MLB Reportedly Feels No Progress Was Made Thursday

Today’s round of bargaining between MLB and the players’ union lasted only 15 minutes.

The #MLB and #MLBPA negotiating session is over after just 15 minutes.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 17, 2022

If you thought that is a bad sign, you may be right: MLB feels the meeting was unproductive.

That was The Athletic’s Evan Drellich’s report: “MLB found today’s meeting to be unproductive. The league has said it won’t move at all on time to arbitration (expanding Super 2’s). Overall, my takeaway from today is like most every day so far: talks are not moving fast. Opening Day — as said before — is in clear peril,” he tweeted.

MLB found today’s meeting to be unproductive. The league has said it won’t move at all on time to arbitration (expanding Super 2's).

Overall, my takeaway from today is like most every day so far: talks are not moving fast. Opening Day — as said before — is in clear peril.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 17, 2022

According to Washington Post reporter Chelsea Janes, the players offered “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 arb, expand to the top 80 percent.”

Union’s proposal today: 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 arb, expand to the top 80 percent.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 17, 2022

That’s something MLB found impossible to accept, but the most worrying development is that they don’t even seem willing to move from their original stance on Super Twos.

The Union Wants More Young Players To Be Rewarded For Performance

Another item discussed today was the union asking for the famous pool of outstanding young players (between 0-3 years of service time) by WAR (Wins Above Replacement) to be rewarded by performance to be increased from 30 to 150.

Also, instead of top 30 eligible players by average of rWAR and fWAR into pre arb bonus pool, players now want 150 players there.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 17, 2022

The league didn’t like the changes, but what else is new?

Per Janes, both sides are expected to meet again tomorrow to discuss non-core economics stuff.

Owners are expected to prepare a proposal involving core economic issues soon, but there isn’t a date for that yet.

The important takeaway is that today’s meeting was a failure, and fans are starting to lose hope regarding the 2022 season starting on time.