No Mad Dash: Selig Lands The Big One Two Months Early

"I think you always have a better relationship when both sides are making money," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said before the Tigers played St. Louis, with the Series tied at one game each.

"That kind of always seems to work out in the end -- doesn't it? -- for whatever reason, when the owner's happy and putting a little in his pocket, and the player is happy and putting a little in his pocket. In our case, I guess in our game, a lot in both pockets." (ESPN.com)

Love him or hate him, Bud Selig has really done it this time: he landed a five year labor agreement with the MLBPA that will last all the way through the 2011 season. As Selig himself mentioned, the negotiations went off with almost no leaks or rumors, something that hasn't been done in a while. Check that, ever. Of course, it doesn't hurt that baseball is currently raking in the green, thanks not only to the explosion of corporate sponsorships and the meteoric rise of MLB.com, but also to the success (albeit limited) of the revenue sharing system. (Note: Want to know exactly how all this works? Check out Andrew Zimbalist's In The Best Interests of Baseball. It'll tell you everything you need to know about Selig, his office, and where baseball is actually headed.)

There aren't a whole lot of major changes to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), but there are a number of notable ones, and since it's just basic reporting, here's a fancy-schmancy list put together by the Associated Press:

Luxury Tax • Thresholds for luxury tax on team payrolls set at $148 million for 2007, $155 million for 2008, $162 million in 2009, $170 million in 2010 and $178 million in 2001. Tax rates on amount over threshold remain at 22.5 percent for first time over threshold, 30 percent for second time over threshold, 40 percent for third or subsequent time over threshold.

Amateur Draft • Players selected in the June amateur draft who aren't college seniors must sign by Aug. 15.

Minimum Salary • Major league minimum increases from $327,000 this year to $380,000 in 2007, $390,000 in 2008, $400,000 in 2009 and $400,000 plus a two-year cost-of-living adjustment in 2011.

Free Agent Draft Pick Compensation• Draft-pick compensation for losing Type C free agents is eliminated. Compensation for Type B free agents is changed from direct (losing draft picks) to indirect (sandwich picks). Starting in 2007, Type A free agent redefined to top 20 percent at position (from top 30 percent) and Type B to 21-40 percent (from top 31-50 percent).

Free Agent Deadlines• The restriction is eliminated that said teams could only re-sign their former players who became free agents by Dec. 7 (or Jan. 8 if offered salary arbitration) or else lose rights until May 1. Deadline for clubs to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents is moved to Dec. 1 from Dec. 7. The deadline for players offered arbitration to accept offers is moved to Dec. 7 from Dec. 19.

Tender Deadline• The deadline for teams to offer contracts for the following season to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters is moved to Dec. 12 from Dec. 20.

To note, the restructuring of draft pick compensation (top 30% to top 20% for Type A FA's) will surely affect how many players are offered empty arbitration, so that a situation like that with Tony Graffanino from the beginning of the 2006 season will be less likely to occur. Reason being, unless a player is in the top 20% at their position, they won't be offered arbitration unless a team really wants them back without the hassles of dealing directly with an agent. Under this system, my guess is Graffanino would've been a free agent to open spring training.

The changes to the Amateur Draft signing rules really put the ball back in the court of the clubs, taking away a large chunk of leverage from young draftees looking to get the most out of their pick. 'Want to go to college? Be our guest, we have plenty of time to work on a backup plan. '

The biggest deal of all of this is, really, the fact that this all happened under the radar. Until the beginning of the World Series, people really had no idea. He's a sly one, he is, that Bud.