1:24pm: The MLBPA’s contingent has left the league’s offices after presenting a counteroffer, tweets Yahoo’s Hannah Keyser.
2:08am: The Players Association “requested to speak to its board again early tomorrow before coming back with a proposal,” an MLB official told Evan Drellich of The Athletic and other reporters. No games have been canceled yet. “Significant gaps remain between the sides,” a source tells SNY’s Andy Martino.
12:42am: There is hope for a collective bargaining agreement today between MLB and the Players Association. Both sides continued to work in their respective New York City offices as Tuesday bled into Wednesday. On Tuesday, MLB made an offer to the players that moved toward them in several key areas, including the competitive balance tax, the minimum salary, and the size of the new pre-arbitration bonus pool. The MLBPA has tendered a counteroffer, the details of which are unknown at this time.
Aside from the remaining financial gaps, MLB’s offer came with a few sticking points. One is the concept of a new, fourth competitive balance tax tier. In the previous CBA, the levels were named the Base Tax Threshold, First Surcharge Threshold, and Second Surcharge Threshold. The owners would like to add a Third Surcharge Threshold. Using the owners’ latest offer, the 2022 thresholds would be set at $230MM, $250MM, $270MM, and $290MM, with increasing tax rates for each tier. That new Third Surcharge Threshold would always sit $60MM above the Base Tax Threshold.
The owners are also insisting on the institution of an international draft. The last known details on this come from Anthony Castrovince’s article for MLB.com on March 5, but keep in mind that “lead negotiators Bruce Meyer & Dan Halem [are] believed to be discussing that topic actively,” as per an 11:36pm March 8 tweet from Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. Furthermore, MLB is said to be tying its offer to eliminate free agent draft pick forfeiture to the international draft.
It’s also worth noting that MLB’s last known offer was for a $40MM pre-arbitration bonus pool that did not increase throughout the five-year CBA. The MLBPA’s last known proposal came in at $80MM in 2022 with growth to $100MM in ’26. Nicholson-Smith has noted that “players have indicated a willingness” to move to a $70MM starting point growing to $90MM. That would still mark a sizable gap.
As you can see in my post summing up the latest known positions of each side, the once-cavernous gaps are narrowing with the prospect of a 162-game season hanging in the balance. The new draft lottery concept seems set to include the first six picks, although other details such as penalties for teams finishing near the bottom of the standings in consecutive seasons may yet need to be hashed out. Both sides have been in agreement on the universal designated hitter for a while now. The sides seem to be coming together on reducing the amount of notice MLB needs to make on-field rule changes. And perhaps most importantly, there seems to be consensus that the playoffs will be expanded to 12 teams in a potential new CBA.
On Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote that MLB suggested “that if a deal comes down Tuesday, players can be in spring training camps by Friday, and lost games could be made up on off days and with doubleheaders.” Tuesday came and went without an agreement, but USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted last night, “The new deadline is now Wednesday afternoon for the two sides to reach an agreement before MLB cancels another week of games.” It’s fair to question the necessity of MLB’s ever-changing deadlines, but it’s clear that today is pivotal as we wait to see if the league’s lockout will end on its 98th day.