For the first time this week, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred made an appearance during negotiations with the Players Association for a new collective bargaining agreement on Friday.
According to sports website The Athletic, the 63-year-old made several round trips between the different camps on this fifth consecutive day of talks, but did not address the athletes, which he will probably do on Saturday.
Manfred, however, reportedly spoke with Tony Clark, the president of the Players Association, for the first time since 2020. They then met to determine the number of games that would be played in the season cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19.
The negotiations would also have advanced at the level of the amateur draft. The awarding of first-round picks and the lottery are issues that have been widely discussed in recent days, as have the minimum wage and the luxury tax.
The noose is tightening as much on the side of the players as of the owners. Major League Baseball said an agreement must be reached before Monday so that regular season games are not canceled.
If this were to be so, the athletes would not receive their full salary for the year. They would have responded by threatening to refuse an increase in the number of teams in the playoffs and the sponsors on their uniform.
Spring training camps were scheduled to begin on February 16, while the regular campaign was normally scheduled to start on March 31.
