Union backs out of deal to add 26th player

NEW YORK - Baseball players and owners had a deal to expand active rosters from 25 to 26 players for most of the season, but the union backed away in the final stages of collective bargaining.

As part of the deal, the limit from Sept. 1 on would have been lowered from 40 to 28.

"We thought we were going to make an agreement, had a tentative agreement," baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told The Associated Press on Friday, "but nothing's done until it's done."

Union head Tony Clark characterized the talks differently and said the parties may revisit the topic during the five-year contract they agreed to Wednesday.

"I don't know that there was an agreement to do it and that it came apart. There was a lot of dialogue over the course of this round where we were moving in a direction that we inevitably weren't able to agree to," he said. "It simply got to the point with all of the moving pieces that were part of the conversation during the course of the year that we lived to talk about it another day."

Rosters have long expanded for the season's final full month as minor league affiliates end their campaigns. The roster expansion gives managers the ability to make more frequent pitching changes in an attempt to gain favorable matchups.

Some managers and general managers have complained it doesn't make sense to play most of the season under one set of rules and then switch as pennant races heat up. While some teams add many players and a few reach the 40-man limit, others make relatively few call-ups.

"There were very mixed opinions on the club side, as well," Manfred said. "Maybe we were going too far, too fast."

Many players make their big league debuts in September, and the union has long been concerned about the loss of service time if the limit were to be lowered from 40.

''To reduce the roster to 28 people would jeopardize the ability for people to get their feet wet in the big leagues,'' Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt said in a text. ''September is a great time for teams to teach the young guys how to act and be in the big leagues and get their feet wet in a comfortable environment.''

Given the increasing importance of bullpens, some believe a 26th player likely would be an additional relief pitcher.

''I know there have been a lot of concerns from the other side related to just how it would work and how it might affect the games or the length of games,'' Clark said. ''Trying to appreciate that extra player and who it may be is hard to predict based on whatever the organization philosophy is of any one team.''

Management and the union released details of the deal Friday, an agreement that will extend the sport's labor peace to 26 years since the 1994-95 strike - baseball's eighth work stoppage since 1972.

''We kept the game on the field,'' Manfred said. ''We made an agreement within our current structure which I think shows that we have a durable structure. We moved some things our direction, and we moved some other things their direction.''

The threshold for the luxury tax, known formally as the competitive balance tax, rises from $189 million this year to $195 million in 2017 to $210 million in the deal's final season. There are some rate increases and new surtaxes.

''The premise of the CBT altogether was a drag at the top to keep teams from running away from the group,'' Clark said.

Manfred added: ''There's two dynamics around the threshold: stopping people from running away but also having them low enough that people can aspire to spend a little more to be a little more competitive.''