MLB, Players Association to meet again Thursday

With spring training workouts already delayed, and the clock ticking on Opening Day, MLB and the Players Association will meet again Thursday, when the union is expected to provide the next proposal.

For those keeping score, this is only the sixth face-to-face negotiating session over the past 10 weeks since Rob Manfred shut down the sport by imposing the lockout on Dec. 2. Little, if any, traction has been made to this point, and Saturday’s meeting lasted less than an hour.

While MLB and the union seem to generally agree on the areas that need to be addressed for this next CBA, they remain far apart on the details, especially when it involves the Competitive Balance Tax, or CBT, which the players view as a soft cap on salaries.

MLB’s most recent pitch Saturday included raising the CBT thresholds, starting with $214 million the first two years, followed by $216M, $218M and $222M, according to a source. A key component to this new offer was dropping the penalty of forfeited draft picks at levels below $234M, but the union has a big problem with the proposed tax hikes on payrolls: 50% for the first threshold -- up from the old 20% -- followed by 75% and 100% for the next two tiers.

Manfred has stated publicly that the owners want a safeguard against "runaway spending," which MLB considers a serious threat to the sport’s competitive integrity. The players are fearful of an artificial drag on salaries, which is why they’re focused on the CBT.

Another major topic is compensation for young players, and MLB believed it made progress Saturday by offering two different options for the minimum salary: a flat figure of $630,000 that is non-binding or a three-tier system that starts at $615,000, jumps to $650,00 the following year and $725,000 the next, but teams cannot give raises above those numbers. Also, MLB has suggested a bonus pool for the best-performing pre-arbitration players. While MLB upped its pre-arbitration bonus pool in this proposal to $15 million from $10 million (a 50% increase as characterized by the league) the Players Association suggested $100 million in its most recent offer.

Obviously, that’s a large gap to be bridged, and time is running out to keep Opening Day on track for March 31.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.