While most of the focus of the settlement of the draft-deadline grievance was on the fact that No. 2 overall draft pick Pedro Alvarez officially became a Pirate, the rule governing the deadline was clarified further.

The commissioner’s office no longer can unilaterally extend the deadline past 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 15, and an arbitrator will have the authority to void any deals signed after the deadline. In a grievance filed by J.D. Drew in 1997, an arbitrator decided that he couldn’t rule specifically on Drew’s status because Drew wasn’t a member of the Major League Baseball Players Association.