MLB Proposes changes to free agency, roster rules.

Major League Baseball today announced a proposal in regards to the ongoing CBA negotiations with the MLBPA.

Similar to how the NBA, and NFL have set starts to their free agency periods, MLB would like to have a free agency period that opens for three weeks starting on the Monday of Winter Meetings. No contracts and trades could be finalized outside of this window. Free agent contracts and trades can be finalized once again on the first Monday of February, right before Spring Training begins.

In a bid to reduce roster churn, MLB also proposed setting weekly rosters and increasing the number of pitchers teams are allowed to carry from the current 13, to 14. IL stints are almost assured to be longer for both position and pitching players as they would have to stay on the IL longer than the current 10 and 15 day ILs in almost every situation. Minor league options would also be decreased from the current 5 per season down to 4 in another bid to reduce churning.

Another change would come to the Rule 5 Draft, as players would be allowed to optioned to the minor leagues instead of having to remain on the active roster the entire season or being sent back to their original team.

The MLB Players Association states that the free agent window would reduce player leverage and create player vs. player situations along side a salary cap, which the union is strongly against.