Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association resumed collective bargaining negotiations at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida on Monday with time winding down until opening day.
In what‘s expected to be the first of many sessions this week, MLB offered to raised its pre-arbitration bonus pool from $15 million to $20 million, according to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. The newly proposed amount is still a far cry from the one suggested by the MLBPA, who raised their request on the matter from $100 million to $115 million last Thursday.
Additionally, there was no revised proposal from the league on the competitive balance tax, per Drellich. MLB‘s most recent offer on the luxury tax was a week ago, when it proposed an amount of $214 million in 2022 that would steadily increase to $222 million in the final year of the collective bargaining deal, according to Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post. The MLBPA has remained steadfast in its request of a $245 million competitive balance tax.
MLB did increase the number of teams in a proposed draft lottery to four, per Janes. As part of that revision, no high-revenue club (one that pays into the revenue sharing system) can be in the lottery for consecutive years, per Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci. The union had previously asked for eight teams to be included.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, MLB also withdrew its request to control the amount of minor-league player jobs, which would've given the league the power to reduce the amount of spots available. On the other hand, however, MLB reportedly rescinded its offer to limit the amount of times a player could be sent to the minors each season to five, per Passan. Players had proposed a limit of four options.
Both sides plan to meet again in Florida on Tuesday with the MLBPA expected to counter.
MLB recently told the union that Feb. 28 is the last possible day for the two sides to reach an agreement in order for the 2022 regular season to start 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.
MLB officially postponed the start of spring training late last week. Spring training games through Saturday, March 5 have been called off as of Monday.
