Manfred: Missing Games to Lockout a 'Disastrous Outcome' For Baseball
Major League Baseball is now 71 days into its owner-imposed lockout, the second-longest work stoppage in the game's history. With Opening Day just 49 days away, the possibility of missing games has become a real concern.
"If I hadn't given consideration to what it would mean to miss games, I wouldn't be doing my job," said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred at the conclusion of the quarterly owners meetings on Thursday. "Obviously, I pay attention to that. I see missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry, and we're committed to making an agreement in an effort to avoid that."
Though MLB and the MLB Players Association remain far from reaching an agreement, Manfred also said there is "no change" to the sport's calendar, including the start of spring training camps that are set to open in less than a week.
To this point, negotiations toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement have moved at a glacial pace. After the owners unanimously voted to lock out the players at the expiration of the previous CBA, MLB waited six weeks to make its first proposal on the game's core economics. The handful of meetings since then have produced little progress while tension has exponentially escalated to the point of the league requesting a federal mediator step in and expedite the process. The MLBPA—who made the most recent proposal over a week ago—rejected the request, saying "the clearest path to a fair and timely agreement is to get back to the table."
After taking time to regroup during this week's meetings, MLB plans to offer their next proposal Saturday.
"We're going to make a good-faith, positive proposal in an effort to move the process forward," said Manfred. "Whether or not that happens, that's a product of the process. I just don't know. It's a good proposal."
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Manfred also said the league would discuss the calendar with the MLBPA in Saturday's meeting. Unless the league's proposal moves the needle to the brink of a new agreement, that conversation will likely include an official decision to delay spring training.
This next proposal from MLB may prove to be very crucial in negotiations. Opening Day is scheduled for March 31. Considering the failure of the truncated ramp-up due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Manfred indicated that spring training needs to be at least four weeks in length. Once a new agreement is reached, MLB and the MLBPA would need time to ratify a new CBA and players would need time to travel to their respective camps, which could take "a few days."
Counting back from March 31, an agreement would need to be in place before the end of February to avoid putting Opening Day in serious jeopardy.
"The clubs, our owners fully understand how important it is to our fans that we get the game on the field as soon as possible," Manfred said. "We want to reach a fair agreement with the Players Association, and we want to do that quickly."
Among the outstanding issues, MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to several smaller issues, including a draft lottery to discourage tanking, a universal designated hitter, the elimination of draft pick compensation in free agency and measures to curb service time manipulation. In addition, both sides agree the league's minimum salary needs to be raised and pre-arbitration players need to be better compensated. However, to this point, the two sides have been immensely far apart on the details.
The largest remaining hurdles include revenue sharing and the Competitive Balance Tax threshold. Players want the CBT threshold significantly raised and penalties reduced to encourage spending amongst clubs while owners want the threshold increased incrementally with harsher penalties to keep the disparity between the top and bottom at bay.
According to MLB Network's Jon Heyman, MLB will make concessions on key economic issues in hopes to trigger more compromise from the MLBPA. While it likely won't be enough to salvage spring training's original start date, the hope is a deal can be struck in enough time to start the season on time.
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