The MLBPA submitted a proposed written collective bargaining agreement to Major League Baseball on Sunday. It included a $5 million reduction to the union’s latest offer in a pre-arbitration bonus pool, but did not include any changes to its competitive balance tax proposal, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The meeting in New York is not likely to end the 95-day lockout, or lead to the start of spring training.
The union’s first threshold in the CBT (Competitive Balance Tax) still starts at 238 million and ends at 263 million. The league offer starts at 220 million and goes up to 230 million over the course of 5 years.
The union’s request in the pre-arbitration pool is now $80 million, while the league offered $30 million in its last proposal.
The parties remain far apart on just those two issues.
Sunday was the 95th day of the lockout, as spring games through March 17 were canceled along with the first two regular-season series. More regular season games are likely to be canceled at the start of the week.
MLB wants
set spear clocks
Major League Baseball wants to institute a 14-second pitch clock with bases empty and a 19-second clock with runners on base, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The two numbers were established after experiments in the Minor Leagues, including in low Class A in 2021, where playing times were cut by about 20 minutes. A 15/17-second clock was used there, but baseball determined that less time was needed for pitchers with the bases empty and more time with them occupied, according to sources, so it landed on 14/19.
The desire for a clock comes after years of increasing game times, culminating last season, where the average length of a nine-inning game was a record 3 hours, 10 minutes. That’s 20 minutes more than a decade ago when the average duration was 2:50 hours.
Games in low Class A in the west last year were down from 3:02 to 2:41 on the clock. There have been some mixed results with pitch clocks at different levels of professional baseball, but the league believes it can only help accelerate Major League product.
Rule changes have been a story during recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players’ union, though the sides have discussed various issues on the field over the past few years.
