Owners, Players Still in Staredown Despite Daily Negotiations

Whether Major League Baseball owners and players reach an agreement in time to save Opening Day is likely going to come down to the late innings before a Monday deadline. Even a rare second straight day of negotiations in Jupiter, Fla., failed to break a months-long pattern of incremental, even regressive, movement.

The players association responded to what it considered incremental movement from the owners Monday with tweaks Tuesday that included what the owners regarded as a third successive step backward from the players. The union reduced its asks for changes to Super Two eligibility—from 80% to 75%—and the draft lottery, from eight to seven teams. The union also increased its proposed minimum salary by adding $30,000 to the second and third years of the deal from the $775,000 minimum in year one. Previous annual increases were $25,000.

The union did not make a proposal on the Competitive Balance Tax, where the two sides are $31 million apart in year one and $51 million apart in year five.

The movement by the union on Super Two eligibility would add about 85 players to the arbitration pool, down from about 93 in their previous proposal. The owners regard any movement in arbitration eligibility as moot, as they have informed the union since last year that changes to arbitration eligibility and revenue sharing are non-starters.

For the second time, MLB asked the players Tuesday to agree to using a federal mediator. The players again declined.

The meeting marked only the second time the two sides met on consecutive days during the 83-day lockout. They are scheduled for an unprecedented third straight day Wednesday.

Five days remain before a Monday deadline that would preserve March 31 as the scheduled Opening Day. Not only has the progress been incremental, but also the two sides have not negotiated on the CBT, which was the last item of agreement when the last collective bargaining agreement was reached in 2016. Back then, the two sides devoted nearly round-the-clock negotiations for days leading up to an agreement just 3 ½ hours before the expiration of the previous CBA.

In that agreement, owners and players agreed on a first-year initial CBT threshold of $195 million, up from $189 million, a 3.2% increase. This time, working off the $210 million threshold from 2021, owners are proposing a 1.9% increase to $214 million. The players are proposing a 16.7% increase to $245 million, a proposal that has remained since the lockout began Dec. 2.

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