Major League Baseball and the Players Association are continuing to meet this week in hopes to get a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) done before the end of the month to avoid delaying the 2022 regular season.
On Monday, the league attempted to make some concessions as they offered to increase their pre-arbitration bonus pool and upped the number of teams that would qualify for a Draft lottery to four in their latest CBA proposal.
The offer ultimately left the players once again feeling underwhelmed while MLB believed it was now the union’s turn to compromise more.
In their most recent round of negotiations on Tuesday, the Players Association responded by moving closer to the league in their latest CBA proposal, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic:
Included in MLBPA’s offer today:
• Instead of 80 percent of players w/2-3 yrs of service being eligible for arbitration, now 75 percent.
• Dropped from 8 picks in the amateur draft lottery 7.
• Some increases in minimum salary.
There was no new proposal on CBT.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 22, 2022
While none of the changes proposed are very significant, they have continued to move in the right direction despite the sides remaining far apart.
MLB has offered a $20 million pre-arbitration bonus pool but the MLBPA asked for $115 million split among 75% of players with two to three years of experience.
The players are also now asking for seven picks to be draft lottery eligible instead of eight, while the league wants only four. In addition, the players also want the minimum salary to increase by $30,000 instead of $25,000 each year.
MLBPA likely to reject expanded playoffs without full season
MLB and the union both seem to agree to expand the postseason for the 2022 season and beyond, but key details remain to work out.
The league reportedly prefers a format with 14 teams while the union has countered at 12. But there is one more catch, the union is reportedly unwilling to agree to an expanded postseason format for 2022 if a full regular season is not played.
The players know an expanded playoff format is valuable to the league because of the extra revenue it creates, so they likely see this as a way to get MLB to become more serious about getting a deal done quickly.
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