By now, MLB fans are familiar with the way owners negotiate with players.
That caused the hype levels for today’s meeting to be relatively low, at least compared to those of last Saturday.
People didn’t expect a deal today, but the result of the meeting was beyond what anybody could have imagined.
According to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post, the gathering lasted about 15 minutes, followed by a short 20-minute chat between MLB and the Players Association’s representatives.
Of course, for two sides with a lot to talk about (minimum salary, competitive balance tax, tanking, service time manipulation, penalties, draft picks, etc.), the duration of the meeting was not what everybody would have wanted.
The sides have so much to iron out that they could be locked in for days and there still wouldn’t be a deal.
Fans reacted to the news on Twitter.
Some of them expressed their disappointment.
The players and owners can’t decide on a new CBA agreement and spring training was already supposed to start this week and they still aren’t even close in negotiations. Their meeting today lasted 15 minutes😓😭
— Matthew Kennedy (@MattKennedy05) February 17, 2022
There’s nothing more disappointing than getting off a long work call only to read that CBA negotiations lasted 15 minutes today. pic.twitter.com/CfptmN18o2
— Allison (@juansotoHR) February 17, 2022
Others were quite mad:
15 MINUTES??? Lock them in a 3 room suite with lawyers there on standby. No more excuses. I get that the CBA is a large document and discussion are needed and lawyers need to be consulted, but GET IT DONE ALREADY. pic.twitter.com/EnwpAXtDDs
— Sara 😎 World Series Champ (@heysaraaaaa) February 17, 2022
And some of the reactions were actually hilarious:
My daily Zoom meetings last longer than today’s CBA meeting between MLB and MLBPA.
— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) February 17, 2022
MLB Thinks There Is Still Some Time
In any case, according to ESPN insider Jeff Passan, the league thinks there is still some time to negotiate a deal before the start of the regular season needs to be delayed.
Passan explains that the league thinks an agreement should be sealed within the next 11 days, otherwise the 2022 regular season can’t start on time.
Janes reported that the players are proposing “dropping their request to put all players with two years of service time into arbitration. Instead, they propose Super Two, which currently puts the top 22 percent of two-year players in terms of service time into arbitration, expand to the top 80 percent.”
The ball appears to be in MLB’s court, and that’s not necessarily a good sign, since they tend to take things slowly.
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