MLB Return In Spring Goes Bleak After ‘Disappointing’ Meeting With Players Union

With Major League Baseball in lockout over labor negotiations, progress seems slow. Even more so if we are to go by recent reports. The MLB Players Union did not sign a new collective bargaining agreement which left the existing agreement to expire early in December. MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred, put the players union in lockout to hasten negotiations; but that doesn’t seem to have panned out as he initially intended. With the negotiations dragging on through January, there has been little movement. And there doesn’t seem to be any significant changes in the parties and their stances yet.

The MLB Lockout has now been active for 60 days and spring training is in jeopardy. Not spring training as a whole maybe, but certainly it starting on time. With the scheduled start being sometime around February 14th, spring training for the clubs looks unlikely to start on time. But while some fans still haven’t lost hope for a timely start to the season, some pundits are questioning what we had taken for granted. Losing games to the lockout may actually be in question.

Most recent meeting between the MLB and MLBPA

The two sides recently met at MLB Headquarters for a negotiation meeting. This meeting marked the second time in the last eight days that the two sides have discussed what has become known as the “core economic issues” facing baseball. And the second time that no significant progress has been made.

Service time manipulation refers to when teams delay prospects from playing in the big leagues to delay their free agency and arbitration. The union previously proposed granting a full year of service time to those rookies ranking at a certain level in terms of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Reportedly, the union also signed on to the general framework of an MLB proposal to “reward” teams that don’t manipulate service time with additional draft picks.

Read More: Lockout Finally Ending?- Deal Between MLB and Players “As Good as Done”

Reportedly, the MLBPA has shown significant movement in the past few sessions with their negotiation positions. Earlier, in January, the Union moved from asking for free agency to be tied to age in any way. They also changed their stance on how much they wanted to reduce the revenue sharing pool.

And while per reports, the union still wants to increase the minimum salary much more than the owners do. Amid other concerns such as to reduce the timeline for arbitration eligibility from three years to two years, where it has been. The two parties also remain far apart on what the luxury tax threshold on top payrolls should be.

MLB and the MLBPA are set to meet again on Wednesday to discuss non-economics issues. Non-economics issues could include potential rule changes, modifications to the Joint Drug Agreement, scheduling procedures, etc. Fans of the sport will be eager to get their favorite game going and with negotiations stretching for as long as they are it seems unlikely that spring training will start on time.