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February 1, 2022

Latest Bargaining Session Turns Into A "Yelling Match"; Start Of Spring Training Likely Delayed

Chris Halicke (Sports Illustrated) quotes a source with knowledge of Tuesday's collective bargaining session between Major League Baseball and the Players Association saying the 90-minute meeting devolved into a "yelling match".

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich (The Athletic) reported on Monday:

Anyone sensing momentum in baseball's collective bargaining negotiations needs to take a deep breath. League and player representatives continue to hold much different views of the game's economics. The scheduled start of spring training in mid-February is clearly in jeopardy. In another few weeks, Opening Day on March 31 would be a longshot, too.

As the owners' lockout drags into its third month, the essence of the problem is this: Major League Baseball contends it is proposing a better deal for players than the one they had under the most recent collective bargaining agreement. And the Players Association contends that the deal is worse. . . .

A breakdown of the most contentious issues in the negotiations reveals just how far apart the two sides are . . .

Minimum salary . . . Arbitration and pre-arb bonus pools . . . Luxury tax . . . Draft lottery . . . Service-time manipulation . . .

The players want significant change, and the owners largely want to maintain the status quo. . . .

A new CBA is not close.

Drellich characterizes Tuesday's meeting as "heated" and writes "the sides remain very far apart with the normal report time for pitchers and catchers about two weeks away". 

Since the next bargaining session has not been scheduled, it is highly unlikely that spring training will begin on time later this month.

The MLBPA made a pair of proposals: one that modifies its pre-arbitration bonus pool, the other on service-time manipulation.

The union, which is trying to get more money to younger players not yet eligible for arbitration, changed its pre-arbitration bonus pool proposal to $100 million. That is a $5 million decrease from its original proposal. The league's most recent offer was $10 million.

Regarding service-time manipulation, the union has proposed a system where a player who might not normally get a year of service time would be credited with one year if they reach certain thresholds and levels of performance. . . .

The union also incorporated and modified an element of MLB's proposal on service-time manipulation, dangling a draft pick to teams as an incentive for not holding a player in the minor leaguers.

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