With the 2020 season on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have made significant progress in addressing service-time issues stemming from the disruption.
MLB has agreed to grant a full year of service time to players who remain active for the entire 2020 season regardless of how many games are eventually played, sources told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
The league's latest proposal includes a provision that players will receive service time equal to what they served in 2019 if the 2020 campaign is canceled, according to Rosenthal.
If the season is axed and the league's counterproposal is agreed upon, the players who would lose service time are only those who haven't yet made their major-league debut, Rosenthal adds.
Players are reportedly not interested in having their service time reduced by a shortened season, as such a development would slow their progress toward salary arbitration and free agency.
Service time, which helps dictate the league's pay structure, is calculated by the number of days a player is on a roster. A player's maximum service time during a full season is 172 days.
The two sides are reportedly continuing to negotiate other financial issues, as well, including whether players would receive their full salaries in the event of a canceled season.
