As we inch ever closer to the proposed start of Spring Training, there has been very little movement in the negotiations between MLB and the Players Union, however, according to The Athletic, Baseball is considering a lottery system for its draft, beginning in 2023, that would see every team that missed the post-season participate.  Tanking is a major issue that the players union are trying to solve.

Back in early January, when players representative Max Scherzer sat down in the LA Times for a Q&A, he specifically mentioned "tanking" as an issue that needs to be resolved. According to Scherzer, tanking has increased because of the slot values of draft picks and the amateur and the international marked have surplus value. He says the only way the CBA allows teams to get those players is by losing. “The amateur draft and the international market have incredible surplus value. That’s why the top picks are so coveted. The only way the CBA allows teams to get those players is by losing. That has become the winning strategy, yet that shouldn’t be a winning strategy in professional sports. That doesn’t sit well with players, and it affects a lot of different markets and guys’ ability to live out their dreams to play baseball.,” Scherzer said.

According to the Athletic here are some key points of what the owners proposal looks like:

• First 3 picks of the amateur draft would be determined by lottery
• Teams with worst 3 records would each have 15% odds of getting 1st pick
• 4th worst record would have 12.5% chance at top pick, 5th worst: 10%
• Odds would descend, until the 16th worst team, which would have a 0.75% chance
• After first 3 lottery picks, the draft would pick up at No. 4 by inverse records, as previously
• A team cannot receive a Top 3 lottery pick two years in succession

The Major League Baseball Players Association has proposed a very different lottery plan, which they believe is a much stronger deterrent to tanking. It looks like this:

• First 8 picks will be determined by lottery
• After that, the draft would continue with small market clubs picking in reverse order of winning percentage, then large market clubs in reverse order of win%
• Small market teams that finish in the bottom 8 for two consecutive years, or the bottom 12 in three straight years, cannot participate in the lottery
• Large market teams that finished in the bottom 4 for two straight years, or bottom 8 for three consecutive years, are ineligible for the lottery
• Small market teams that do well (either making the playoffs, or finishing at least .500, get additional supplemental picks