(670 The Score) The MLB lockout is is barely a week old, and it's already clear that negotiations about a new collective bargaining agreement are, at best, slow-moving. The two sides met briefly in Dallas to try see if a last-minute agreement could be made, but the discussions notoriously ended after only seven minutes. On the Bernstein & Ramhi Show on Thursday, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ -- his team's MLBPA representative -- detailed what happened in Dallas that weekend, what the players are looking for and why they're so disheartened by the owners' approach in negotiations.
"The difficult part about being in the negotiating room is that people take things off the table," Happ said. "There's just no negotiation there. Now, there's core principles and core foundations for work stoppage issues on both sides. But if every issue is a work stoppage issue, then you can't negotiate. That's not how it works. But the big thing for players is a way to make the system more competitive. A way to do away service time manipulation, to have penalties for manipulating service time, so that fans are getting to see the best players in the league as soon as they're ready. So that teams are competing all the way throughout the season.
"One of the most disappointing parts is that the owners didn't make one economic proposal the entire time we were there," Happ added. "We made an economic proposal that looped into (one) that was a broader package and putting all these things together on one piece of paper. It looped in a lot of economics, with the draft and expanded playoffs and all those things you've heard about. We didn't get anything back. We didn't get anything that said, 'OK, here's our proposal in the same realm, here's how we get to a conclusion and move forward.' Without having that, anyone who has been through a negotiation, whether it's a car or a house or anything, you don't just keep giving numbers and have the other person say no. You don't just keep moving off your position. That's a horrible way to negotiate. So we're just disappointed there was no economic proposal brought forth by that side in Dallas."
You can listen to Happ's entire interview in the player below.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram