Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The Players’ Association voted in favor of Major League Baseball authorities’ latest offer for a new contract on Thursday, paving the way for the end of a 99-day lockout and the rescue of a 162-game regular season that would begin on April 7.
The Players Association executive board approved the deal by a vote of 26 to 12, pending ratification by all players, a person familiar with the ballot said.
This person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been authorized.
Major League Baseball forwarded an offer to players Thursday and gave them until 3 p.m. to accept it so they could play a full season.
The union announced the players’ vote around 3:25 p.m. The owners planned to hold a ratification vote later in the day.
“The deal moves the sport forward,” said New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and a member of the Players Association executive subcommittee in a phone interview with the IAAF. Associated Press.
“It covers several things that players should be concerned about: the aspect of competitive integrity.”
The agreement will allow the opening of training camps this week in Florida and Arizona, more than three weeks after the scheduled date of February 16.
Fans can start planning outings to Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and Camden Yards next month. Opening day is expected to be a week later than the original March 31 date.
The agreement will also trigger a quick round of negotiations with free agents. Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman and Kris Bryant are among a group of 138 players looking for a team, including some who could benefit from the advent of the universal designated hitter.
Major League Baseball’s new collective agreement will increase the number of teams participating in the playoffs to 12, and add incentives to prevent “intentional dropouts” (tanking) by teams.
The minimum wage will be raised from $570,500 to around $700,000 and the luxury tax threshold will rise from $210 million to around $230 million this year, a slight easing for higher-spending clubs like the Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox.
A new bonus pool has been created for players who are not yet eligible for arbitration, a way to boost the salaries of young stars.
Commissioner Rob Manfred had set Tuesday as the deadline for reaching an agreement that would preserve a schedule of 162 games as well as all wages and service time required for players to gain autonomy.
The talks went beyond the schedule and Manfred announced Wednesday the cancellation of more games, bringing the total of canceled games to 184 of the 2,230 planned on the schedule.
After another obstacle to the progress of the negotiations, this one related to the desire of the owners to establish an international amateur draft, the agreement in principle materialized Thursday afternoon.
It capped nearly a year of negotiations during which pitchers Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller played an important role as union spokespersons.
