MLB Lockout 2022: Update On Negotiations During Spring Training Delay

The initial date for pitchers and catchers to report to spring training has come and gone, and MLB’s lockout doesn’t appear any closer to ending. The latest update on the league’s labor dispute offers little hope that baseball will return in the coming days.

A meeting between MLB and the player’s union lasted all of 15 minutes Thursday. According to reports, the owners and the MLBPA remain far apart on a few key issues.

Arbitration and minimum salaries for players are two of the major sticking points in negotiations.

The proposal from the players’ union includes a significant increase in the amount of players to enter the arbitration system with two years of service time, ESPN reports. Only 22% of players in their second season currently enter arbitration, and the union wants to push that figure to 80%.

The union wants $115 million for the league’s top 150 players in the pre-arbitration bonus pool, according to reports. MLB’s offer is $15 million to 30 players with the best WAR.

The players proposed that the prearbitration bonus pool now be $115 million (accounting for their proposal now having fewer players going to arbitration). Previous proposal was $100 million. Pool would now be distributed to 150 players rather than 30.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 17, 2022

Minimum salary: MLB at $630K, MLBPA at $775K

Pre-arb pool: MLB at $15M, MLBPA at $115M

Players offering two nine-figure revenue streams: playoff expansion (union at 12 teams, not the 14 necessary for $100M in TV $) and ads on uniforms.

League offering multiple smaller chunks. https://t.co/QWTm95A0gT
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 17, 2022

MLB and the MLBPA are still extremely far apart. We’re at a similar place to where we were on Saturday: the players are still angry, the league is still angry, both sides feel there hasn’t been much progress made from where they started
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) February 17, 2022

Pitchers and catchers were supposed to start reporting to spring training on Feb. 15. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that the regular season won’t start on time if an agreement isn’t reached by the end of the month.

The league has not lost games due to labor issues since the 1995 season. It’s still considered to be very, very unlikely that the dispute will prevent the entire season from being played.

MLB instituted a lockout on Dec. 2.