I'm not even sure that's the players biggest gripe. Given how loud Boras has been about manipulating service times and given he's more or less an arm of the MLBPA by association I'd have to imagine that's at the top of their agenda. I'm guessing that near the top of the owners agenda is some form of international draft. I'm a bit iffy saying that because obviously the rich teams love the current set up but the Dodgers have made a sham of the current system this period. Players are never going to want a draft just because free market always means more money for them. However, they rather routinely sell out their young players for other gains.
I suppose you could argue that they would likewise cave on the service time stuff but I think it's enough of a weird issue that the two sides could more or less trade concessions for the international draft and some changes to the service time to allow Bryant like players to appear in the majors when they are actually ready. I'm not 100% what that solution is but surely they could come to some mutually beneficial agreement on both.
As for the QO, I can see them tweaking it some but you basically have to have it. What they probably will end up doing is messing a bit with the draft slots so that losing a draft pick isn't such a big deal. If you recall prior to the draft slot system they teams either lost a first and a second round pick for "type A" FAs or just a second round pick for "type B" FAs. Teams cared less because there was no cap on spending. Obviously the owners scrapping that is unlikely but if you pushed up the value of slots such that losing a first round pick didn't kill your draft the future MLBPA people getting drafted get more money and it likely solves some of the issues with the QO from signing FA standpoint.
Regardless, as this pertains to the DH if they don't do it in this CBA then you're talking some where between 7-10 years probably before the next time it's discussed. Ultimately I think it's always going to be something that gets talked about but unless there is some major reason to push for it I don't see anything happening on it.
There is no question that service time will be on the agenda for the MLBA. Putting it on the table was what the Bryant grievance was all about. The problem is that there is no real solution to the issue. No matter where you set that bar teams will find a way to work around it. I expect tweaks that ultimately will mean nothing. I suspect in the end the union will not want to waste to much capital on it.
I think you're dead on as far as the international draft goes. It's coming one way or another. The real issue is that with the rules of the Japanese and Korean leagues it will never be a true international draft but will unfortunately curtail some earning power of players from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. It will be good for the owners, not so great for the players and iffy in terms of how good it will be for the game, but there's no way the CBA doesn't include it.
The QO isn't going anywhere. I'm not sure I agree that you have to have it but the owners will dig in hard, and ultimately it doesn't matter
that much to the MLBPA. The top players get their money QO or no QO as witnessed by Greinke, Samardzija and even Upton in the end. It hurts guys like Dexter Fowler who's numbers aren't sexy but should warrant a bigger deal than he's going to get but guys like that aren't enough of difference makers on their own to justify giving up a pick and big money. Ultimately though the MLBPA is going to look out for the big money guys first and again isn't going to waste a ton of capital on incremental salary increases from lower impact players. They're far more likely to push for a higher luxury tax threshold which they will almost certainly get.
In the larger scheme of things the DH is much less important than any of those issues. If there was something the owners really didn't want they could use it as a chip offered to the union but the players want enough things that they likely don't need that chip. If the MLBPA really wanted to dig in on QO's I think you might see this come up but my gut tells me they aren't going to push that hard on that front. I guess you never know though.
