Major League Baseball and the Players Association (MLBPA) finally appeared to make real progress during their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations on Tuesday that ran deep into the night as the lockout has now reached nearly 13 weeks long.
While it appeared the two sides were ‘deadlocked’ in bargaining last week, some possible new rule changes proposed by the league and accepted by the union, including a pitch clock and international draft, helped re-ignite talks.
Although MLB has already delayed Opening Day and the first two series of the regular season, along with numerous Spring Training games, there is hope a full season can still be played in 2022 because of recent progress made.
MLB also pushed back its deadline to cancel more games and they have come up with a rough plan to start the season in early April, extend the regular season, and schedule doubleheaders to make up for the lost time if a new CBA is agreed to on Wednesday, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today:
If an agreement is reached today, the tentative plan is for Opening Day to be April 6-7, with the regular season extended by three days. The other missed games from the week-long delay would be made up in doubleheaders during the season.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 9, 2022
At present time it appears the introduction of an international draft is the biggest sticking point in negotiations as the league is strongly pushing for it while the players remain hesitant as they consider the possibility.
It does seem like MLB waited until the two sides were close on the financial side of the deal to begin pushing for the draft, which would change the international market completely and limit the salaries of international prospects moving forward.
MLB is also reportedly open to getting rid of the qualifying offer process in exchange for an international draft, which could be highly appealing to some of the younger stars in the game.
But despite that key issue to work out, there is real hope a deal could get done by as early as Wednesday and players could soon begin reporting to camps for Spring Training.
MLB wants two different pitch clock times
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been working for years to speed up games, which he hopes would increase viewership and create a more exciting environment for young fans.
The league has been experimenting with pitch clocks since implementing them into Low-A during the 2021 season and then continued to test them in the Arizona Fall League. Aside from a few mixed results in other leagues, the data showed games decreased by around 20 minutes.
With the success of the testing, MLB is now looking to implement the pitch clock at the Major League level and they want two separate timers depending on whether players are on base or not.
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