MLB proposes delayed salary cap and floor, targeting 2028, while revising 2028 cap and floor figures

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Major League Baseball is seeking to implement a salary cap and salary floor beginning in 2028, according to an MLB proposal shared during another collective bargaining session with the MLB Players Association on Tuesday. The proposal also revises the projected 2028 cap and floor levels, while keeping the timeline for other reserve system and transactional changes targeted for 2027.

MLB said the delayed start is intended to address the practical reality of an active free-agency market for the 2026–27 offseason, with some clubs already holding existing commitments that would put their 2027 payrolls near or above the proposed cap. The league also pointed to clubs that would need substantial payroll increases this offseason to reach the proposed floor, and it framed the 2028 phase-in as a way to avoid a significant disruption to free agency.

In remarks attributed to MLB spokesman Glen Caplin, the league said it recognized clubs would need a full offseason to prepare for cap-and-floor operations and therefore proposed beginning the system in 2028 rather than sooner. Caplin also said the transition would be designed to avoid delaying key player benefits, including earlier free agency, a $1 million minimum salary, a 30% increase to the pre-arbitration bonus pool, and “transactional reform” intended to reduce roster churn.

The proposal sets a projected 2028 salary floor at $180.2 million and a projected 2028 salary cap at $258.2 million. MLB stated the cap figure reflects an increase of nearly $13 million compared with its initial 2027 cap projection of $245.3 million, while the floor is $9 million higher than the initial 2027 floor projection of $171.2 million.

MLB’s payroll impact analysis, based on end-of-season 2026 payrolls, suggested that 12 clubs—Marlins, Guardians, Cardinals, Rays, Nationals, White Sox, Twins, Rockies, Pirates, Athletics, Reds and Brewers—would be required to increase payroll by a combined $636 million to meet the projected floor. In contrast, eight clubs—Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays, Padres, Red Sox and Cubs—would be required to reduce payroll by a combined $528 million to meet the projected cap.

The league said the cap-and-floor calculations would use CBT payroll figures, which it said would continue to include benefit costs while excluding signing bonuses to amateur players, consistent with how CBT payrolls are calculated under the existing framework. MLB also described how revenue sharing and the Competitive Balance Tax would work during the transition year of 2027 before shifting to a different revenue-sharing model.

Under MLB’s latest proposal, the current revenue sharing plan and Competitive Balance Tax would remain in place for 2027. For 2028, MLB said it would transition to sharing baseball revenue with players on a 50/50 split and centralize media revenues.

MLB further stated it would allocate the players’ share of 2026 Competitive Balance Tax proceeds to players as a bonus based on service accrued in 2026. The league’s proposal specified payment levels tied to service time: $285,000 for players with a full year of service, $213,400 for players with three quarters of a year of service, $142,300 for players with a half-year of service, and $71,100 for players with a quarter-year of service.

MLB said it is willing to discuss additional phase-in timelines and procedures for implementing the salary cap and floor. The league’s broader economic proposal, however, indicated that it would not alter the timeline for other reserve system and transactional proposals already under discussion, which would take effect in 2027.

Among those changes, MLB said it will accept the MLBPA’s May 27 proposal to reduce the reserve period to five years for 30-year-old players, subject to the club’s right to sign the player to a one-year contract at a salary equal to the average salary of the 125 highest-paid players. MLB said this would decrease the reserve period below six years for the first time since the reserve system was introduced in 1976, and it added that under this provision 48% of players with five years of service time would have reached free agency a year earlier than under the prior collective bargaining agreement.

MLB also stated it will accept the MLBPA’s May 27 proposal to eliminate the qualifying offer system. MLB described the qualifying offer as a mechanism under which a club forfeits draft picks for signing free agents who previously received a qualifying offer and rejected it.

Increases to minimum salaries are part of MLB’s 2027 package as well. MLB said it would raise the minimum salary from $780,000 to $1 million in 2027 for players with at least two years of service, and to $900,000 for players with less than two years of service. MLB also said players with less than two years of service would earn at least $100,000 under the Pre-Arbitration Bonus Program, resulting in total compensation of at least $1 million for a full year of service time and time criteria tied to spending less than half the season on the injured list.

MLB said the increase to a $1 million minimum salary would be about $100,000 larger than the previous largest year-over-year minimum salary jump, which MLB described as the largest year-over-year increase in baseball history. The league also said future minimum salary increases would follow growth in the salary cap and floor.

For the pre-arbitration bonus structure, MLB proposed increasing the Pre-Arbitration Bonus Pool by 30% from $50 million in 2026 to $65 million in 2027, and said the pool would grow to $75 million over the term of the CBA. MLB also said it would add PPI Selections in the International Draft and allow eligible prospects to earn their club up to two selections in their career—one domestic and one international—while providing additional incentives tied to international roster building.

MLB’s proposal includes changes related to accrual of major league service and eligibility mechanics for international prospects. It said it would accept the MLBPA proposal to exclude foreign professionals when determining whether an eligible prospect will receive a full year of service for finishing first or second in Rookie of the Year voting, provided the eligible prospect otherwise finishes in the top three in Rookie of the Year voting.

To reduce roster churn and changes to player movement, MLB proposed altering option mechanics. The league said the number of times a player could be optioned in a season would drop from five to four, while eliminating the fourth option for players. MLB also said clubs would be prohibited from optioning or outrighting a player during the playing week by implementing weekly rosters, and that there would be restrictions governing teams’ ability to cycle players on and off the 40-man and active rosters for strategic reasons.

MLB also outlined measures intended to speed up promotions to the 40-man roster. Under the proposal, clubs would be required to add players to the 40-man roster a year earlier to prevent them from becoming eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. MLB said it would also incentivize teams via Rule 5 Draft claiming mechanics by allowing the claiming club to option the player to the minors.

Finally, MLB said other elements of its original economic proposals—including the “Cornerstone Player” rules—would go into effect immediately, even though the cap-and-floor system itself would begin in 2028.