MLB Lockout: Spring Training Likely to be Delayed as Sides Still Far Apart
Now you can start to worry about potentially seeing a delay to the Major League Baseball season.
Multiple reports indicate little progress has been made between Major League Baseball and the Players Union, Tuesday, as both sides still can not come to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. That means a delay to the start of Spring Training, scheduled for February 14 is very likely. Whether that means games will start to get lopped off the Spring Training schedule, and possibly the regular season all depend on how fast the two sides can come to an agreement.
The issues that remain at hand are core economic issues, mainly the starting salary for first year player, competitive balance tax and revenue sharing.
The meeting between the Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB is over. Little progress was made. The on-time opening of spring training at this point is in grave danger and, frankly, would take a miraculous deal coming together to rescue. A delay feels inevitable.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 1, 2022
Today’s 90-minute meeting between MLB, MLBPA was heated. Some owners and players participated. The MLBPA made moves in two areas: service-time manipulation, and pre-arb bonus pool (dropped request from $105 million to $100 million). TBD when next core economics meeting will be.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 1, 2022
MLB is willing to increase the minimum salary to $615,000 which is well short of the $775,000 that the players wanted. “In MLB’s last offer a week ago, the league agreed to the union’s proposal for a bonus pool to be distributed among the best players with fewer than three years’ service time — but offered $10 million after the players initially proposed $105 million,” ESPN.
It is unclear when the two sides will meet again. The regular season is slated to begin March 31. The longer this drags on, that start dates are at greater risk of being lost.
