MLB removes additional games from schedule as talks with locked-out players break down

As Major League Baseball and its locked-out players moved as close as they’ve been on even the thorniest economic issues, momentum in their drawn-out collective bargaining talks stalled Wednesday over the reintroduction of an international amateur draft.

The result: Two more regular-season series per team were taken off the schedule, commissioner Rob Manfred announced, pushing opening day until at least April 14 and making it nearly impossible to play a full season.

In a statement released shortly before 6:30 p.m., Manfred referred to MLB’s “last-ditch effort to preserve a 162-game season,” a proposal that linked an international draft with management’s agreement to drop the qualifying offer and draft-pick compensation related to free agency.

“The clubs went to extraordinary lengths to meet the substantial demands of the MLBPA,” Manfred said, adding that the league “worked hard to reach an agreement and offered a fair deal with significant improvements for the players and our fans.”

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But the players’ union, which rejected the draft concept, expressed disappointment that MLB didn’t respond to a counterproposal Wednesday evening. In a statement, the union called the cancellation of additional games “completely unnecessary.”

It was notable that MLB didn’t use the word “cancel” in its statement, allowing for the possibility that games may be reinstated. Negotiators for both sides also were in contact Wednesday night, an indication that a deal may not be as far off as it seemed.

A new batch of missed games would erase the Phillies’ first homestand, including the Citizens Bank Park opener on April 8 against the Oakland Athletics. The Phillies also would miss a four-game series against the archrival New York Mets. Opening day would be April 14 at Miami, one day before the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s major-league debut.

MLB set a Tuesday deadline for the players to accept its latest proposal and recoup the two series that Manfred canceled last week. At that time, Manfred said the games would not be made up and players would neither receive their full-season salaries nor service time.

Upon further review, MLB determined that those games could be shoehorned into the schedule if the players agreed to a deal this week. But with additional cancellations, the subjects of wages and service time would be layered onto already complex negotiations.

With the owners’ lockout in its 98th day, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois weighed in via Twitter, threatening a congressional review of MLB’s exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act stemming from a Supreme Court ruling in 1922.

“Enough,” Durbin wrote. “After almost 100 days of the MLB lockout, it’s time to reconsider MLB’s special antitrust exemption, which allows them to act as a lawful monopoly. Fans across America deserve better. Message to the owners: unlock the lockout and play ball.”

The sides made progress during a 17-hour bargaining session — baseball’s version of the New York City marathon — that began at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and didn’t recess until 3 a.m. Wednesday. With union leaders working out of MLBPA headquarters on East 49th Street and MLB negotiators bunkered down in their offices six blocks away, the league took steps to bridge the yawning gaps on the luxury-tax thresholds and pre-arbitration bonus pool.

Enough progress was made for MLB to extend its deadline to Wednesday evening. But the talks ultimately stalled because the league tried to revive a 20-round international draft that would take effect in 2024, an idea that the players rejected in writing multiple times in previous proposals. The union caucused late Tuesday night, soliciting the opinion of several current and former players. By Wednesday afternoon, it was clear the players would reject the idea.

Under the current system, only players from the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico are eligible for the amateur draft in June. Players from other countries, notably the Dominican Republic, are free to sign with any team after turning 16. The most highly touted players receive multimillion-dollar signing bonuses.

MLB believes a draft would end the skulduggery and corruption that often occur when teams try to circumvent the rules by entering into agreements with players when they’re 12 and 13.

San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. voiced his opposition to an international draft in an interview Wednesday with Dominican news outlet El Caribe.

“The international draft is going to kill baseball in DR,” Tatis said. “It’s going to affect us a lot, because there will be many young people who used to give them the same opportunity to get a bonus and with the draft it will not be the same.”

One agent who represents several players from Latin America said Wednesday that an international draft isn’t the worst idea. But he cautioned that it could take years to implement it correctly.

“The short answer is not right now,” the agent said of whether he supports an international draft. “The system needs overhauling, though.”

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In an attempt to keep the talks alive, the players made a counteroffer Wednesday in which they narrowed the gap on three core economic issues.

On the pre-arbitration bonus pool, the players came down to $65 million, $25 million more than management. On minimum salaries, they proposed $710,000 this year (MLB is at $700,000) and $780,000 by 2026 (MLB is at $770,000). On the luxury tax, where the sides had been far apart, the players’ proposed initial thresholds of $232 million, $235 million, $240 million, $245 million, and $250 million, within sight of the owners’ $230 million, $232 million, $236 million, $240 million, and $242 million levels.

But MLB dug in on the international draft. Rather than countering the players’ proposal, as the union said it was expecting, the league offered three choices, one of which gave the players until Nov. 15 to agree to the international draft and MLB the option of reopening the CBA in two years if the union didn’t agree to implement it.

The players declined every option, but reportedly countered with one of their own: the owners would drop draft-pick compensation in exchange for continued discussions about an international draft until Nov. 15. If the players didn’t agree by then to the international draft, the owners could bring back draft-pick compensation.

Instead of responding, Manfred removed more games.

And now, the hope of a 162-game season is all but faded away.

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