Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association met again on Tuesday with hopes of making progress in ending the lockout.
Instead, little progress was made and now the on-time opening of spring training is in “grave danger” barring a “miraculous deal” coming together, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The week of Feb. 14 is when pitchers and catchers are expected to begin reporting to spring training, leaving the owners and players less than two weeks to reach a deal if spring training were to start on time.
Per Audacy’s MLB insider Jon Heyman, the owners have now joined the players in disappointment, adding that the players offered seemingly small changes — such as lowering bonus pool to $100 million from $105 million — in the latest meeting while bigger issues, such as collective bargaining tax or salary minimums for 0-3 year players, were not addressed.
There have been only a handful of talks since MLB owners decided to lock out the players on Dec. 2 after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
While a delay to spring training now seems inevitable, the bigger picture is just how far into spring training will the lockout go, and could it spill into the regular season?
Spring training games are scheduled to begin on Feb. 26 while Opening Day is March 31.
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers marked March 3 as the day to circle to begin worrying about whether or not regular-season games could be missed. While a shortened spring training could be agreed upon, it is likely that players will need four weeks of spring training to properly prepare for the season.
It has not been reported when the two sides plan to meet next.
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