Players’ counter offer to MLB on the sixth trading day in a row

Jupiter, Florida. The players on lockout presented a counteroffer of various issues to the Major League Baseball on Saturday, as the Monday deadline set by MLB to reach a labor agreement that allows the season to start on the scheduled day and complete the 162-game schedule approaches.

After holding only six negotiating sessions on central economic issues from the start of the strike through February 19, the parties have met six days in a row at Roger Dean Stadium, the spring training home of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

Mets pitcher Max Scherzer and shortstop Francisco Lindor; Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole; and free agent Andrew Miller were among the players who attended the talks. The ninth MLB stoppage, and first since 1995, reached its 87th day.

The parties arrived at noon, an hour before previous meetings this year, and met in groups for two and a half hours. The union held a Zoom session with around 30 player representatives.

A management delegation subsequently approached the union group in the building that includes the Cardinals’ clubhouse, and the union made the counteroffer.

Fifteen minutes later the MLB group returned to their offices in the main park building.

Details of the counteroffer were not immediately disclosed. After more meetings of each group, management returned back to where the players were around 4:30 pm They met for about a half hour before finishing up work for the day.

The MLB assures that if they do not reach an agreement on Monday, it will begin to cancel games because they would not have enough training time to play a full schedule.

After days of little progress, the sides came close to an agreement Friday on the amateur draft lottery during negotiations that included a surprise one-on-one meeting between commissioner Rob Manfred and union leader Tony Clark.

The sides are staying apart on money issues, such as the competitive balance of the tax cap, the rate and eligibility for salary arbitration, the size of a pre-arbitration player bonus pool and the minimum salary. Players also want to reduce revenue sharing.

The players have not accepted on Monday the deadline date to save the entire campaign. They have suggested that canceled games can be made up for with doubleheaders, something Major League Baseball has said it will not accept.

Once Monday’s date passes, the issue of the calendar will become another disputed issue, as well as the salaries and service time that the players would lose.

The union has told MLB that if games and salaries are lost, teams should not expect members to agree to management proposals seeking to expand the postseason and allow advertising on uniforms and helmets.