For the second consecutive Tuesday, MLB and the Players Association had a long day of negotiations – and ended up not reaching a deal.
As the MLB lockout enters its fourth month, the owners gave players another deadline on Tuesday to try to maintain the 162-game schedule – after it was initially announced last week that the season’s first two episodes had been cancelled.
But after 17 hours of negotiations that began Tuesday morning and continued until early Wednesday morning, a league spokesman said the union asked for time for its executive board to consider MLB’s latest proposal and said it would respond Wednesday morning.
MLB previously threatened another week of missed regular season games if no deal was reached on Tuesday, but talks will continue on Wednesday without further cancellations.
Lead negotiators from both sides met downtown several times trying to work out a deal, with the parties arguing over several key issues, including a competitive balance tax, a pre-arbitrage pool and a minimum wage.
Progress was made late Monday when MLB raised its CBT tier one offer from $220 million to $228 million, still less than the union’s $238 million request.
They got closer on Tuesday when the league offered a deal that included a threshold starting at $230 million that would rise to $242 million, the source confirmed after the numbers first released by The Athletic.
Players had $238 million at launch, and over the course of the deal, the threshold rose to $263 million.
And MLB also wants to introduce a fourth tier of penalties when it comes to CBT, in hopes of cutting back on what the league calls “runaway spending.”
The league is also interested in introducing an international draft, which the union has long considered unacceptable.
The owners also increased their pre-arbitrage pool offer to $40 million per season, still less than the $80 million the players were asking for. And the minimum wage on the owner’s offer will increase from $700,000 next season to $770,000 by the end of the CBA.
The talks came a week after the two sides spent more than 16 hours in Jupiter, Florida, only to see them falter and lead to increased animosity between both sides that continued over the weekend.
However, discussions have taken a more conciliatory tone since Monday as the last breath of the full season is in sight.