During Tuesday’s “Deadline Day” to reach a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), MLB proposed a final “take it or leave it” offer to the Players Association near 5 p.m, ET.
In the offer, MLB had proposed a $700,000 minimum salary, the competitive balance tax (CBT) starting at $220 million in 2022, and other small “concessions”.
Players had a decision to make: they could take that deal even if wasn’t quite what they wanted, but there would be baseball starting on time this year.
Or, they gathered all their strength and said no, sacrificing present earnings for a better deal tomorrow.
They chose the second option.
What does that mean?
We will let one of the most prominent player voices of the union, relief pitcher Andrew Miller, say it.
“Andrew Miller on how long they’re prepared to sit out: ‘We’re prepared,'” he said, according to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post.
Andrew Miller on how long they’re prepared to sit out: “We’re prepared.” #MLB
— Ken Davidoff (@KenDavidoff) March 1, 2022
Players Are Prepared To Hold For A Better Deal
If players rejected that deal, they did it knowing that the start of the regular season wouldn’t be on March 31, as previously scheduled.
In fact, one of the first things that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred did on Tuesday was cancelling the first two series of the season.
There could be more cancellations if there isn’t a quick deal between the two parties.
Some progress was made on the weekend, Monday, and Tuesday, though.
However, the sides are not on the verge of a deal, and seeing their approach on deadline day, players are not about to make more concessions, otherwise they would have agreed to that final deal.
And that’s excellent for the game: players deserve to be paid much, much more.
Players, per Miller, are prepared for waiting.
NEXT: Max Scherzer Has Officially Joined The Mets