MLB: UNION STEPPING BACKWARD
Major League Baseball reacted angrily to the latest offer by lockedout players when bargaining resumed Sunday, accusing the union of backtracking and showing no sign of a breakthrough to get the derailed season back on track.
The squabbling sides talked for 95 minutes on the 95th day of the lockout, largely restating their positions to each other.
“We were hoping to see movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said. “The players’ association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward. On some issues, they even went backwards. Simply put, we are deadlocked. We will try to figure out how they respond, but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”
Trying to resolve baseball’s second-longest labor stoppage, the sides remain far apart on luxury tax, minimum salaries and the proposed bonus pool for pre-arbitration eligible players. The union lowered its starting point for the bonus pool by $5 million to $80 million but left its proposals for the luxury tax and minimum salary unchanged.
After the main session, deputy commissioner Dan Halem and union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer held a one-on-one meeting. Players suggested the sides meet again today, and MLB told the union it would get back with a decision on whether to meet.
Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday canceled the first two series of the season for each team, a total of 91 games. This was the first meeting since then, coming in the first season delayed by labor strife since 1995.
Manfred was in the MLB offices Sunday but did not attend the bargaining sessions.
Among the few areas with new proposals, players said a fast-track competition committee should include four union appointees, six management members and one umpire. The group would consider rules changes for no earlier than 2023 covering a pitch clock, limiting defensive shifts and using larger bases, and it would be able to recommend changes during the offseason with 45 days’ notice for implementation.
MLB last week proposed that the committee include six management officials, two union representatives and one umpire. Currently, management can only change rules with union consent or unilaterally with one year of notice.
Players said they will not allow the committee to consider one topic MLB asked to be included: robots to call balls and strikes.
Following a four-day break in talks, the union gave a written response to the owners’ latest proposal that had led to a breakdown on the ninth day of meetings in Jupiter,
Florida.
Players offered to increase the postseason from 10 teams to 12 but said they are willing to discuss management’s desire for 14 if MLB would consider a “ghost win” first round, which management isn’t interested in. Under the “ghost win” plan, higher seeds would open the first round with a 1-0 series lead.
Players want to raise the luxury tax threshold from $210 last season to $238 million this year, $244 million in 2023, $250 million in 2024, $256 million in 2025 and $263 million in 2026. MLB is at $220 million in each of the next three seasons, $224 million in 2025 and $230 million in 2026.
Tax rates would remain unchanged and direct amateur draft pick compensation for free agents would be eliminated.
The union lowered its plan for the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $85 million but asked for $5 million annual increases over the remainder of the deal.