Major League Baseball’s owner-imposed lockout is on the precipice of compromising the regular season. Monday marks the league’s self-imposed deadline for when a new collective bargaining agreement must be reached before regular-season games are canceled. This would mark the first time since 1995 that regular-season contests are impacted by a work stoppage. (The 2020 season was altered by the pandemic.)
During Monday’s meeting, MLB informed the MLBPA it is willing to miss a month’s worth of games and took a more threatening tone, reports Evan Drellich of The Athletic. Earlier this month commissioner Rob Manfred said missing games would be a “disastrous outcome” for the sport, words that have rung hollow in the weeks since.
CBS Sports has provided a timeline of the lockout here, but the short version is that the owners placed the padlocks on when the previous CBA expired. They were under no obligation to do so, but it was labeled as a defensive maneuver. The league then waited more than six weeks to make its first proposal. The two sides have since had a number of in-person negotiations, with some of the main sticking points including the Competitive Balance Tax; revenue sharing; the breakdown of players who qualify for Super Two status in arbitration; and the league-minimum salary. Here’s a rundown of where things stand heading into Monday’s negotiations.
The two sides began their Monday negotiations at 10 a.m. ET Monday in Jupiter, Florida. CBS Sports will provide live updates throughout the day. You can find those below.
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Players set up camp in Arizona
All indications are that this is moving toward a shutdown that prevents major-league spring training for the next several weeks, at least, and the players need to get/stay in shape. On that front, this is interesting:
And Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (the Cardinals’ spring training is in Florida) reports that the players from the Florida teams will look to do something similar.
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Sides not done yet
The meetings for the day are not done yet in Jupiter, per multiple reporters on the ground. Manfred met with players about an hour ago, and the two sides plan to meet again at some point this evening/tonight.
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What happens after Monday’s deadline?
Barring a miracle, MLB and the MLBPA will not strike a deal Monday. In that case the two sides would go their separate ways Tuesday and regroup, and MLB would likely announce more spring training games are being canceled. Although today is the “deadline” to start the season on time, the league won’t announce Opening Day is postponed until absolutely necessary.
Similar to 2020, MLB will announce any regular season cancellations in small chunks. They won’t come out say there will be no games the entire month of April, for example. They’ll go a week at a time most likely, and of course the games will be “postponed” rather than “canceled,” because teams don’t have to issue immediate ticket refunds for postponements. They have your money and you’ll have to wait to get it back.
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Taillon responds to MLB’s ‘threat’
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The latest session between MLB and the MLBPA is over. They’ve met twice today and figure to meet at least once more.
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Let’s check in on the reigning NL MVP
Bryce Harper, exactly three years removed from signing a 13-year deal with the Phillies, appears to be making contingency plans for the upcoming season on his Instagram. We’ll assume Harper is joking… for now.
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MLB’s big guns are heading over to talk to the players now:
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The prospect of missing games
It has been obvious for weeks now that the start of the regular season is in jeopardy, so ownership telling the players they are willing to give up (at least) a month’s worth of games is not surprising. Just because it isn’t surprising doesn’t mean it isn’t infuriating though. The lockout is a choice and the decision to cancel games is a choice. The owners are intentionally taking baseball away from fans to line their own pockets.
I don’t know how MLB explains this to their partners (television networks, gaming partners, etc.) but I’m sure they have their ducks in a row. Fans are a different matter. Fans have infinite other ways to entertain themselves these days, many of which cost less than baseball (in terms of time and money), and some fans won’t come back after the lockout. I’m not a “baseball is dying” guy, but this is doing long-term damage to the sport. It’s shameful.
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Not surprisingly, the owners informed the players they are willing to punt April to get what they want during today’s meeting. The lockout would have no teeth if MLB weren’t wiling to sacrifice games.
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After about an hour of meeting with the union, MLB’s representatives are heading back to their side of the complex. It’s common for the talks to consist of several short face-to-face meetings throughout the day, with caucuses on each side in the interim.
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As news of Derek Jeter stepping down as Marlins CEO circulates, several players have taken to show social media to show their appreciation, suggesting Jeter may have stepped down in part due to solidarity with the players.
Francisco Lindor and Jason Castro, who made posts praising Jeter, are on the MLBPA’s eight-man executive subcommittee.
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