MLB wants maximum 5-year deals for free agents changing teams - ESPN

As part of the next collective bargaining agreement with players, Major League Baseball wants a maximum contract length of five years for free agents who are switching teams while organizations will have the ability to keep their own players for up to six years, calling it a Cornerstone Player Provision.

The potential change to free agency comes as the league addressed reserve clause issues in a Thursday meeting with the MLBPA and would take effect after the 2027 season.

The league's proposal includes raising the minimum salary from $780,000 to $1 million in 2027 for players with at least two years of service time. Any player with zero or one-plus years of service time will receive $1 million if they receive a full year of service, which includes $900,000 minimum salary plus an automatic $100,000 bonus from the Pre-Arbitration Bonus Pool. The increase in the minimum is the largest year-over-year increase in MLB history, according to league data. Minimums would increase in future years along with the payroll floor and ceiling.

Additionally, players who reach five years of service time by age 30 would become eligible for free agency, a provision the union first put forth recently as part of its own CBA proposal. Currently, players of any age need six years of service time before becoming a free agent. That system has been in place since the advent of free agency in MLB in 1976.

The league also proposed eliminating deferred contracts as well as the qualifying offer but didn't ask for any changes to its arbitration system.

The proposals all come under the umbrella of a salary cap system that the league previously put forth to the MLBPA. In the new system, free agents who are switching teams can sign only for up to five years