MLB Proposes Three-Week Free-Agent Window and Roster Overhaul

Major League Baseball has outlined a plan to concentrate free-agent activity into a three-week signing period that would begin at the winter meetings in early December and close in late December, reopening in early February before spring training. The league would also ban all trades during the interval between the two signing windows. Additional roster reforms include weekly rosters—players placed on a roster on Monday must remain there until the following Sunday unless moved to the injured list (IL). Position players on the IL must stay for a full week; pitchers for two weeks, with an exception allowing a replacement if another roster player is placed on the IL. The proposal reduces minor-league options from five to four per season and raises the allowed number of pitchers on a roster from 13 to 14. MLB notes that teams currently average 13.9 pitchers per week, using minor-league options to refresh arms.

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The changes are presented as part of ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement and are tied to MLB’s expressed interest in implementing a salary-cap system. The league argues that a “cap-and-floor” structure would create roster stability and accelerate the offseason, mirroring transaction-heavy periods in the NFL and NBA.

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The MLB Players Association (MLBPA) countered that an “artificial” free-agent window would diminish player leverage, likening it to a “game of musical chairs” that pits players against one another.

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• “A cap-and-floor system would unlock additional opportunities to improve the game for players and fans, creating more stability in rosters, getting the best players to the Major Leagues more quickly, and accelerating the pace of the offseason,” — MLB spokesperson

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