Players and owners returned to the negotiating table Saturday for another round of collective bargaining talks amid MLB’s first work stoppage in over a quarter century. The meeting was a short one, lasting less than a hour.
Time is of the essence for MLB with Opening Day now in peril, never mind spring training, which, barring a miracle, will not start on time. But with neither side budging, it’s hard to envision MLB’s current labor crisis ending any time soon with some fearing the standoff could last well into the regular season.
Per Audacy insider Jon Heyman, Saturday didn’t move the needle much with both sides still at odds over the luxury tax threshold (aka the “competitive balance tax”) and players’ proposal for a higher starting salary. While progress has been made toward a universal DH, a draft lottery to discourage tanking and free-agent qualifying offers no longer being tied to draft-pick compensation, that’s about all the compromise we’ve seen with a number of key issues still unresolved.
After Saturday’s talks went nowhere, many in the baseball community took to Twitter to vent their frustration, imploring MLB to pick up the pace or risk alienating what’s left of the sport’s dwindling fan base.
It’s unclear when owners and players plan to meet again, though, judging by the decidedly harsh response it got on social media, Saturday’s negotiations didn’t inspire much optimism.
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