On Monday night, MLB and the MLBPA seemed to be moving towards a deal that would allow the season to start on time. While no deal was reached, the Feb. 28 deadline was extended a day.
Any hopes that an extra day would bring a new deal were quickly dashed. MLB made a “best and final” offer Tuesday, which was rejected.
In fact, the two sides are not close.
$220 million for the first CBT threshold is not a serious proposal from MLB's owners, in my opinion. That's an obvious no from players.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) March 1, 2022
What does that mean? The lockout will continue and the regular season will not start on time. Not unless MLB moves its self-imposed deadline back.
Update: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that they’ve canceled the first two series of the regular season.
MLB players quickly made their feelings known about this. One thing they made abundantly clear: from their perspective, any optimism that was expressed by MLB on Monday night was not much more than a public relations ploy.
Others in the baseball world expressed their sadness and frustration.
MLB also came under fire for the way it has handled everything during the negotiation period.
Rob Manfred, Dec. 2: "Simply put, we believe that an offseason lockout is the best mechanism to protect the 2022 season. We hope that the lockout will jumpstart the negotiations and get us to an agreement that will allow the season to start on time."
Next proposal: 43 days later
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) March 1, 2022
Lance McCullers Jr., the Union rep of the Houston Astros, summed up his feelings on the matter rather bluntly.
https://twitter.com/lmccullers43/status/1498769350848913414
As far as what happens next, the two sides will at some point come to the negotiating table again. That time will not be on Tuesday, as the MLBPA representitives have left.
When those two sides do begin to negotiate again, it’s clear that they will be far apart. Furthermore, some bad feelings will have to be worked through as well.
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