Even after Severino, A’s have to spend more this winter or risk fight with players’ union

DALLAS The As didnt give pitcher Luis Severino a club record $67 million contract solely because they want to impress the fans in their new locale, Sacramento.

The As need to add significant payroll this winter or else they risk a grievance from the Major League Baseball Players Association and they have to spend perhaps another $25 million or more on next years roster before theyre in the clear.

Advertisement Baseballs collective bargaining agreement requires teams to carry a payroll more than 1 1/2 times the amount they receive from local revenue sharing.

A club in violation doesnt automatically receive punishment, but puts itself at greater risk of penalty if the union brings a grievance.

Several small-market teams that receive a lot of money in revenue sharing have to be mindful of the requirement.

But the As are in a unique spot where their revenue-sharing haul is growing because they have a new planned stadium in Las Vegas.

In 2025, the As will collect 100 percent of their revenue-sharing allotment for the first time in years.

The As were already planning to ramp up their payroll in advance of their move to Las Vegas, targeted for 2028 after three years in Sacramento.

The CBA adds another layer to their motivation.

That is something were aware of, said a person briefed on the As roster planning who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The As estimated payroll for luxury-tax purposes in 2025 is $78.4 million, per FanGraphs, with Severino accounting for $22.3 million, his average salary over three years.

People briefed on baseballs revenue-sharing distributions who were not authorized to speak publicly said they expected the As, whose attendance was the worst in baseball last season, to be among the highest revenue-sharing recipients next year at roughly $70 million, if not more.

The prior three years revenues affect a teams payout, but the most recent year is most heavily weighted.

Using the $70 million estimate for 2025, the As would need to reach $105 million in payroll, leaving them still another $27 million or so away.

The union can file a grievance any time it believes a team is not using revenue-sharing dollars in, as the CBA puts it, an effort to improve its performance on the field.

But normally, to win such a grievance, the CBA puts the burden on the union to prove the club is failing.

The burden shifts, however, when a team lets payroll sit below 150 percent of revenue sharing: the club instead has to prove it was using that money properly.

Thats the situation the As might face.

Advertisement Before the current 2022-26 CBA, the requirement was lower, at 125 percent.

The players pushed for it to increase.

How severely a team would be fined if it lost a revenue-sharing grievance isnt clear.

The process can be slow.

Sometimes, the league and the union need an arbitrator to rule one way or another.

Other times, the parties reach a settlement themselves.

Often, pending grievances are resolved as part of every-five-year CBA negotiations, making them effectively a form of bargaining leverage.

The union in 2018 brought a revenue-sharing grievance against the As, Marlins, Pirates and Rays which was not resolved during the most recent round of bargaining in 2021-22.

It is still pending in part, but at least one team has been removed from it, people briefed on the process said.

It wasnt immediately clear which team.

The union filed another revenue-sharing grievance claim in 2019 against some of the same teams.

The requirement to spend more than 150 percent of revenue-sharing on payroll is based upon the calculation for luxury-tax purposes, which incorporates more than salary alone.

Teams apply annual contributions to the pre-arbitration bonus pool ($1.67 million) and player benefits payment (about $17.5 million) in luxury-tax calculations, and therefore, to the 150 percent threshold as well.

The As have a complicated relationship with revenue sharing.

In Oakland, they were treated like a small-market team under the plan, even though the sport technically regards Oakland, part of the Bay Area, as a large market.

Every team makes contributions to revenue sharing.

But which teams receive a regular distribution depends on market score.

Teams with scores above 100, the largest markets in the sport, are disqualified.

When this CBA was made in 2022, a dozen teams were market-disqualified.

In order of highest to lowest scores, those were: the New York Yankees , New York Mets , Los Angeles Angels , Los Angeles Dodgers , Chicago Cubs , Chicago White Sox , Toronto Blue Jays , the As, San Francisco Giants , Washington Nationals , Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox .

Advertisement But because of their long quest for a new stadium, the As received a special carve-out in the CBA: they were only partially disqualified.

The deal called for the As to receive 25 percent of their revenue-sharing allotment in 2022, 50 percent in 2023, 75 percent in 2024, and 100 percent in both 2025 and 2026.

Still, there was a caveat: if the As didnt line up a new stadium by 2024, they would be fully disqualified starting that year.

They made their Las Vegas plans in time to keep receiving the money.

The As had a special revenue-sharing allowance in the 2016-21 CBA as well.

The As expect their local revenues to rise in Sacramento, even with a cut to their TV rights fee, said a person briefed on the teams thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Therefore, their revenue-sharing checks may be at least a little lower in the future, because revenue-sharing payments are based on local revenues.

The As averaged 11,528 tickets sold per game in Oakland in 2024, lowest in the majors.

Their new home, Sutter Health Park, doesnt have significantly more capacity roughly 14,000.

Teams dont disclose how many fans actually come through the gates, or the average price tickets were sold for.

In other revenue-sharing news, MLB and the union earlier this year agreed that some money collected from luxury-tax charges can be given to clubs who have taken reductions in their local TV rights fees.

The league office expected to notify recipient teams on Monday.

An individual team cant receive more than $15 million, and must have had a reduction between 2022-24.

Teams that are about to take a cut in 2025 for the first time, such as the St.

Louis Cardinals , are not included.

The total amount of money distributed is expected to be no more than about $75 million.

Advertisement MLB and the union declined to specify the recipient clubs.

Teams known to have taken rights-fee cuts in the 2022-24 timeframe include the Arizona Diamondbacks , Cleveland Guardians , Colorado Rockies , Houston Astros , Pittsburgh Pirates , San Diego Padres , Seattle Mariners , Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers .

Any team that receives a media disruption distribution will have that money count toward the 150 percent requirement.

The distribution was agreed to for one year, but could be repeated next year if the parties choose.

(Top photo of Severino: Evan Bernstein / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.