The billionaire owners and millionaire players of Major League Baseball failed to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement last Tuesday. This indicates that the first two series of the 2022 season (about 90 games) have been canceled at the very least.
With no clear road forward insight, additional games are likely to be canceled. No new talks have been scheduled as of yet.
The players were locked out by the owners in December, which meant that no baseball activity could take place until both parties reached an agreement on matters like the minimum amount each team must spend collectively on player compensation.
The current figure is $210 million; the owners propose $220 million, while the players propose $238 million. The amount of a bonus pool for stars who have played in the big leagues for fewer than three years is also up for debate.
MLB and the MLBPA met for about an hour and a half on Sunday at MLBPA offices in Midtown, with the union making its first proposal since talks broke down as mentioned before last Tuesday. And MLB reacted by declaring the two sides were “deadlocked.”
Given the harsh tone on both sides over the last week, it’s evident that more regular-season games could be in peril shortly.
As the MLB lockout enters its third month and the first two regular-season series have already been canceled, the top negotiators for both parties — MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem and MLBPA general counsel Bruce Meyer — also met briefly for a one-on-one following the formal meeting.
After Sunday’s meeting, MLB spokesman Glen Caplin responded to the MLBPA proposal, saying:
“We were hoping to see some movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly.
“The Players Association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward. On some issues, they even went backwards.
“Simply put, we are deadlocked. We will try to figure out how to respond, but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”
According to an MLBPA official, the union strongly refutes MLB’s claim that the union moved backward in its proposal on Sunday.
The commissioner’s office has requested from the players the opportunity to enact several key rule changes sooner than is now permitted, reducing the time required from one year to 45 days. The players agreed to it in three areas that MLB desired — the pitch clock, expanded bases, and defensive shift limits — but not in the implementation of an automated strike zone, which MLB also desired.
The MLBPA is still at six picks to be included in the amateur draft lottery, MLB at five. The sides disagree on other elements of the amateur draft as well and there are several other disagreements as mentioned before.
What happens next, and how long will it be before the games are resumed? – Only time will tell.
