Free agency in Major League Baseball (MLB) concerns players whose contracts with a team have expired and who are therefore eligible to sign with another team. Free agents may be eligible for
pendulum arbitration
Pendulum arbitration, otherwise known as final offer arbitration (or "FOA") or baseball arbitration, is a type of interest arbitration in which the arbitrator chooses one of the parties' proposals on each (or perhaps all) disputed issues. For exa ...
, also called "salary arbitration" or just "arbitration" in baseball circles.
History
Free agency in MLB has existed since the 1972 ''
Flood v. Kuhn
''Flood v. Kuhn'', 407 U.S. 258 (1972), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that preserved the reserve clause in Major League Baseball (MLB) players' contracts. By a 5–3 margin, the Court reaffirmed the antitrust exempti ...
''
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
case. One of the landmark decisions in the aftermath was the Messersmith/McNally Arbitration, also known as the
Seitz Decision
The Seitz decision was a ruling by arbitration, arbitrator Peter Seitz (1905–1983) on December 23, 1975, which declared that Major League Baseball (MLB) players became free agents upon playing one year for their team without a contract, effectiv ...
, which effectively destroyed the "
reserve clause
The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into ano ...
" in baseball. With the end of the reserve clause, the players and the league negotiated a new
collective bargaining agreement
A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
which was signed on July 12, 1976. It gave players a broader range of options as free agents.
In
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
,
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
s were previously classified as either Type A, Type B, or unclassified. Type A free agents were those determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement to be in the top 20% of all players based on the previous two seasons. Type B free agents were those in the next 20%. Unclassified free agents were those in the bottom 60% of players. Teams that lost a Type A free agent to whom they had offered arbitration received the top draft pick from the team that signed the free agent, plus a supplemental draft pick in the upcoming draft as compensation. Teams losing Type B free agents to whom they had offered arbitration received only a supplemental pick as compensation. Teams that have lost unclassified free agents, or who did not offer arbitration to classified free agents, did not receive any compensation.
The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and
its players union, signed on November 22, 2011, and taking effect in the
2012 season, dramatically changed free agent compensation. Players were no longer classified by type; if a player has six or more years of major-league service (on the team's 40-man roster) and is not under contract for the following season, he is automatically a free agent. The team can offer him an arbitration salary if they want to be able to receive draft pick compensation, and such an offer must be at least the average of the 125 richest contracts. However, if a player is traded during the final season of his contract, his new team will be ineligible to receive any draft pick compensation.
Eligibility
If a player is drafted and is offered a contract by his drafting team (or any team to which he is traded) each year, he may not become a free agent until:
#His contract has expired with at least six years of service time on a major league 26-man roster or
injured list
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL).
General guidelines
...
(formerly the 25-man roster and disabled list, respectively), OR
#His contract has expired with less than six years of service time, but the player first signed with a Major League Baseball team as a 10-year free agent from the
Japanese major leagues (NPB), OR
#His contract has expired with less than six years of service time, but is not tendered a contract or salary arbitration offer (if eligible) by the tender deadline (usually at the end of November). Such players become ''non-tender free agents''.
Two examples of players falling under (2) above are
Hideki Okajima
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. Okajima pitched for the Yomiuri Giants, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, and the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athle ...
and
Hiroki Kuroda
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 1997 to 2007 before playing in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2008 to 2011 and ...
.
A player with fewer than six years of service time is eligible for salary arbitration if he:
#is without a contract for the next season, AND
#has been tendered a contract offer by his current team by the tender deadline, AND
#cannot agree with his current team on a new contract, AND
#meets one of the conditions below:
##has been on a major league roster or injured list for at least three years, OR
##has at least two years of major league service but less than three, AND is among the top 22 percent for cumulative playing time in the majors in this class of players (and ties), AND was on an active major-league roster for at least 86 days in the previous season.
Players with more than six years of service time and who are eligible for free agency can also be offered arbitration when their contracts are up, if they have been tendered a contract offer by their current team by the tender deadline, and have not agreed on a contract.
The 4.2 example of arbitration eligibility above is called the "Super Two" exception, in which a player will have an extra year of arbitration eligibility. Notable "Super Two" players include
Nolan Arenado
Nolan James Arenado (; born April 16, 1991) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arenado is widely recognized as an elite third baseman, both offensively and defensively. ...
,
Chris Archer
Christopher Alan Archer (born September 26, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins.
Archer attended Cla ...
,
Anthony Rendon
Anthony Michael Rendon (, ; born June 6, 1990) is an American baseball third baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played for the Washington Nationals and was a member of the Nationals' 2019 World S ...
, and
Avisail Garcia.
Following the salary arbitration process, the player and the team both submit a salary offer for a new contract. The arbitrator chooses one number or the other, based on which offer is closest to the salaries of players with similar ability and service time.
For purposes of salary arbitration and free agency, a player acquires a year of service time if the player remains on the major league roster for at least 172 days of the typical 187-day season.
Players eligible for neither free agency nor salary arbitration are very seldom offered contracts for much more than the league minimum salary, as the player has no recourse to try to obtain a better salary elsewhere. For this reason, in the first three major league years of their careers (except for the "Super Two" exception above), it is standard practice for players to accept comparatively low salaries even when their performance is stellar. Occasionally, a team may wish to sign a player in his second or third year to a long-term contract, and the resulting negotiations can involve salaries significantly higher than minimum. A recent example is the contract
Ryan Braun
Ryan Joseph Braun (born November 17, 1983) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played his entire career for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2007 to 2020. Braun also played right field and firs ...
signed barely a year into his major league career, which would have taken him through 2015.
However, in April 2011, he and the
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...
extended that contract through 2020.
A team does not have to offer a contract to a player not eligible for free agency if his contract has expired, regardless of service time. If the player is not tendered a contract offer by the tender deadline (usually in the second week of December), the player becomes a non-tender free agent.
If a player becomes a free agent without accruing six years of service time and is not a 10-year NPB free agent, they will still be subject to service time rules with their new club. For this reason, these free agents are typically only signed to a one-year contract as nothing further is required to maintain team control if the player will have less than six years’ service time at the end of that year. For example,
Derek Dietrich
Derek Richard Dietrich (born July 18, 1989) is an American professional baseball second baseman and outfielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers. ...
became a free agent after being designated for assignment by the
Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The franc ...
and elected to become a free agent instead. He was signed by the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
for the
2019 season on a minor league deal. The Reds selected his contract for the 2019 season and he had accrued five years of service time at the beginning of the 2020 season. He was under the Reds’ team control and was eligible for arbitration as if he had remained with a single team. Dietrich became a free agent in 2021.
See also
*
Service time manipulation
In Major League Baseball (MLB), service time manipulation refers to tactics that baseball team executives employ to prevent players from becoming eligible for Free agency (Major League Baseball), free agency and salary arbitration. It typically tak ...
, tactics used by baseball team executives to prevent players from becoming eligible for free agency
References
External links
Free Agency definitionon MLB.com
{{MLB
Major League Baseball labor relations