Reports: MLB, union agree to salary, service time, draft changes

For those wondering about the postseason re-watch articles, we'll get back to that tomorrow, with four straight days of the National League Championship Series. But first, there was some baseball news late last night, with Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreeing to a bunch of new provisions to account for the disrupted 2020 season.

Multiple outlets reported that player representatives from all 30 clubs agreed to a deal that will become official today once owners sign off on it.

The key provisions that were agreed upon, according to those reports:

* Management will advance $170 million in salary payments over the next two months, with most of the money going to players at the lower end of the salary spectrum (i.e., those who have fewer than three years of big league service time and make at or near the league minimum). That money will not have to be returned if the entire season is canceled, but owners won't be responsible for any salary payments beyond that if the season isn't played. (Total salaries for the entire league were expected to be around $4 billion this year.)

* Assuming the season does take place, but includes fewer than 162 games, all salaries will be prorated. (So, if the season is reduced to 120 games, players would receive only 75 percent of their original salaries.)

* In exchange for sacrificing potential earnings, players got owners to agree to award a full year's worth of service time even if the season isn't played. If it's a partial season, service time will be calculated based on how many days a player would have accrued during a full season. (So players like Mookie Betts, Trevor Bauer, George Springer and J.T. Realmuto, who were entering their contract years, will become free agents this fall even if they don't play any games in 2020.)

* Both sides agreed to make a good faith effort to schedule as many games this season as possible, once government and public health officials declare it safe. In order to achieve that goal, there could be fewer off days, scheduled doubleheaders and an extension of the season beyond late October, with the possibility of some postseason games played in neutral sites to account for cold weather. The current postseason format also could be adjusted.

* The draft, currently scheduled for June 10, could be pushed back as late as July 20 both this year and next year. The typically 40-round event could be condensed to as few as five rounds this year and 20 rounds next year.

Once the owners formally agree to the deal today, all teams' rosters will be frozen until further notice. The Nationals optioned six players off their spring training roster Thursday, much as other clubs did in advance of the upcoming roster freeze period.

The Nats catch a bit of a break with these changes because they have no homegrown players entering their final season before free agency. Had the coronavirus pandemic struck last year and the entire season was canceled, Anthony Rendon still would have become a free agent despite not playing at all in 2019.

The Nationals do have several veterans with expiring contracts after the 2020 season, including Ryan Zimmerman, Howie Kendrick, Asdrúbal Cabrera, Kurt Suzuki and Sean Doolittle. If by some chance this season is never played, all would still become free agents this fall.