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If you’ve been wondering when MLB owners and players might sit down to talk again, Evan Drellich at The Athletic has... well, some information for you:
Major League Baseball is preparing new core economic proposals to deliver to the Players Association. When they’re presented, likely this month, core economic talks in the sport will have restarted for the first time since owners initiated a lockout on Dec. 2, marking a positive development.
But the resumption of conversations won’t necessarily mean that pitchers and catchers will report on time to major league camp in the middle of February. On the contrary, the start of spring training is in peril until there is real movement. And real movement might not come until more is at stake than simply an on-time start to spring training.
So... that’s not “real movement,” but at least there’s some news, where for the last few weeks there’s been nothing. As Drellich’s article states:
Players, for years, have indicated they want significant changes. MLB, knowing this, could have adopted a basic mentality: we can give up the least by waiting as long as possible. Why make major concessions at a time when players could say no without risking a paycheck?
Meanwhile, it seems purposeful that the MLBPA is asking for a slew of significant changes without identifying one particular alteration, or a set of them, that players feel they absolutely must have. The union hasn’t drawn lines in the sand yet, aside from what has long been understood — that a salary cap is not tenable.
Again, this is something, but not much more than nothing. As always, we await further developments.
Meanwhile, the Cubs announced Friday that tickets for Spring Training games at Sloan Park will go on sale Saturday, January 15 at 11 a.m. MT/noon CT. Of course, there is a risk that some of these games might not be played as scheduled, in which case you’d get a refund if a game is cancelled. Cubs season ticket holders are being given a presale for spring tickets that begins at 11 a.m. MT/noon CT on Thursday, January 13 and ends the same day at 10:59 p.m. MT/11:59 p.m. CT.
More information on the January 15 sale can be found here. Cubs season ticket holders received an email with presale information Friday afternoon.