Yesterday was probably the best day so far for negotiations between Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association. The meeting took place at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, the Spring Training home of the Marlins and Cardinals. The two sides were inside the complex for roughly five hours.
Though there wasn’t a whole lot of progress made, it’s at least encouraging that the meeting lasted longer than 15 minutes. The owners dropped their request for the Players’ Association to reduce the amount of minor league roster spots available on each team, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. They also went back on their proposal which included limiting the number of times a player can be optioned to five.
The owners also bumped up the amount of money proposed for the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $15 million to $20 million. Unfortunately, as Drellich notes, the two sides remain far apart.
The good news is that the two sides are going to meet again today very shortly, and if the length of yesterday’s meeting tells us anything, there’s more room for improvement. At the end of last week, the two sides agreed to have multiple meetings during this week in order to accelerate negotiations and get a deal done by February 28, which is the deadline to get a deal done in order for regular season games to not be compromised. It was also reported that the two sides would potentially meet multiple times a day, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday.
With more meetings scheduled this week, there’s at least a little cause for optimism that if we lose games this season, it won’t be too many. There’s finally a sense of urgency to get something done and make some sacrifices in order to reach a deal. At the same time, it has us all wondering, why couldn’t this have happened sooner?
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