Major League Baseball on Thursday proposed a new offseason calendar that would give free agents who leave their current team two choices: sign a contract during a brief December window that would begin at the Winter Meetings or wait until February.The new setup was one part of a proposal from the owners that sought to greatly revise and limit baseball transactions.MLB wants teams to newly set their rosters weekly, something fantasy baseball players might be familiar with. Clubs would be required to set their 26-man roster every Monday during the season, but the rule wouldn’t be strict. Teams could still make adjustments on other days for injuries, trades and some other transactions.Like all proposals MLB has made regarding player contracts during this round of bargaining, the league’s offer Thursday was contingent on players agreeing to a salary cap, which they roundly oppose.“The suggestion that the only way to limit roster churn, or incentivize earlier free agent signings is with a salary cap is entirely unserious,” Bruce Meyer, the interim head of the Players Association, said in a statement. “Players have proposed changes that would address these priorities, but the league is not interested in any changes that don’t directly reduce the rights of all players and shift leverage to the owners.”MLB has long sought to create some sort of signing deadline in the offseason, which it contends would generate more excitement for fans. The union has opposed such a window on the belief players would feel forced into subpar contracts.The league made clear the owners wouldn’t agree to these changes outside of a cap.“A cap-and-floor system would unlock additional opportunities to improve the game for players and fans, creating more stability in rosters, getting the best players to the major leagues more quickly, and accelerating the pace of the offseason,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said in a statement. “In our current economic system, these changes would be too harmful to competitive balance and would not be practical.”A new-look winterMLB’s vision for the offseason includes two windows when transactions would be restricted.Currently, free agency begins five days after the World Series, with no expiration on when players can sign.MLB wants to institute a “quiet period” that would include all of November. Trades would be allowed, and free agents would be clear to sign with their current clubs, but not new ones.(Free agents trying to leave their teams could negotiate with a new club during the quiet period, but couldn’t formally sign.)Players who want to sign with a new team could then do so starting at 12 p.m. ET on the Monday of the annual Winter Meetings, which are typically held in early December. That would set up a flurry of activity during the event.The signing period would then close on Dec. 21, when a fuller “frozen period” would begin. No trades or signings involving big leaguers would be permitted until the first Monday in February, when spring training is near.January, then, would be a very quiet time in MLB while the National Football League approaches its playoffs.MLB suggested that keeping players from signing with new teams in November wouldn’t be a major change.Last offseason, 137 players became “XX(B)” free agents. That’s the group of free agents who garner the most attention, players who have reached six years of service time or more.Of that group, only one signed during November last offseason, said Caplin of MLB. In the 2022-23 offseason, five players signed in November. Six signed during that month in 2023-24, and eight did so in the 2024-25 offseason.Meyer, of the players association, said in his statement the league was creating “an artificial free agency window … which would reduce player leverage and create a game of musical chairs pitting player vs. player.”A new ILIn-season transactions would also look a lot different.Many roster moves would be made starting Sunday evening and leading up to Monday afternoon. Roster changes on other days would likely be common, with allowances for some routine transactions like waiver claims and excused absences, such as paternity leave.Injury lists would have new names and operations.The current 10-day minimum stay for position players would be replaced with a one-week designation, and the 15-day pitcher injury list would become a two-week designation.But that doesn’t mean “seven days” and “14 days,” respectively. Instead, teams would have to count Mondays.Position players would have to stay on the IL for at least one full Monday-to-Monday span, with pitchers spanning two of those stretches.For example: If a position player goes on the IL on Wednesday, he still has to stay on the IL for the entirety of the following week, Monday-to-Monday.The 60-day injury list would change to 12 weeks and would still free up a 40-man roster spot.While active rosters would still be capped at 26 players, teams could carry 14 pitchers, up one from the current allowance.A new look for the Rule 5The league also wants to make a major change to the Rule 5 draft, which is annually scheduled for the offseason and allows teams to add players who might be good enough to be on an MLB team but don’t have a roster spot on their club.In the current setup, teams select players that other teams leave unprotected and then must carry that player on their big-league roster for a full year.If a team doesn’t keep a player it chooses in the Rule 5 draft for the duration of the season, it has to offer the player back to the original team.Going forward, MLB wants teams to be able to send selected players to the minors and still retain them in their organization.The league also wants to make players eligible for the Rule 5 draft earlier in their careers.Big pictureThe league and the union are meeting regularly on various topics, but their disagreement on core economics — whether to move to a cap system — leaves little room for progress on the major issues.The current CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1. If no deal is in place, the owners are expected to lock out the players, shutting down the usual offseason activity.The industry expectation is that there will be a lockout come December and that the sides won’t be able to reach an agreement until the spring at the earliest. If the league and union can’t agree on a new contract by some time in March, some regular-season games likely would be canceled.Meyer said a cap “would drastically reduce overall player compensation, eliminate fully guaranteed contracts through escrow, and turn back the clock on fundamental player rights.”