Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association are reportedly moving towards a new collective agreement that will end the owner-imposed lockdown after a marathon negotiation session that lasted until early Monday morning. The MLB set a deadline on Monday (Feb.28) to reach an agreement before canceling regular season games and postponing the start date to 2022. However, the league’s self-imposed deadline was postponed to 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday. According to ESPN’s Jeff BassonAnd the parties will continue to talk throughout the day.
The MLB and MLBPA spent more than 16 hours Monday at Roger Teen Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. Regarding the progress made during the Monday / Tuesday morning marathon sessions, Ken Rosenthal of Athletics There is “a clear improvement”, but “large gaps are in large areas”.
The MLB began negotiations on Monday, announcing to the MLBPA that it was ready to miss a month of games and took on a more menacing tone. L’atleta Evan Trellich. Several hours later, several reports claimed that both sides had agreed on an expanded playoff format to 12 teams. However, the limit of the competition balance tax (luxury tax) and the penalties for exceeding the indicated limit were under discussion.
Where MLB, MLBPA are still divided
- Competitive balance tax: Baseball’s “luxury line” is a sticky point in the conversation. Owners want to keep the CBT limit low and penalties high, so it serves as a practical pay limit. MLBPA wants to raise the limit to $ 230 million, To John Heyman of the MLB Network. Owners want that number to be close to $ 220 million.
- Minimum salary: The MLBPA is pushing to raise the league’s minimum wage – $ 575,500, the lowest of the top four men’s sports in the United States in 2021 – and over $ 700,000 in 2022. MLB’s latest offering has jumped to $ 675,000. For trellis.
- Bonus pool for front referees: Another way the union wants to pay younger players through a bonus package for top notch players who haven’t yet qualified for the jury (i.e. have less than three years of service). The final figure for the MLB bonus package is $ 25 million. A Hyman.
Even mundane issues like defensive change controls were said to be part of the debate. In all, on Monday, there were 13 separate face-to-face meetings between the two sides at the spring training center. The highlight of this is the hope that the season will start as planned on March 31, but the parties will have to work harder on Tuesday assembled.
Here is the timeline for the CBS Sports LockoutBut the short version is that the owners placed the locks when the previous CBA expired on December 1, exactly three months ago. They weren’t forced to, but it was branded a defensive maneuver. The league waited over six weeks to make its first proposal. The two sides have had several face-to-face talks with some key points, including the competition reserve tax; Sharing of earnings; The breakdown of players who qualify for the Super Two position in the jury; And the minimum wage of the league.
CBS Sports provides live announcements of Tuesday’s talks. You can follow below.
