But now, Franco and the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, have filed grievances against their respective teams alleging the Phillies and Cubs kept the players in the minor leagues longer then they should have for the sole goal of delaying which year they become a free agent, according to Yahoo Sports.
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He finished the season with 171 days of service time and a full year is considered 172 days. The Cubs now presumably have another year of Kris Bryant’s peak at pre-free agency costs because of when they called him up, and the Phillies will get the same from Franco.
Tallying 170 days of service time after arriving on May 15, Franco’s rookie eligibility carried over from 2014 as the Phillies were able to eek out an extra season of controlling the infielder.
Bryant, who entered the season as the top prospect in baseball, led the big leagues with nine home runs in spring training. He played 151 games after joining the Cubs.
The report also stated the Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant also filed a grievance for the same issue.
Either grievance ever reaching an arbitration panel is in question. If nothing else, though, these filings represent a step toward making this a topic in the next collective bargaining agreement negotiations, which will have to be sorted out by this time next year since the current CBA expires on December 1. MLB’s policy defines a full year of service as 172 days. Because Bryant spent the first eight games at Triple-A Iowa, he won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2021 season.
At the time, the Cubs said Bryant was sent down to hone his fielding ability, leading to controversy over the club’s intentions and prompting the MLB Players Association to say, “Today is a bad day for baseball”. Service time is a divisive enough issue that multiple sources on both sides continue to struggle with how to fix a system that the parties agree has been successful by and large but can penalize the best players. “It’s all teams. The fans deserve to see the best product on the field, and the players deserve the best team surrounding them so they can win”.
President Theo Epstein was scheduled to talk to reporters later Monday.
The ultimate question for arbitrator Fredric Horowitz would concern whether teams acted in good faith, a thorny threshold that could prove hard to demonstrate.
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Bryant’s agent, Scott Boras, expressed his discontent with the Cubs’ decision previous year as well.
