Zack Britton’s four-word tweet on Sunday said enough.
An MLB Network report surfaced that the league and the Players Association is “within striking distance” of making a deal and that an agreement on a new CBA could be done by deadline day — Monday, Feb. 28.
Britton, who is also the Yankee players’ union representative, responded to that report on Twitter.
“This is not accurate,” the Yankee reliever wrote.
Players and owners entered the seventh straight day of negotiations at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla. on Sunday afternoon.
Talks on Saturday ended with players being unhappy with owners’ response to the latest proposal — among the details, players lowered their proposed luxury tax by $2 million a year from 2023-24. Owners responded by proposing an increase in the luxury tax from $214 to $215 million in 2023. Players also lowered their proposed salary arbitration eligibility from 75% to 35%, but the league did not move from the 22% set in the last CBA.
Before Sunday, the two sides have had a total of six negotiating sessions about central economics since the owners agreed to lock players out on Dec. 2.
If an agreement is not met by Feb. 28, the league threatened to cancel games and not pay out salaries to players for games canceled. The Feb. 28 deadline was set with the thinking if a deal was is not made by then, there would not be enough time for Spring Training in order to start the season on March 31.
