NEW YORK – Baseball’s new labor contract includes more video replay, the chance for a longer All-Star break and a small but likely welcome perk for players: the chance to get a private room instead of a roommate during spring training.
The Associated Press obtained the document that includes several changes, many starting next year. Among them:
• Allowing teams from the same division to meet in the playoffs before the league championship series.
• A ban on players getting tattoos with corporate logos.
• The possibility of players wearing microphones during games.
Players have already ratified the hundreds of pages contained in Major League Baseball’s memorandum of understanding. Owners are scheduled to vote Thursday.
Also part of the deal: Any big leaguer who wants to change uniform numbers without switching teams had better give eight months’ notice unless he’s willing to buy warehouses full of his overstocked jerseys.
MLB wants to expand replay to include fair-or-foul calls, “whether a fly ball or line drive was trapped” and fan interference all around the ballpark. Umpires still must give their approval, and it’s uncertain whether the extra replay will be in place by opening day.
Video review began in August 2008, but only to look at potential home runs.
The All-Star break will be expanded to four days, rather than the traditional three-day gap. The five-year deal says starting in 2013 that MLB “shall have the right to elect to switch the All-Star Game from Tuesday to Wednesday and the Home Run Derby from Monday to Tuesday.” Sixty-nine of 82 All-Star Games have been played on Tuesday, according to STATS LLC.
SHORT HOPS
Second baseman Skip Schumaker has agreed to a $3 million, two-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, who did not tender a contract offer to infielder Ryan Theriot before Monday night’s deadline. … The Oakland Athletics have agreed to a one-year contract with left-hander Dallas Braden. He was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA before going on the disabled list April 18. He had surgery to a repair a torn capsule in his left shoulder May 17. … Kelly Shoppach and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a $1.35 million, one-year contract that brings the free-agent catcher back to his original team. The move Tuesday likely ends Jason Varitek’s 15-year tenure behind the plate in Boston. … A person familiar with the negotiations says 6-foot-10 pitching prospect Andrew Brackman has agreed to a one-year contract with the Cincinnati Reds. … Former All-Star pitchers Joe Saunders and Hong-Chih Kuo, and Baltimore outfielder Luke Scott became free agents Tuesday after their teams declined to offer 2012 contracts. Atlanta reliever Peter Moylan also was among the 30 players set free when their teams failed to offer deals before the midnight EST deadline. An All-Star for the Los Angeles Angels in 2008, Saunders was 12-13 with a 3.69 ERA last season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kuo had 12 saves for the Dodgers in 2010 and made the All-Star team, then slumped to a 1-2 record with a 9.00 ERA this year.
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