MLB, MLPA push deadline for new CBA to 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday/Today
from Victor Barbosa, with YardBaker.com/www.yardbarker.com
The chances of the 2022 MLB season beginning on time lived to see another day, as the owners and Major League Baseball Player’s Association (MLBPA) elected to extend their deadline to come to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The new deadline is 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
The agreement came after a 16-hour marathon day of negotiations that began on Monday and stretched into early Tuesday morning. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the sides made “progress” toward a new CBA, but “gaps remain between the sides on the competitive-balance tax thresholds, minimum salary and bonus pool for pre-arbitration player, sources said. Also on the table: the implementation of an international draft.”
“After setting a Monday deadline for a deal to salvage a March 31 Opening Day following the league’s Dec. 2 lockout of players, MLB made significant moves on Monday and early Tuesday, bumping the CBT threshold to $220 million, the minimum salary to $675,000 and the bonus pool to $25 million, according to sources,” Passan wrote. “The union long had pursued a CBT threshold of $245 million, a minimum salary of $775,000 and a bonus pool of $115 million, though the continued meetings on Tuesday illustrate its willingness to move off its demands. The union also dropped its proposal to increase the number of arbitration-eligible players with two years’ service from 22%.”
Per Passan, a league spokesman said “we want to exhaust every possibility to get a deal done.” The owners and players plan to resume talks at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported Tuesday morning that while there was some progress on Monday, the chances of a new deal being made by the 5 p.m. ET deadline is still unknown.
There’s definitely hope heading into Deadline Day II but there is still a decent-sized gap in the CBT threshold (220M vs. 230M plus) and also real differences in bonus pool, minimum salary (675K vs 700K plus) and international draft. Very good progress yesterday but a ways to go.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 1, 2022
The lockout has already caused spring training games to be postponed.
Opening Day was originally slated for March 31. The current work stoppage is the league’s first since a strike in 1994-95 that resulted in the cancellation of more than 900 games and the 1994 World Series.