Start of MLB Season In Jeopardy After Disastrous Meeting

The stalemate between the Players Associate and the MLB continues and as expected Spring Training is in jeopardy of starting on time. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that the league and the union met on Tuesday but the picture he painted seemed bleak. He described the discussion as "heated" and the progress made has been minimal. "The league meeting between Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB is over. Little progress was made. The on-time opening of spring training at this point is in grave danger and frankly, would take a miraculous deal coming together to rescue. A delay feels inevitable," Passan tweeted on Tuesday morning.

Former White Sox outfielder and current free-agent Brian Goodwin also took to Twitter to express his thoughts and gave the MLB the finger. Goodwin expresses a sentiment shared by many ballplayers.

Multiple MLB insiders have reported that the union slightly altered its proposal regarding bonus pool money for pre-arbitration players,as well as its proposal regarding service time manipulation. However, the union was not ecstatic about the offer and a large gap remains between the two sides on key economic issues such as luxury tax and minimum player salaries. Jon Heyman tweeted on Tuesday afternoon that the "Union didn't move much since it doesn't love MLB's $10M offer. So both sides dislike the other's bonus pool proposal. And they didn't get to other big issues today, including CBT or minimum for 0-3 players (MLB is a 615K/650K/700K, union 775/775 then arbitration at 2 years,"

He continued "Now both sides in baseball's labor talks are disappointed, with MLB now joining players union in that regard. Union offered a couple of seemingly small changes (ie lowering bonus pool to $100M from $105M; MLB remains at $10M). Chance to start spring on time about Feb. 14 is remote." The CBT or Competitive Balance Tax is what determines the luxury tax each year. The players union does not want a hard cap because it will limit spending. They want the threshold to be raised by nearly $30 million with lower penalties for teams that exceed it. That will incentivize spending. However, the owners would like it lowered, and in exchange, they proposed a $100 million salary floor. The players union was not having it. Another issue, as Heyman mentioned, is that the players union wants to get younger players paid more with early arbitration. The MLB not only wants to keep players ineligible for arbitration until year three they also have a low minimum salary threshold for rookie players. Originally the minimum salary was $570,5000. The owners did raise it to $600,000 in their initial proposal. Then increased it to $615,000 this week. But it is still $160,000 less than what the players union is asking for. That is a major difference in opinion. If this was a pawn shop both sides would have walked away given the difference in price. Given these recent developments, the chance of starting Spring Training on time is slim to none. However, for the second time in three years, the start of the regular season is in jeopardy. The two sides clearly don't see eye to eye and neither seems to be willing to budge.