MLB owners are providing another deadline to reach a deal with players on a new collective-bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association saying it will cancel another week of games if an agreement cannot be reached by Tuesday night, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.
MLB told the union on Monday that Tuesday was the last possible day to reach an agreement that would allow a 162-game schedule, along with full salary and service time, a deadline first reported by The Athletic.
The sides remained apart to various degrees on three of the most significant items: the luxury tax, pre-arbitration bonus pool and minimum salary.
Passan reports that MLB increased its collective bargaining tax threshold from $220 million to $228 million. That is still short of the $238 million that the union put down in response to the league’s previous proposal.
Openers on March 31 were among 91 games already canceled, and Commissioner Rob Manfred appears to be on the verge of calling off more.
“This is a horrible, horrible situation. Everyone on the Yankees, everyone in Major League Baseball shares the blame, players, owners, executives for where we are. It’s a really bad look, especially (with) what’s going on in the world,” Yankees president Randy Levine said Monday on the team’s YES Network. “We all look pretty bad. … It’s embarrassing to be where we are.”
Passan also reports that if a deal can be reached by Tuesday, players can report to spring training camps by Friday and the league can reschedule lost games by using off-days and doubleheaders.
The sides appear to be about $15 million apart on the minimum salary for this year, $20 million for 2023 and $25 million for 2024, each less than 1 per cent of payrolls. This assumes about half of players in the major leagues at any given time are impacted by the minimum.
Differences are greater in the final two seasons, when the union is asking for cost-of-living increases.
The gap in the new pre-arbitration bonus pool is $50 million this year, rising to $70 million by 2026. But, again, the percentage of overall payroll affected by this item is relatively small, under two per cent.
—With files from the Associated Press.
