MLB’s Latest CBA Proposal: Delayed Cap, Higher Floor, Earlier Free Agency, End to Qualifying Offers and Push for International Draft
Major League Baseball submitted a revised economic proposal to the Major League Baseball Players Association on Tuesday, seeking to phase in a hard salary cap and floor system beginning in 2028 rather than 2027. The adjustment is intended to give clubs a full offseason to operate under the new structure once free agency is already underway under the expiring agreement.
Under the latest figures, the 2028 salary cap would be set at $258.2 million, with a corresponding floor of $180.2 million. Both numbers represent increases from the league’s earlier proposal of a $245.3 million ceiling and $171.2 million floor. League projections indicate that 12 clubs would need to raise payroll by a combined $636 million to reach the floor, while eight teams would have to reduce spending by $528 million to stay under the cap. The net effect would be an overall increase of $108 million in player payroll league-wide, based on competitive-balance tax figures.
MLB framed the delayed implementation as a practical step. “With free agency already underway, and recognizing that Clubs will need a full offseason to operate within the cap and floor system, MLB is proposing to phase in the salary cap and floor in 2028,” the league stated, adding that the timeline would allow a smoother transition “without delaying key player benefits.”
The proposal also includes other changes previously floated in negotiations: a major-league minimum salary of $1 million (up from the current $780,000) and eligibility for free agency after five years of service rather than the traditional six (for players age 30 or older).
A significant concession involves the elimination of the Qualifying Offer system. MLB has accepted the MLBPA’s long-standing request to end the QO process and all associated draft-pick penalties, removing draft-pick compensation for free-agent signings for the first time since the system’s roots in 1976. Under the current rules, clubs that sign a player who rejected a Qualifying Offer can forfeit draft selections and, in some cases, international bonus-pool money, while the former club receives a compensatory pick. Players have long viewed these penalties as a drag that suppresses markets for certain free agents; ending them would remove that friction from the open market.
In addition, MLB has continued to press for the creation of an international draft as part of a broader overhaul of the amateur system. The league has proposed parallel 12-round domestic and international drafts with hard-slotted bonus pools of equal size, raising the international signing age and aiming to replace the current free-agency-plus-bonus-pool model with greater transparency and structure. League officials have argued the change would reduce “handshake agreements,” address corruption concerns in the international marketplace, and better protect young players. The proposal also contemplates extending mechanisms such as the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) system—currently used in the domestic draft to reward teams that promote high-end prospects who later win Rookie of the Year or finish high in major awards—to the international draft, further aligning incentives for developing and advancing talent.
These elements, including the earlier free-agency access, the end of Qualifying Offers, the minimum-salary increase, and the amateur-system changes, have been presented as contingent on acceptance of the broader hard-cap and floor structure, along with a 50-50 revenue split and limits on individual contract lengths and values.
The updated offer arrives with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire on December 1. Owners have argued that a hard cap and floor are necessary to address payroll disparity and restore competitive balance, pointing to systems in the NBA, NFL, and NHL. The league maintains that the structure would share baseball-related revenue equally with players while forcing higher spending from lower-payroll clubs.
The MLBPA has consistently rejected any hard salary cap, viewing it as a restriction on free-market compensation. Union leadership has previously described such proposals as a non-starter, insisting that competitive issues can be addressed through increased revenue sharing, higher luxury-tax thresholds, and other mechanisms without a spending ceiling. All elements of the league’s recent offers have been contingent on acceptance of the cap system.
With free agency already in progress and the December 1 deadline approaching, the revised proposal keeps the core structural changes on the table while adjusting the timeline, raising the projected cap and floor numbers, and incorporating long-sought player priorities such as the elimination of Qualifying Offer draft penalties alongside the continued push for an international draft. Whether the adjustments narrow the gap remains to be seen; the union is widely expected to continue opposing any hard cap. The sides remain far apart on the fundamental economic model, raising the prospect of a work stoppage that could affect the 2027 season.
