© Wsws.org
Finally, the owners and the players’ union are back to sit around a table, albeit virtual. The meeting took place on Zoom and had its focus on important economic issues, addressed for the first time since the start of the lockout. The talks are clearly in their initial phase and served more to outline the starting positions following the block than to close the deal. The Associated Press reports that the session lasted about an hour, with the league presenting its proposal, the Players’ Association undertaking to analyze it and then formulate a possible, very likely, counter-proposal in a future session. of bargaining on which, however, there is still no date.
Obviously, news of dissatisfaction from the MLBPA with the MLB proposal has already filtered out, linked, to begin with, to the failure to intervene on the tax thresholds on luxury (the Luxury Tax) and the failure to reform free agents. Issues that the union had already placed on the table, expressing its dissatisfaction with the current rules.
According to many sources, including Evan Drellich of The Athletic, Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN and other reporters, we report what are some of the proposals put on the table by the MLB in today’s talks.
As for the first pick in the amateur draft, the teams with the three worst records will be involved in a lottery, with the winner having the overall first pick. On this issue, the MLBPA, in addition to asking for more information on the dynamics that would regulate this lottery, would like the teams involved to be the eight teams with the worst records.
As for the arbitration of the “Super Two”, the proposal of the MLB provides that players with only one day of service in the Major League can access this particular slot. For its part, the union does not like to tie the salary to any calculation of the statistics and would welcome the total elimination of wage arbitration, as has already been proposed by the League.
Another proposition is that if a team has a potential candidate in the top 100 on their Opening Day roster and that player finishes in the top five by finishing on the list for a major award (the MVP, Cy Young or Rookie Of The Year) during the arbitration period, the team would receive a bonus pick in the draft. The idea is to give teams an advantage so that they avoid the bad and ingrained habit of keeping the best prospects by delaying their use to the first year so that they can keep them an extra season before they become free-agent. According to Passane Rogers, the Players’ Association has some reservations about this idea, one of which is understanding how the list of “best potential players” would be determined.
The extension of the post-season is a central node of this renewal, and it now seems that an agreement has been reached on the concept. The differences are on the modalities: the league proposes the expansion to 14, the union proposes playoffs to 12. The feeling is that the final decision will be a “bargaining chip” given the source of extra income that this reform could bring to the league from rights TV.
Finally, the theme of the designated hitter that could also be extended to the National League and seems to have made everyone agree: it will probably be part of this contract renewal provided that, writes Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle, this decision is not used for force your hand on others.
The parties have left without a fixed date for a new meeting, but within the weekend the counter-proposal of the players’ association is expected. With all market activity blocked and the start of spring-training rallies set in about a month, the time to avoid a “severed” season begins to shorten.
