MLB players' union rejects mediation, repeats that it's waiting 'at the table'

Baseball’s labor fight continued its devolution into a public-relations mess on Friday, with the players’ union and league sparring via spokesman-released statements and players themselves starting to speak out on social media.

The day’s developments began with the MLB Players Association officially rejecting MLB’s request for federal mediation but noting in a statement that "players stand ready to negotiate." MLB responded by saying in part that it was "hard to understand" why the PA did that.

Throughout, players rallied on Twitter behind the hashtag "#AtTheTable," a reference to the slow pace of the purported negotiations.

"We don’t need mediation because what we are offering to MLB is fair for both sides," tweeted Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, a member of the union’s executive subcommittee. "We want a system where [salary] threshold and penalties don’t function as caps, allows younger players to realize more of their market value, makes service time manipulation a thing of the past, and eliminates tanking as a winning strategy."

Mets reliever Trevor May called the negotiations — and the jockeying between the occasional bargaining sessions — "just a big stupid game."

"[MLB is] not even attempting to make real offers," May said during his Twitch livestream. "If you think there is good-faith negotiation happening right now, there isn’t . . . Not a single negotiation with the guy [MLB commissioner Rob Manfred] has been good-faith. He doesn’t do good-faith things."

Manfred imposed the lockout — a voluntary move, not a necessary one — on Dec. 2 upon the expiration of the sides’ collective bargaining agreement. They didn’t meet for about a month and a half, and in the weeks since have discussed the key issues a handful of times.

The PA blamed MLB for dragging its feet.

"Two months after implementing their lockout, and just two days after committing to players that a counterproposal would be made, the owners refused to make a counter and instead requested mediation," it said. "After consultation with our executive board, and taking into account a variety of factors, we have declined this request. The clearest path to a fair and timely agreement is to get back to the table. Players stand ready to negotiate."

Individual players reiterated that sentiment.

"If the goal is to get players on the field ASAP — then why did it take 43 days after the lockout to even hear from MLB? Didn’t seem like a priority then!" Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon wrote in a tweet. "Why did we not get a counterproposal this week? It’s all extremely tired antics/optics."

The Yankees’ Zack Britton wrote: "When attempting to negotiate a collectively bargained agreement . . . ‘bargaining’ is required. #AtTheTable #Still Waiting."

And the Royals’ Whit Merrifield: "Seems to me like in order to get a collective bargaining agreement done, you need to bargain . . . players remain waiting #AtTheTable."

Despite not delivering its promised counteroffer this week, MLB said in its statement that it "remains committed" to finding common ground.

"With camps scheduled to open in less than two weeks, it is time to get immediate assistance from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help us work through our differences and break the deadlock," MLB said. "It is clear the most productive path forward would be the involvement of an impartial third party to help bridge gaps and facilitate an agreement. It is hard to understand why a party that wants to make an agreement would reject mediation from the federal agency specifically tasked with resolving these disputes, including many successes in professional sports. MLB remains committed to offering solutions at the table and reaching a fair agreement for both sides."