Multiple league officials believe Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association will not strike an agreement by Feb. 28, MLB's self-imposed deadline to avoid canceling regular-season games, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
The two sides exchanged comprehensive packages Saturday, but the proceedings left both unhappy.
Lots of changes on the specifics today but in total: both sides proposed comprehensive packages. MLB’s reaction to the union’s proposal—incld moves on CBT, super 2, & rev sharing—was negative, players were outraged. MLB’s counter left players considering walking away tonight.
— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) February 26, 2022
The players were infuriated to the point they considered walking away from the bargaining table, a person familiar with their plans told The Washington Post's Chelsea Janes.
"(It's) not good," pitcher Max Scherzer, one of the players heavily involved in negotiations, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Derrick Goold about the sessions while signing autographs for fans. "They don't like what we have to say."
The MLBPA dropped its request to expand arbitration eligibility from 75% of players with two-to-three years of service time to 35%, according to The Athletic's Evan Drellich.
Neither side offered any change to the minimum salary structure or the pre-arbitration bonus pool, according to Drellich.
The union's proposal also included coming down $2 million on the competitive-balance tax thresholds each year from 2023 to 2025, Janes added. The league countered with an offer to raise the threshold only in the second year of the agreement from $214 million to $215 million.
MLB also offered to lower luxury tax penalties to 45% for the first threshold, 62% for the second, and 95% for the third, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers.
The league reiterated wanting the window of notice to unilaterally impose on-field changes shortened from the current one year to 45 days, which the players didn't receive well, Passan reports.
The negative tone of Saturday's negotiations also represented a backtrack from the optimism on Friday that MLB and the MLBPA were close to an agreement on a draft lottery.
And just when it looked like they were on the verge of agreeing on 4-team draft lottery, that blew up too when MLB insisted on 14-team playoff pool instead of union’s proposal of 12
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 26, 2022
Despite the setback, the league and union will again meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for a seventh straight day of bargaining, according to Passan.
No meeting was immediately scheduled for tomorrow between MLB and MLBPA. Players plan to discuss. But speculatively: it would be difficult for either side to end these talks prior to Monday, which is the day of MLB’s imposed deadline for the regular season to start on time.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 26, 2022
MLB and its players have been locked out since the previous collective bargaining agreement expired on Dec. 1.
