AP.- The major league ballplayers they voted for Please accept the latest offer from Major League Baseball (MLB) for a new labor agreementwhich paves the way for ending a 99-day lockout and save a 162-game regular season in 2022.
The executive board of the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) approved the deal in a 26-12 votewaiting for the ratification of all playersa person familiar with the vote said on condition of anonymity because no announcement was authorized.
MLB sent a offer to players on Thursday and gave them until 3 p.m. to come to an agreement and play a full Major League season in 2022. The union announced the players’ vote around 3:25 p.m. agreement it was still pending approval by MLB owners.
HARD BARGAINING
MLB and its locked-out players gained momentum toward a deal Thursday after the disputing parties agreed to negotiate an international amateur draft and management made a new counteroffer.
MLB told the players that if a deal was reached by 3 p.m. Thursday and it was ratified later in the day, the players could begin reporting to spring training on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations said. .
A deal on Thursday would also preserve the 162-game schedule and opening day would be April 7, a little more than a week after the original March 31 date, the person said.
Under a deal reached on day 99 of a season-delayed lockout, the sides agreed to a July 25 deadline for an international draft to begin in 2024.
MORE AGREEMENTS
Talks to end the lockout had stalled on the draft issue Wednesday, with baseball commissioner Rob Manfred canceling 93 more games, bringing the total to 184. He said opening day would be no earlier than March 14. April.
The sides have narrowed many economic differences to a slim margin in recent days.
Under the agreement reached Thursday that allowed the sides to overcome the previous day’s logjam, if a negotiated agreement on a draft is reached before July 25, direct amateur draft selection compensation for free agents would be eliminated starting of the 2022-23 offseason.
If the parties do not reach an agreement by July 25, the direct compensation for the amateur draft selection would remain in effect.
