Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reportedly made progress Monday toward an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the owner-imposed closure after a marathon negotiation session that lasted into the wee hours. MLB originally set a deadline of Monday (Feb. 28) to reach an agreement before regular-season games are canceled and opening day rescheduled for 2022. However, the self-imposed deadline has been pushed back to 5:00 p.m. ET Tuesday. According to ESPN’s Jeff BassanTalks between the two sides will continue throughout the day.
Representatives from both sides arrived at the site around 10:00 a.m. ET Tuesday and met in person for the first time around 1:30 p.m. after the players held a conference call to discuss their proposal. According to Athletic’s Ivan Drillic.
The MLB and MLBPA both spent more than 16 hours at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla. on Monday before calling around 2:30 a.m. ET. As much progress was made during the early morning Monday/Tuesday marathon sessions, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic Reports suggest that there has been “clear progress” but that “significant gaps remain in key areas”.
The MLB began negotiations Monday by notifying the MLBPA that it was prepared to miss games for a month and adopting a more ominous tone. For every exercise. According to multiple reports, the two sides agreed a few hours later to coordinate an expanded 12-team complement. However, prior to the arbitration, discussions were held on the competitive balance sheet tax threshold (also known as the luxury tax), the minimum salary and the player bonus package.
It was also reported that more trivial issues such as the limits of defensive transfers were part of the discussions. In all, there were 13 separate face-to-face meetings between the two sides at the spring training facility on Monday. The bottom line is there is an iota of hope that the season will start as planned on March 31, but there is still work to be done on Tuesday when the parties meet again.
CBS Sports has provided a closure schedule here, but the short version is that the owners activated the locks when the previous CBA expired on December 1 – exactly three months ago. They weren’t required to do this, but it was called a defensive maneuver. Then the league waited more than six weeks to make its first proposal. Since then, both sides have engaged in a series of face-to-face negotiations. CBS Sports is providing live updates of Tuesday’s talks. You can continue below.
