CLEARWATER, Fla. — After a meeting Thursday that was over faster than the average inning in a three-hour game, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association don’t appear to be any closer to an agreement that would enable the season to open on time.
The players, underwhelmed last Saturday by MLB’s broad proposal, countered by narrowing the focus to two issues that would help achieve their goal of higher pay for the less-tenured among them: arbitration eligibility and a bonus pool for players not yet eligible for salary arbitration, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.
On the first point, the players asked for 80% of players with two to three years of major-league service to be eligible for arbitration, a reduction from 100% in their previous proposal but a rise from the 22% who were eligible under the expired collective bargaining agreement.
