A few weeks ago, when Rob Manfred memorably said that missing regular-season games because of the owners’ lockout would be a “disastrous outcome” for Major League Baseball, the commissioner also touted his reputation as a master negotiator and, in fact, a deal-maker at the bargaining table.
“In the history of baseball, the only person who has made a labor agreement without a dispute — and I did four of them — was me,” Manfred said in a Feb. 10 news conference. “Somehow, during those four negotiations, players and union representatives figured out a way to trust me enough to make a deal.”
That streak was being tested Monday night.
With MLB and the owners setting a Feb. 28 deadline — the players viewed it more as a threat — to finalize a collective bargaining agreement or begin canceling regular-season games and withholding full-season pay, the sides remained “very far apart” on more core economic issues, according to a source familiar with the talks.
But the owners and players, baseball’s Hatfields and McCoys, met together and caucused individually late into the night at a spring-training ballpark in Jupiter, Fla., with the luxury tax, minimum salaries, pre-arbitration bonus pool, and expanded playoffs on the table in the 11th-hour back-and-forth. It marked the eighth consecutive day of bargaining talks and the longest yet, beginning at 10 a.m. and stretching past 10 p.m.
And while it seemed all but impossible to bridge such yawning gaps in one marathon negotiating session, there was at least a hope of making substantial enough progress to compel MLB to blow its artificial deadline and continue the talks Tuesday.
But the players also were bracing for the possibility that MLB and the owners would follow through on their promise to begin snipping the 162-game schedule. A source confirmed that the Players Association has taken steps to organize alternate training sites in Florida and Arizona that could be accessed by locked-out players.
There would be additional fallout if MLB stuck to its deadline and talks broke off. A new set of issues would be introduced to the negotiations, including how many games to lop off the schedule and how to compensate the players.
Also, the players were vowing to veto expanding the playoffs, the owners’ greatest desire in a new agreement. Never mind the owners’ preferred 14-team postseason field, which would bring in at least $100 million from ESPN. The players were prepared to take back even their proposed 12-team compromise.
Since the owners locked the doors on Dec. 2, many players have expressed frustration with what they perceive to be an unwillingness to negotiate in good faith and raised doubts over whether some owners want to play a full season.
The owners have refused to budge on changes to the six-year reserve clause, making more two-plus-year players eligible for salary arbitration, and adjustments to revenue sharing. Entering Monday, the sides are $135,000 apart for this year ($215,000 by 2026) on the minimum salary and $95 million apart on the concept of a bonus pool to reward pre-arbitration (entry-level) players based on high performance.
But the biggest sticking point is the luxury tax. Talks nearly broke off entirely Saturday, after the players made an imperfect but wide-ranging proposal on multiple issues and saw the owners respond by moving $1 million on the luxury-tax threshold in one of the five years of the agreement while only slightly lowering tax rates that were still higher than the ones that sunset with the expired CBA.
“Owners actions have made it clear all along that they have a set # of games where they still make profits/get TV money,” New York Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon, who attended some of the bargaining sessions last week, wrote on Twitter. “They don’t want to play. It’s sad that these are the guys who drive the direction and ‘future’ of our amazing sport.”
Monday’s talks began at 10 a.m., three hours earlier than most of the previous seven days and one hour before Derek Jeter’s surprising announcement that he will step down, effective immediately, as CEO of the Miami Marlins. In a statement, the Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop said “the vision for the future of the [Marlins] franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead.”
The curious timing of Jeter’s resignation was not lost on many players, who weighed in on social media. As Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner tweeted, “My sources, common sense and reading in between the lines, tell me that one of our game [sic] greatest champions, Derek Jeter, is stepping away from a team with one of the best young pitching staffs in the game because ownership isn’t committed to winning and spending.”
Other players chose to bring levity to social media. On Instagram, Bryce Harper superimposed a Yomiuri Giants uniform on a photo of himself and wrote, “Aye @yomiuri.giants you up? Got some time to kill. I know you got @borascorp number. Let’s talk.” Yankees slugger Joey Gallo tweeted a photo of his newly created LinkedIn page which included the following skills: striking out, hitting into the shift, and getting dressed weird.
As MLB officials, including Manfred, went into and out of meetings with the players’ delegation, MLB.TV announced it would suspend billing for its Feb. 28 renewal date for 2022 subscriptions until a collective bargaining agreement is finalized.
Monday marked the 89th day since the owners locked out the players minutes after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, a move that Manfred described at the time as “defensive” and necessary to spur negotiations. But MLB waited 43 days before re-engaging the players in talks on core economics. The sides met on back-to-back days only once prior to the last eight days in Florida.
