![]() ![]() But when the players prevailed in their collusion cases in the 1980s, they presented strong direct and circumstantial evidence of coordination: In their collusion claim for the 1986-87 offseason, players cited meeting minutes and other written notes of conversations between team and league officials (Ueberroth was alleged to have told teams to “Be honest with each other, exchange information”). While the CBA empowers an arbitration panel comprised of 1 or 3 members to hear grievances over alleged collusion, it does not specify the burden of proof required for such a finding. The 1987-88 offseason saw even more blatant collusion, as clubs were instructed to share “information about who was doing what about what players…what the status of negotiations are….” Arbitrators ruled for the players in all three collusion claims, and the owners agreed to pay players $280 million in damages. Other league officials cautioned owners to “resist the temptation to give in to unreasonable demands of experienced marginal players.” In the offseasons following the 19 seasons, only 8 free agents signed with new teams and most signed just one-year deals in 1987, the average player’s salary had decreased by 16 percent from the previous year despite a similar increase in league profits. Commissioner Peter Ueberroth chastised owners for their spending on players, encouraging clubs to hold down the amount and length of contracts. The height of cooperation between clubs in the signing of free agents came during the 1980s, when three separate collusion claims were brought against the owners. If five or more clubs are found to have colluded, the Players Association has the opportunity to “reopen” the CBA. The CBA also outlines the consequences should an arbitration panel find collusion: The impacted player(s) are entitled to treble damages, the costs of pursuing the collusion claim, and gain the option to terminate their contract. Since 1968, MLB’s Collective Bargaining Agreement has defined collusion as “Clubs…act in concert with other Clubs,” which is prohibited in the free agent market. This article discusses how it might be done in light of previous collusion claims. Mega-agent Scott Boras and MLB Players Association Director Tony Clark have suggested that owner collusion is to blame for glacial pace of the “hot stove” season.īut collusion is easy to allege and difficult to prove. And even players who have signed deals have done so at below market value. Pitchers Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, and Greg Holland (co-lead National League in saves) have not yet signed, and neither have position players Mike Moustakas or Jonathan Lucroy. ![]() Yet, more than a month after Van Wagenen’s proclamation, many top-tier free agents remain without a team. The 1994 reference made clear that something was different about this current free agency period. For Van Wagenen to harken back to the players’ 1994 strike that ended the season prematurely was to conjure memories of baseball’s last work stoppage and one of, if not the most painful, in its history. MLB was enduring its slowest, strangest offseason in recent memory-with a large number top players still unsigned after months of free agency. When MLB player agent Brodie Van Wagenen released his manifesto on the 2017-18 offseason in early February, those words were perhaps the most cutting. “Bottom line, the players are upset…they are uniting in a way not seen since 1994.”
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