MLB shutdown: League sets new deadline to consider full season, could cancel more matches Tuesday, report says

Major League Baseball presented the MLB Players Association with a new set of collective bargaining proposal assumptions as part of its Zoom call on Monday, and did so while setting a new deadline to avoid further cancellation of regular season games, according to the athleteEvan Drelish. The league’s last self-imposed time period will drop sometime on Tuesday evening.

Commissioner Rob Manfred canceled the first two series of the schedule last week as the owner-imposed deadline entered the third month, and is ready to cancel two more series if the two sides fail to reach terms on a new collective bargaining agreement by the deadline.

In an interesting and predictable development, the league has informed the federation that it considers Tuesday the last chance for the season to be 162 games in length and for players to receive full salary and full service time. As Drillich pointed out, none of these aspects can be dictated unilaterally, and each is subject to further negotiations between the two sides.

The two series that Manfred canceled last week could be added to the end of the schedule if a deal is reached on Tuesday, according to USA TODAYBob Nightingale. Prospects for the two sides to reach a new agreement on Tuesday still look dim. Like Ken Rosenthal the athlete chirpOne player familiar with the league’s invitation was told that standards remained “tipped in favor of the league”.

The university raised its bid on the competitive balance tax threshold to $228 million, For every drill. The league asked to start at $238 million, but that’s the number the league will swell to over the course of a CBA cycle. Previously, the league was offering to start the CBA with a $220 million tax threshold. Drillich notes that the league’s offering has “major limitations.”

Reminder, Here’s what things have come to after the union’s last proposal on Sunday Which made them concede the ground on multiple issues, including the league’s ability to implement the pitch clock, and larger rules and defensive positioning rules in 2023:

• The union reduced its pre-arbitration award request from $85 million to $80 million. The owners previously proposed a central fund of $30 million, which means the gap there is still quite large at $50 million.
• As noted above, Union has not waived any basis on its request for the competitive balance tax to begin at $238 million and grow to $263 million. The league faced a CBT threshold starting at $220 million and slowly rising to $230 million. That changed on Monday, with the league rising to $228 million to start and $238 million to finish. Arguably this was the most important button issue in the negotiationsAnd the Four owners reportedly voted no for the proposal based on the CBT limit only.
• The union also took no action on its demand for a higher league minimum salary of $725,000, with annual increases of $20,000. The league offered a minimum of $700,000 with annual increments of $10,000.
• The federation wants a sweepstakes project to determine the six top picks each summer as a way to curb anti-competitive behaviour. The league wants this lottery to cover only the top five picks.

A spokesperson for the association issued a statement on Sunday indicating that the union’s bid was a step backwards.