Rob Manfred Made Surprise Appearance at Friday's MLB Lockout Meetings

Rob Manfred made a surprise visit to MLB and MLBPA meetings Friday in Jupiter, Florida. The sides met there for the fifth consecutive day of meetings.

Progress was made, though highly incremental. MLB and MLBPA met three separate times Friday, perhaps an encouraging sign given that they have met only twice everyday since Monday.

Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported that progress was made in resolving the amateur draft order/lottery picks. Those gains were made in favor of the players. While not hugely significant on its own, the fact that MLB moved at all bodes well for meetings in the days to come.

A little progress! MLB, players made gains today in one area: amateur draft order/lottery. MLB made a proposal on it, players countered in same day. Not done yet, but there is optimism. Rob Manfred met with Tony Clark one on one. Manfred did not meet w/ players. They’ll meet tomm
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 25, 2022

Drellich also reported the meetings will continue this weekend. That had been uncertain as sides announced they would meet everyday this week but mentioned nothing about talking on Saturday or Sunday.

Meanwhile, Manfred’s surprise visit was the first one-on-one meeting with MLBPA leader Tony Clark since 2020. It is entirely unknown what was discussed in this closed-doors meeting, but it’s surely a good sign that talks are progressing.

Unfortunately, proposals today from the MLB or MLBPA did not include competitive balance tax, minimum salary or the pre-arbitration bonus pool, all of which are highly contentious subjects. These areas must be settled before games are officially canceled at the February 28th deadline.

There are three days remaining for sides to come to an agreement. We’ll know for certain about baseball’s future in 2022 on Monday.

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