Meetings happened, but progress is still slow
As we creep ever closer to the February 28 deadline that MLB has pointed to as the date by which an agreement between the owners and the union has to be made if there is going to be a full season played this year, progress continues to be slow.
There were extended meetings today, including a face to face meeting between MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA president Tony Clark. Reports indicate that the issues regarding the draft have largely been resolved, and they are close to an agreement there. The issues on the Competitive Balance Tax, the minimum salary, and the arbitration bonus pool, however, still present major hurdles, with little progress seemingly being made there.
Spring training games for March 5-7 have been canceled, so the earliest there would be spring training games played would be March 8 — three and a half weeks before Opening Day.
I’m watching coverage of the war that’s going on as I write this, and it makes this fight between the league and players seem pretty insignificant in comparison.