The negotiations between MLB and the Players Association for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) are starting to become ugly and tough to watch.
Not only are the sides barely talking, but when they do, talks usually go nowhere: the league is stubborn and doesn’t want to meet, or at least come close, to players’ demands.
That’s why if the sides agree to a deal on Thursday’s meeting, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the meeting would happen today.
MLB and the players union have scheduled a negotiating session Thursday
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 16, 2022
He called it a “negotiating session”, so it will likely include the MLB players’ response to the owners’ latest offer, which came on Saturday.
Over the weekend, the league offered to increase the minimum salary to $630,000 (from $570,500) on a flat amount, or a tiered system which would start, according to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, at $615,000 for 0-1 service time, $650,000 for 1-2 years, and $725,000 for 2-3 years.
On league minimum salary, MLB made two proposals. One for a flat amount of $630,000 (and teams could pay more if they wish).
Or tiered proposal with an increase in year 3: now, $615k for 0-1 service time, $650k for 1-2 yrs, $725k for 2-3 yrs. Increase is in 2-3: used to be 700k
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 12, 2022
Players Have Lots Of Issues With The Competitive Balance Tax
The players are more disappointed with the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) at the moment, though.
The owners offered only a slight increase in the CBT, starting with a $214 million threshold (it’s currently at $210 million), but they want steep penalties for those who exceed that amount, and the union is strongly opposed.
Players think that if the penalties are too harsh, it won’t help at all because teams would be very hesitant to exceed the threshold, acting more like a hard cap.
Seeing how the gap between the two parties is so big, and with a myriad of other topics to cover and agree on, a deal today seems overly optimistic.
But there is space for miracles in baseball, isn’t there?
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