When team owners unanimously voted to impose a lockout last December due to the collective bargaining agreement expiring, it was deemed by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred as the “best mechanism to protect the 2022 season.”
Manfred’s statement was followed by weeks of inactivity, and sporadic CBA meetings in January produced little progress. Discussions were more frequent in February but again failed to amount to movement toward a new deal.
Frustration between the league and Players Association (MLBPA) increased and MLB imposed a February 28 deadline for a new CBA, or it would push back Opening Day and not reschedule canceled regular season games. Daily meetings at Roger Dean Stadium appeared fruitless as the deadline approached, but late progress pushed it back to March 1.
That still wasn’t enough to facilitate a deal, and Manfred promptly canceled Opening Day along with the first two seasons of the regular season. Another league deadline passed earlier this week, and with that came the removal of two more series from the schedule.
However, MLB and the Players Association continued negotiating and have come to terms on a new CBA that will end the lockout, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
BREAKING: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor deal, sources tell ESPN. While it still needs to be ratified by both parties, that is expected to be a formality, and when it is:
Baseball is back.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 10, 2022
Key issues throughout CBA negotiations were economic matters, such as the luxury tax threshold and accompanying penalties, minimum starting salary, pre-arbitration bonus pool, and percentage of players that would qualify for Super Two status.
More recently, possibly instituting an international draft in exchange for eliminating the qualifying offer became a significant hurdle. That was cleared Thursday with an agreement that a final decision on an international draft doesn’t need to be made until July 25.
Whether an expanded postseason would have 12 or 14 teams was another disagreement, and how much notice MLB must provide a committee of potential rule changes. Under the 2017-21 CBA, the league had to introduce new rules at least one year in advance; they sought to parse that down to 45 days.
With the luxury tax thresholds, the union lowered their asks to $232 million for the 2022 season, followed by $235 million, $240 million, $245 million and $250 million over the lifetime of the CBA.
In their final offer before talks broke down at the beginning of March, MLB countered at $220 million for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons; $224 million in 2025 and $230 million in 2026.
But in negotiations that led to a CBA being agreed to, MLB proposed luxury tax thresholds of $230 million, $232 million, $236 million, $240 million and $244 million. While the league was more willing to move toward the players in this facet, it may be coming with a fourth surcharge level.
Luxury tax rates from the 2017-21 CBA were 20% for a first-time offender, 30% if a team exceeded the CBT for two consecutive seasons, and 50% for overages in three straight years.
There were additional surcharges based on exceeding the luxury tax line for the first $20 million, from $20 to $40 million, and for spending more than $40 million.
With the pre-arbitration bonus pool, the MLBPA set their final ask at $65 million but with $5 million annual increases, and the league countered at a flat $50 million per season.
When does Spring Training start?
According to multiple reports, players will likely be due to report for the start of Spring Training by March 13, with Cactus League and Grapefruit League games beginning four or five days later.
Opening Day of the 2022 regular season could then be April 7, which would allow for doubleheaders and extending the schedule by three days to play 162 games.
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