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Just before 1 p.m. ET, as scheduled, representatives of MLB owners and players sat down to a scheduled negotiation meeting:
MLB has arrived to hear the MLBPA’s latest proposal, and thus another collective bargaining meeting begins
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 17, 2022
And less than 20 minutes later, they were done:
The meeting between MLB and the MLBPA has ended.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 17, 2022
This can’t be good news, although:
Dan Halem of #MLB and Bruce Meyer of the PA are still having a side session. https://t.co/jF89ky7lnJ
— Ken Davidoff (@KenDavidoff) February 17, 2022
Here’s one opinion on this very short meeting with which I do not disagree (pardon the profanity):
Short meetings when the league is proposing means more bullshit. Short meetings when the union is proposing means the league got so mad they had to leave.
— Marc Normandin (@Marc_Normandin) February 17, 2022
We don’t have a lot of details about what went down during this meeting — and it can’t have been much, in 15 minutes! — but here’s something:
The MLBPA backed off it’s request for arbitration for all players with 2+ years of service today, requesting instead 80% of players go into the system. Additionally, the union requested an increase in its pre-arb bonus pool ask from $100 million to $115 million.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 17, 2022
Reading between the lines, that bonus pool ask might have been the reason for the short meeting. None of this is good, but I did have to laugh at this tweet:
MLB finally figuring out pace of play. https://t.co/QZZkhA1LIl
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) February 17, 2022
As we get more information, I will post it here. One thing that hasn’t yet been announced — and really, they need to get to it already — is what this will do to Spring Training and the regular season. We are only nine days away from the first scheduled MLB spring games. It’s obvious to me — and I assume to you — that those won’t happen on time. I would have to think that an announcement of an official delay would come later today, or at the latest, by tomorrow. It’s time that baseball fans actually knew what was to come.
As always, we await developments.