Thursday’s CBA Meeting Results In No Momentum Towards Deal

MLB and the players’ union met again on Thursday for another round of CBA discussions, a meeting that lasted just 15 minutes in total. Just like the previous meetings, the result of this round of talks resulted in no deal and what has been a reoccurring theme in negotiations, it doesn’t appear much progress was made.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the MLBPA withdrew it’s request for arbitration for 100% players who have at least two years of service time, instead requesting that 80% of those players enter the system. In return, the union asked for a pre-arbitration bonus pool from $100M to $115M. Per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the league viewed this as a “non-starter.”

In reducing their request for a super-two alteration by 20%, the MLBPA widened the already large gap for the bonus poll to a difference of $100M with MLB offering $15M in their latest proposal. How the league will increase their offer with the latest concession by the union remains to be seen.

Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that a new playoff structure that will include seven teams from each league had been agreed to.

Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated that February 28th was the deadline for a deal to be reached and spring training to begin to avoid postponing the start of the regular season. We are now just 11 days from that date with no end currently in sight.

The #MLBPA requested an increase from $100 million to $115 million in its pre-arbitration bonus pool in its latest proposal in exchange for the arbitration eligibility class to include 80% of its players with 2 years of service instead of 100%. MLB called it a non-starter.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 17, 2022