MLB and locked-out players meet, but there’s a long way to go

One week before the purported deadline to shake hands on a new collective bargaining agreement or face what commissioner Rob Manfred described as the “disastrous outcome” of missing regular-season games, Major League Baseball and the Players Association on Monday changed the location of their meetings, brought more players and owners to the table, and sat together for hours instead of minutes.

And still they remain oceans apart on almost all core economic issues, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The parties will reconvene Tuesday, also in Jupiter, Fla., marking only the second time they have met on consecutive days since MLB locked out the players on Dec. 2. That, and the spirit of bringing 10 players and two owners face-to-face, was viewed as a positive step by some sources, while others suggested the league’s lack of movement on key issues didn’t reflect its claim of urgency to get a deal done by Feb. 28.

» READ MORE: MLB cancels spring training games through March 4, will meet with players every day next week

In the latest version of its proposal, MLB made a $5 million tweak to the pre-arbitration bonus pool and added one team to the draft lottery, concepts that would be added to the CBA to help satisfy the players’ wishes for more pay for less-tenured players and greater competitive integrity, respectively. But the competitive-balance (luxury) tax, a central issue in the negotiations, wasn’t addressed at all.

It may come up Tuesday, with the Players Association expected to amend its most recent proposal. The sides agreed to meet daily this week and perhaps through the weekend.

At least Monday’s session, which took place at a spring-training ballpark shared by the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins, lasted longer than the Super Bowl halftime show. After talking for 15 minutes last Thursday in New York, delegations from MLB and the players union met for roughly five hours, including nearly three hours of internal caucusing after and before negotiations.

MLB agreed to nudge its pre-arbitration bonus pool to $20 million (from $15 million) to reward 30 entry-level players with additional pay based on high-level performance. The players are seeking a $115 million bonus pool for 150 players.

On the issue of a draft lottery, the league added a fourth team to the process, up from their previous proposal of three teams. The players were initially pushing for the eight-worst teams to be included in the lottery.

With the talks shifting to Florida, where many players have gathered to train independently from the teams that have locked them out, more players were able to attend in person rather than merely following on Zoom. The union contingent included Max Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo of the New York Mets. Whit Merrifield (Kansas City Royals), Paul Goldschmidt (Cardinals), Jameson Taillon (New York Yankees), Taylor Rogers (Minnesota Twins), Jason Castro (Houston Astros), Brent Suter (Milwaukee Brewers), and Sonny Gray (Cincinnati Reds) were also in attendance.

» READ MORE: Minor-league players on 40-man rosters are the untold stories of MLB’s lockout

Colorado Rockies CEO Dick Monfort and San Diego Padres vice chairman Ron Fowler were part of the MLB delegation, which was led by deputy commissioner Dan Halem.

Pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report to camps in Florida and Arizona last Tuesday. MLB announced last week that spring-training games, which would have begun Saturday, won’t be played before March 5.

Given the league’s belief that players will need at least a four-week spring training to get ready for the season, a deal would need to be reached by Feb. 28 to avoid pushing back opening day from its scheduled date of March 31.