MLB commissioner Rob Manfred canceled 93 more games on Wednesday putting, for all intents and purposes, the final nail in the coffin of a full 162-game schedule and threatening locked-out players with lost wages and service time.
After the clans narrowed their differences over economic issues, the sides clashed over the attempt to add an international draft.
Major League Baseball has announced that two additional series of games have been canceled, pushing back the season start date to April 14. This brings the total of canceled meetings to 184 over the season of 2,430 games. This equates to 7.6% of the season.
“Due to the logistical realities of the schedule, two more series are being pulled from the schedule, meaning opening day is moved to April 14,” Manfred said through a statement.
The union’s latest counter-offer was presented in person by Bruce Meyer, chief union negotiator, at Major League Baseball’s offices, which are located three blocks from the union’s offices.
As the gaps tightened on the luxury tax, pre-arbitration bonus and minimum wage, management continued to press for an international amateur draft. The players have repeatedly rejected this proposal since it was made on July 28.
“The owners’ decision to cancel additional games is totally unnecessary,” the union said in a statement. After making a series of comprehensive proposals to the league earlier in the afternoon, we were told that concrete answers were forthcoming, but we still have not had an answer.
MLB said it would not make a new counter-offer to players unless the union first chooses one of three options.
The first is to accept the international draft in exchange for the elimination of direct compensation from amateur draft picks for qualified free agents.
The second, to keep the compensation in exchange for abandoning the idea of international repechage.
Ultimately, to drop compensation while giving players until Nov. 15 to accept an international draft starting in 2024, while giving MLB the right to reopen the contract after the 2024 season if players don’t. do not accept the repechage.
On the 98th day of baseball’s first work stoppage since 1995, the latest alternative would leave open the possibility of another lockout in less than three years between parties that are bitter with each other.
The players rejected all three options and instead offered to drop compensation for this year, ask the parties to agree on a draft by Nov. 15, or return to compensation for the 2022 offseason- 23.
“In a last-ditch effort to preserve a 162-game season, we made good-faith proposals this week that address specific concerns expressed by the union and that would have allowed players to return to the field immediately,” Manfred dropped. .
Despite intense negotiations in the last days, the clans are coming up short again.
The two sides talked for 4.5 hours, until 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, before breaking off the talks to allow the union to hold a conference call with its executive board in the morning.
Then, Meyer and Ian Penny, general counsel, submitted the proposal to the Major League Baseball office, before returning to their headquarters.
In this proposal, players have lowered their threshold for the luxury tax to $232M this year and, gradually, to $250M in 2026.
Last week, player bids ranged from $238-263m for the same period.
As for the amount available for players who do not yet have access to arbitration, the union has lowered the required amount from $80 million to $65 million. On the owners’ side, on Tuesday they increased their offer in this case from $30 million to $40 million.
Major League Baseball authorities also presented proposals to players on Tuesday on other key financial elements, such as the luxury tax and minimum wages.
Tuesday’s schedule was the third set by Major League Baseball in the past two weeks.
Manfred had initially identified the date as February 28 to preserve the opening matches being held on March 31. After 16.5 hours of negotiations that began Feb. 28 in Jupiter, Fla., ended at 2:30 a.m. the next morning and led to progress, Manfred extended that deadline to 5 p.m. the following day.
The talks broke down and Manfred announced that the first two sets of matches for each team had been called off. Negotiators returned to New York and resumed talks the following Sunday.
Although there appears to be no chance that Opening Day will take place on the day originally scheduled, Major League Baseball advised the union that Tuesday was the last possible day to strike a deal that would allow the holding of a modified calendar of 162 games, with full salary for the players and the recognition of years of seniority with a view to autonomy.
