, the importance of drafting well into the early rounds becomes all the more important. Texas could steer away from the raw prospects and make a play for higher floor, refined players that may lack the long-term ceiling, but are less likely to carry ‘bust’ potential as well.

Service Time Plans Amid Season Delay

One of the biggest issues under discussion was how to handle service time in the wake of a delayed season. The MLB has yet to announce their plan for how they plan to move forward with the season but with the possibility of a shortened season at least on the table, the standard for a year’s service time would be impacted. In the agreement, all players who are on the active roster or on the injured list for all of a shortened season will receive a full season’s credit of service time. If the season is shortened, players who are on the active roster for part of the season will receive service time comparable to that of a full season. Ken Rosenthal addresses the possibility of a season cancellation with the plan for players to receive service time credit based on the time accrued during the 2019 season.

With the proposed changes to service time this season, players set to be free agents would still hit free agents in the event of a cancelled season and players not yet able to become free agents would see their arbitration processes proceed as normal. The biggest impact will be seen in roster planning with many teams having scoped out the construction of their organization for a few years down the road. How teams choose to weigh the service time changes when the season starts is yet to be seen though.

Salary Advances

In addition to the changes above, the MLB and MLBPA also agreed to an advance of $170 million on player salaries to be paid of the next two months. Reported by Ken Rosenthal, this represents roughly 3-4% of player salaries and will be distributed by the union to four tiers of players. The rest of player salaries will be paid at a pro-rated level if and when the season does start.