When Rob Manfred wrote his letter to “our Fans” on Dec. 2, he explained Major League Baseball’s decision to lock out the players as a tactic to “jumpstart the negotiations and get us to an agreement that will allow the season to start on time.”
Then, the league went 43 days without making a proposal to the MLB Players’ Association. So much for being “ready to work around the clock to meet that goal.”
Yesterday afternoon, two months after the previous collective bargaining agreement expired and the lockout began, MLB requested a federal mediator to help resolve its dispute with the union. It also informed the players that it would not be making a counter offer to their latest proposal after two days earlier telling them it would. That’s it. The two sides met four times to bargain over core economics and made little progress, only for the league to say it has exhausted most of its options and its only choice is to seek outside assistance.
