With the Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) set to expire on December 1, 2016, Major League Baseball and the Players’ Union have the opportunity to make changes to a wide array of aspects to how baseball does its business.  One topic that has long been discussed, and talks on the subject appear to have been renewed, is the concept of an international draft.

While the draft would include all parts of the world, except presumably Japan and Cuba, the biggest impact will be on countries like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.  These are countries in which young players like Amed Rosario and Wilmer Flores can sign with the team as a teenager for bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

By incorporating these players into the Rule 4 Draft, these players would be subjected to the draft bonus rules and slotting systems that would be in place after a the new CBA is ratified (presuming the CBA includes provisions for an international draft).

While this is already controversial, MLB wants to incorporate two more controversial measures.  The first is to raise the draft age for international players from 16 to 18 years of age.  Additionally, whereas teams and local trainers operate baseball facilities, MLB wants to control all of the baseball run facilities in countries like the Dominican Republic thereby taking away the power from both the teams and the local trainers.  These proposals have not been looked upon kindly.

Now, as Baseball America reports, trainers in both the Dominican Republic and Venezuela are considering boycotting MLB’s showcase events in the respective countries.  As one prominent Dominican trainer told Baseball America, “No one will take their players to the event next week.  There is a total boycott of all MLB events.”

There is a similar discussion occurring among prominent Venezuelan trainers with the Venezuelan showcase currently scheduled for November 16-17 in Panama.

According to Ben Badler, MLB is well aware of the planned boycott, and they will be meeting with the Dominican trainers this week in the hopes of reaching a resolution that will lead the players to attending the showcase event.

In the event an international draft is not incorporated into the new CBA, the international players, including but not limited to the players that would appear at the Dominican and Venezuelan showcase events, cannot be signed by a major league team until July 2, 2017.