NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball players proposed expanding eligibility for the amateur draft rather than decreasing it, maintaining 20 rounds of selections and moving it back to June in a signal the sport is heading to a labor confrontation this offseason.
During a two-hour bargaining session Tuesday at Major League Baseball’s headquarters, the union proposed allowing college sophomores to be eligible for the draft along with those finishing their junior years, a group eligible under the current rules along with high school seniors.
Players proposed moving the draft back to June, when it was held through 2020. They asked that draft slot values continue to be increased at the same percentage as industry revenue through 2027 and may not be decreased for the remainder of the agreement.
Baseball’s five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and a management lockout is expected that would halt offseason trades and signings, and threaten the start of spring training workouts on Feb. 9 and opening day on March 24.
MLB in May proposed a salary cap for the first time since players fought off a proposal during a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that led to the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years. Players vow never to accept a cap.
MLB said last month it wanted to eliminate eligibility for high school seniors and junior college players, arguing college programs offer better preparation for professional careers. MLB also proposed cutting the draft to 12 rounds in 2027.
The union also wants maintain the ability for players to negotiate deals rather than have fixed slots, reduce penalties for exceeding signing bonus pools, allow more draft selections to be traded and keep competitive balance round selections.
It would allow a $2 million signing bonus pool increase for a revenue-sharing recipient team that is not in a large market in one draft from 2027-31 and also allow those teams to sign two players drafted before the third round to major league contracts rather than minor league deals.
Revenue-sharing recipients that reach the postseason would receive an extra $1 million in their signing bonus pool in the following draft.
Teams exceeding their signing bonus pools by up to 15% would not lose a pick in the next draft, up from 5%.
For players not drafted in the first 10 rounds, the signing bonus pool exemption would increase from $150,000 to $1,000 over the figure for the last 10th-round selection, which was $191,900 this year. For draft and follow players — those who play an additional junior college season after the draft — the signing bonus maximum would rise from $225,000 to $75,000 above the last 10th-round pick's slot value.
Players would agree to MLB's proposal that draft picks could be traded during a period of about a month starting in early November and for the month prior to the draft.
Selections acquired could be traded on to another team but cash couldn't be included except to offset salary of a player involved in the trade. Each team would be required to retain at least one first-round pick in a two-year period and no team could obtain more than three additional selections within the first three rounds. A newly drafted player could not be traded for the first 90 days after he signs or the day after the World Series ends, whichever is later.
Players proposed only picks in the first 10 rounds be tradable.
MLB claims the union's draft proposal in tandem with its revenue-sharing stance would not address payroll.
The union proposed that tax proceeds from penalties for exceeding amateur draft pools be split, with half going to joint funds and half to revenue-sharing recipients who made the playoffs in the prior season.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - Commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manfred answers questions during a news conference at the MLB winter meetings, Dec. 8, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
FILE - Attorney Bruce Meyer, the current interim executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, speaks at a news conference in New York on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
CAIRO (AP) — A declared blockade of Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi rebels has the potential to widen the Iran war and further disrupt global oil supplies and international trade.
The rebels say they have closed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa. The Houthis claim to have forced six ships to reroute on Tuesday, but there was no independent confirmation.
Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Arabia. Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container traffic, passes through the narrows, moving between Europe and Asia via Egypt’s Suez Canal.
The strait has become even more vital for Saudi oil exports since the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war has severely limited shipping out of the Persian Gulf.
The Houthis say they will only stop vessels connected to Saudi Arabia or going in and out of its Red Sea ports. But during a similar blockade announced against Israel over the war in Gaza, the rebels attacked many vessels with little or no connection to that conflict.
The threat alone could keep international shippers from using the route.
The Houthis don’t control the part of Yemen’s coastline along Bab el-Mandeb — that’s in the hands of its opponents in the country’s civil war. But they hold territory less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.
Three Houthi officials told the AP on Tuesday that the group has planned for months how to disrupt shipping in the strait. Those plans include the use of naval mines, explosive-laden boats, drones and helicopters to allow fighters to board ships, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.
They said vessels would first be warned not to cross designated boundaries in the strait. If ships ignore the warnings, the Houthis would resort to military action.
In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has shown that even sporadic attacks on ships can be enough to effectively close a critical waterway, by driving up risks and insurance premiums.
“If Bab el-Mandeb comes under pressure at the same time as shipping in the Gulf, you have disruption around two of the world’s most important maritime routes at once,” Clionadh Raleigh, the founder of ACLED, a conflict monitoring service, said Tuesday.
More than 7 million barrels of petroleum a day transited Bab el-Mandeb in June, compared to around 4 million before the Iran war, Allison Minor, the director of the Atlantic Council’s Project for Middle East Integration, wrote in an analysis published Monday.
Saudi Arabia has been recently exporting some 4 million barrels of oil a day through its Red Sea port of Yanbu, blunting the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has still rattled economies around the world.
Saudi Arabia could still get crude to market without using Bab el-Mandeb, by shipping up to 2.5 million barrels a day across the Red Sea to Egypt, whose SUMED pipeline can carry it to the Mediterranean. It could also ship 1 million barrels a day through the Suez Canal.
International shippers could also reroute, as they did at the height of the war in Gaza. But that means going the long way around the Cape of Good Hope off South Africa, adding one or two weeks to voyages — and raising costs.
The Houthis attacked over 100 vessels at the height of the war in Gaza, before a punishing U.S. and Israeli air campaign put an end to the attacks in early 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump brushed off the latest threat.
“So far, it hasn’t happened,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “I think that if there is something like that, we’ll just have to take care of business.”
The Houthis also run the risk of reigniting the war with Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen, where major fighting ended with a truce in 2022. Saudi Arabia’s military says it will keep Bab el-Mandeb open.
“All Houthi threats against transiting vessels will be dealt with swiftly and firmly, as such threats are a blatant violation of international law and fall under acts of maritime piracy,” said Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military spokesperson.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, forcing the government into exile. Saudi Arabia has led an international coalition fighting the rebels and also imposed an air and sea blockade on Houthi-held parts of Yemen, which had eased in recent years.
The Houthis say Saudi Arabia struck the airport in Sanaa earlier this month in an attempt to stop a flight carrying Houthi leaders back from Iran, where they had attended the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane landed safely at another airport.
The Houthis then launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport in the most significant confrontation in years.
The Houthis say closing Bab el-Mandeb to Saudi traffic aims to break the coalition’s blockade.
Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the blockade also benefits the Houthis' ally, Iran, at a time when the U.S. has resumed daily airstrikes.
″From Iran’s perspective, opening additional pressure points across the region gives it more leverage,” Nagi said. “The Houthis provide Tehran with influence over one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.”
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Al-Haj reported from Aden, Yemen. Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.
Fireworks burst as Houthi supporters rally against the Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Fireworks burst as Houthi supporters rally against the Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 20, 2026. Placards in Arabic read: "God is great, Death to America, Death to Israel, A curse on the Jews and Victory to Islam" and "boycott American and Israeli goods". (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
