This is a depressing day for baseball. To nobody's surprise, the start season will be delayed after Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association failed to reach an agreement before the MLB's self-proposed 5 pm deadline. It marks the first time since 1995 that the MLB will cancel regular-season games due to a work stoppage. The games will not be made up and the players will not be paid.
The lockout is now on its 90th day and little progress has been made. Despite reports that the two sides were nearing a deal on February 29th there seems to be no resolution in sight. On March 1st reports leaked that talks had "gone backward". There is now growing speculation that the owners were feeding the media bogus reports so it would look like the player's fault when a deal was inevitably not reached.
According to Bob Nightengale, the MLB claims the union rejected the MLB's "best and final offer."
Bob Nightengale also reported that the two sides were nearly $50,000 apart in their minimum salary proposals. The players union is seeking $725 thousand while the MLB is stuck at $675 thousand.
The MLB's final offer included a pre-arbitration pool of $30 million, a minimum salary of $700,000, a playoff pool of 12 teams, and five Draft lottery picks. Jeff Passan also reported that the MLB's offer included no changes to the current Collective Balance Tax thresholds. The MLBPA wanted the CBT thresholds at 238/244/250/256/263 million. The current thresholds are 220/220/220/224/230 million.
While the MLB bumped up their minimum salary slightly everyone remains unhappy. Joc Peterson sarcastically tweeted "Official... will play 162 games 7 innings each, 32 teams will make the playoffs and everyone gets a participation trophy."
Alex Wood struck a similar tone tweeting " MLB has pumped to the media last night and today that there's momentum towards a deal. Now saying the player's tone has changed is not a coincidence. We've had the same tone all along. We just want a fair deal/to play ball.
The players union has a right to be upset. During the last collective bargaining agreement, the owners made out like bandits. The player's pay has decreased for four consecutive years while industry revenue has been raking in profits across the board. The players are trying not to get ripped off once again. The league claims to love the game but judging from their actions during the lockout that could not be further from the truth. The league waited 43 days to present the union with an offer. There was also minimal movement from their initial offers. Rob Manfred also had the gall to say "the concerns of our fans are at the very top of our consideration list," the day he canceled regular-season games. The entire situation is a mess and an eyesore for the sport. Not only does this affect fans. It also affects the thousands that are employed by Major League Baseball teams, including stadium workers. No Spring Training also puts a cork in the thousands of fans that flock to Arizona and Florida each spring to get the first glimpse of their team. The long-term ramifications could be dire. It is unknown when negotiations will resume.
