A second straight day of CBA negotiations brought about a counter proposal from the MLB Players Association to the league's owners, with the offer reportedly touching on increasing salaries for pre-arbitration players, raising the minimum salaries for all players and tweaking the proposed draft lottery, per The Athletic's Evan Drellich. There was no movement regarding the league's competitive balance tax.
The players's union has proposed that 75% of players with two to three years of service time be eligible for arbitration, a decrease from the initial request of 80%. The MLBPA also requested a raise to the overall league minimum salary to $775,000, with annual $30,000 increases for the lifetime of the CBA.
The league again brought up the notion of having a mediator involved, which the players rejected, according to Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post.
The owners viewed the MLBPA's offer as a "step backwards," per Drellich, due to the requested increases in minimum salaries. The owners offered on Monday to increase the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $15 million to $20 million, following a request by the players for $115 million last week. However, the league also reportedly withdrew its proposal to limit the number of times a player could be sent to the minors to five, which the players viewed as a negative for those on the edge of 25-man rosters.
Still, the most critical issue toward reaching an agreement remains the competitive balance tax, which the owners and players have reportedly not yet made formal proposals on this week. The two sides plan to meet again on Wednesday.
The league has operated under the deadline that Feb. 28 is the last possible day to reach an agreement and still start the 2022 season on time. The deadline is a result of the league‘s desire to allow for at least four weeks of spring training workouts based in Florida and Arizona.
