After an hour of negotiations on Saturday, Major League Baseball presented its new proposal to the dismissed players’ attorneys, though it had only a minor gesture.
Major League Soccer has waived the penalty for a third-round amateur draft for exceeding the luxury tax.
The directive maintained the plan to increase the limit from 210 million to 214 million in 2022 and 2023. They increased their proposal to 2016 million in 2024, followed by 2018 million and 222 million in the last two years of the proposal.
Bruce Meyer, the union’s chief negotiator, arrived with two members of the legal team for the session, just four days before the scheduled start of spring training.
This is only the fifth round of negotiations on economic issues since the beginning of the ninth strike by bosses on December 2, after the end of the five-year collective agreement.
The clubs have submitted a 130-page bid which they hope could serve as the framework for a possible memorandum of understanding.
MLB has proposed raising the minimum wage from $570,500 to $630,000 or another tiered minimum of $615,000 for major league starters, $650,000 for one year of service and $725,000 for two years – this latest increase from the $700,000 in the last proposal.
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Major League Baseball has also offered to increase the pre-arbitration reserve bonus from $10 million to $15 million. The syndicate is at $100 million.
To address allegations of service time manipulation, MLB proposed awarding two draft picks — one amateur and one international — for rookie achievement, an increase of one. The union opposes the international project.
Additionally, to address roster turnover, MLB proposed limiting a player’s minor league assignments to five per season.
The clubs also offered to guarantee a player selected in the amateur draft who participated in the physical program before the draft a contract of at least 75% of the value, stipulating that when a player passes the physical test before the draft, he cannot be released for his physique after the draft. This would support future decisions like the Mets not signing Kumar Rocker.
MLB said its minimum wage and reserve bonus offer is worth $200 million more to players over five years than the previous deal.
The players’ lawyers intend to discuss the offer with the union’s board.
