On Monday, MLB owners and representatives from the MLB Players Association met face-to-face at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, for the latest round of negotiations designed to bring an end to the owner-implemented lockout that’s been in place since Dec. 2. MLB has said Feb. 28 is the latest they can reach a deal for a new collective bargaining agreement without delaying Opening Day (currently scheduled for March 31), though the MLBPA may not agree.
Monday’s meeting was the longest of the lockout to date. The two sides reportedly met for close to five hours, though much of that time was spent in separate rooms formulating proposals, which is common during bargaining sessions. How long they meet is not as important as what’s said during the meeting. Ultimately, MLB offered only slight adjustments to its most recent proposal.
Among other things, MLB offered the following Monday, according to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich:
- Raise the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players to $20 million. MLB previously offered $15 million for the top 30 players. The MLBPA is seeking a $115 million bonus pool to split among the top 150 players.
- Draft lottery for the top four picks. MLB previously offered a lottery for the top three picks only. The union wants the top eight picks to be decided by a lottery.
- No change to the previous luxury tax proposal. MLB is offering a small raise to the tax with much harsher penalties. The MLBPA is seeking to raise the threshold from $210 million to $245 million. More on that here.
- Rescinded their request to control the total number of minor-league teams, as as well as their offer to limit options to five times per season, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The MLBPA was disappointed by MLB’s proposal Monday, reports Newsday‘s Tim Healey. Take that with a grain of salt, because both sides will say they’re disappointed when the other does something other than surrender. Healey says MLB called Monday’s meetings “wide-ranging and productive.”
By all indications from the MLB side, the 2022 offseason will not resume – and spring training will not begin – until a new collective bargaining agreement is in place, at least on a conditional basis. MLB could lift the lockout at any time, allowing baseball to resume under the terms of the old collective bargaining agreement, but the league has shown no willingness to do that.
While the two sides remain far apart on what’s become known as the “core economic issues,” daily bargaining sessions are planned for the entire week, and the hope is that an agreement is reached before the unofficial deadline of Feb. 28. MLB and the MLBPA are haggling over dollars rather than major structural change, suggesting a swift path to an agreement exists.
Those core economic issues currently separating the two sides include the minimum salary, the competitive balance tax (or the luxury tax on payrolls), the structure of salary arbitration, the size of a bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, and revenue sharing. As well, the union has recently signaled that it will not approve an expanded postseason, which is perhaps atop ownership’s wish-list, unless a full 162-game schedule is played in 2022.
The accelerated pace of negotiations this week was in large measure necessitated by the fact that owners, after initiating the labor stoppage, took 43 days to make their first post-lockout proposal to the players. Here is a full timeline of the lockout proceedings.
