MLB Targets Rule-Breakers

New CBA specifically addresses bonus pool circumvention.

- Ben Badler

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement includes language that specifically targets what Major League Baseball considers to be circumvention of the international bonus pools.

Per CBA language, under a heading labeled “circumvention,” no team or player may enter into any understanding, agreement or transaction, or make any representation, whether implied or explicit, that is designed to defeat or circumvent the provisions of the “international amateur talent system.”

The CBA then lists “a non-exclusive list of conduct that will subject clubs (and club personnel) to sanctions.” Examples include:

Teams can’t pay or promise a player, his family, his trainer or the team/ federation representing him anything under the table (or, as the CBA puts it, “anything of value other than the compensation and benefits contained in the minor league contract.”)

Teams can’t “make any payments to, or provide anything of value to, an individual advising, representing or training a player.”