MLB and the MLBPA still aren’t close to a deal. Progress and common ground have been so rare that the scheduled start of spring training could be jeopardized, reports Tom Verducci
The owners’ NBA-style draft lottery proposal was made to address the union’s concern that teams have been fielding non-competitive teams in part to gain higher draft picks. The latest proposal responded to the players’ feedback to their initial proposal.
The owners previously made proposals to eliminate draft pick compensation associated with free agency qualifying offers, to add the designated hitter to the National League, to raise the minimum salary 23% to $700,000, and to increase the Competitive Balance Tax threshold by $4 million to $214 million. The players first proposed the threshold be set at $248 million and then countered at $245 million.as negotiations have yet to gain traction.
Pressure to work toward a deal increases only as spring training and a full 162-game season become in jeopardy. For instance, the last lockout, in 1990, ended on March 18. Players were in camp two days later. To save the full season, the two sides agreed to gerrymander the calendar. They staged a condensed, three-week spring training, pushed Opening Day a week later, and added three days of games to the back end of the schedule.
Opening Day this year is scheduled for March 31, two days earlier than in 1990. Because of expanded playoffs, there is little to no wiggle room to extend the regular season. For those reasons, the last date for an agreement that would save the full season is earlier than it was in 1990 by about a week or so, to around March 9.
But free agency presents another major difference between 1990 and this lockout. The 1990 lockout did not begin until Feb. 15, just as camps were about to open. Most free agent business had concluded by then. When this lockout began on Dec. 2, only 61 free agents had signed. In a typical year, about 120 major league free agents are signed, which means about half of free agent business still needs to be resolved after an agreement is reached.
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