With lockout in rearview, Gray ‘keeping it simple’ in Year 2 originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
For nearly the entirety of Josiah Gray’s first offseason with the Nationals, he wasn’t allowed to communicate with them.
Major League Baseball spent 99 days this winter mired in a lockout. The MLBPA was looking for big changes in the way money is distributed to players, while owners pushed back citing their bottom lines and fears of competitive imbalance between large- and small-market teams.
In the end, the two sides agreed to a collective bargaining agreement that included a record-increase in minimum salary, a $20 million jump in the Competitive Balance Tax, a new bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, a draft lottery, a universal DH, expanded playoffs and incentives to protect against service-time manipulation. The lockout ended Thursday and players began reporting to spring training complexes over the weekend.
“I think it benefits everyone,” Gray said of the CBA…