Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) met on Sunday for the seventh consecutive day in Jupiter, Florida, and although a new labor agreement was not reached, it appears that both sides have made progress.
Officials from both sides met on five separate occasions over more than six hours Sunday, in talks that a league source called “productive.” No further details were given.
The meetings will continue on Monday at 10 am ET, which would be the last day to reach an agreement before the deadline set by Major League Baseball. The date was set by MLB for the season to begin March 31 as scheduled.
Earlier this month, Commissioner Rob Manfred said that based on injury data and experience from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Spring Training should last at least four weeks for players to be adequately prepared for the season. .
Among the important aspects that have yet to be resolved, in order to reach a new labor agreement, is the competitive balance tax, Super 2 eligibility, manipulation of service time, pre-arbitration bonus and minimum wages.
The league offered a draft lottery that would award the top six picks — two more than any other league in the sport — and agreed to implement part of the MLBPA’s plan to fight service-time manipulation in addition to its own.
The league has agreed to award a full year of service time to any player who places first or second in their league’s Rookie of the Year voting. This would encourage teams to promote top prospects as soon as possible, knowing they would get a full year of service time regardless of whether they perform to their potential.
In exchange for the draft lottery and service-time proposals, MLB had asked for an expanded postseason to 14 teams (the union is still offering 12), as well as the ability to make field rule changes with 45 days notice. notice instead of the current system, which requires union consent or a full year’s notice. Those rule changes would be handled by a committee made up of six management officials, two MLBPA representatives and one referee.
Saturday’s proposals from the MLBPA did not include any movement on minimum wages or a pre-arbitration bonus fund, two issues the union raised in its most recent proposals.
The union lowered its request for Super 2 eligibility from 75 percent of players with more than two years of service to 35 percent, but MLB has maintained from the start that any change to the current system — which makes 22 percent of those players are eligible for arbitration — it won’t.
Players have insisted from the start of negotiations that getting younger players paid more early in their careers is one of the union’s main goals. Between the league’s proposals for minimum salary increases and a pre-arbitration bonus fund, MLB has offered more than $250 million in additional pre-arbitration compensation for players over the course of a five-year deal.
