New MLBPA proposal includes $5M reduction in pre-arbitration pool

The MLB Players Association gave a written collective bargaining agreement proposal to Major League Baseball on Sunday. It included a $5 million reduction to the union’s last offer in a pre-arbitration bonus pool, but it did not include any changes to its competitive balance tax proposal, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The meeting in New York lasted 95 minutes with the union suggesting afterward that the two sides meet again Monday. Deputy commissioner Dan Halem and union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer met after Sunday’s meeting, but the league stated it will get back to the players about meeting Monday.

“We were hoping to see some movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly,” league spokesperson Glen Caplin said.

“The players’ association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward. On some issues, they even went backwards. Simply put, we are deadlocked. We will try to figure out how to respond but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”

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A union official said they disagreed with the league’s assertion it was a step backwards, pointing out they’ve made concessions on many of the issues, including dropping Super 2 expansion as well as any alterations to free agency.

They also view agreeing to an expanded postseason as a concession for the league.

The union’s first threshold in the CBT still starts at $238 million and ends at $263 million. The league’s offer starts at $220 million, going up to $230 million over the course of the five years.

The union’s ask in the pre-arbitration pool is now at $80 million, while the league was offering $30 million in its latest proposal.

The sides remain far apart on those two issues alone.

The union did agree on Sunday to a league request to change the amount of time needed to implement rule changes in three areas: A pitch clock, the size of the bases and the shift. Previously, the league needed to give a year’s notice to the union in order to make unilateral rule changes but now will be required to give only 45 days with those specific rules. The new timeline for rule changes will start in 2023.

Sunday was Day 95 of the lockout. Spring games through March 17 have been canceled along with the first two regular-season series. More regular-season matches are likely to be canceled at the beginning of the week.

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