New York – Major League Baseball kicked off another week of regular-season games on Wednesday and opening day has been postponed to April 14, when owners and players have yet to agree on a new collective agreement. Commissioner Rob Manfred has canceled the first four series of the season, but the deal may not be too far off.
We worked hard to reach an agreement and offered a fair deal with significant improvements for our players and fans. I am sorry for the continued impact this has had on our game and everyone in it, especially our loyal players. Fan, “Manfred said in a statement. And we hope they finally choose to accept the fair deal they offered.”
When another week of spring training was cut short in a discussion of details and dollars that could have taken months instead of weeks, MLB didn’t allow 43 days before contacting the union. Another set of proposals changed hands, developed and their sides seemed to reach an agreement, causing both to express their displeasure.
“The owners’ decision to cancel additional games is completely unnecessary. The MLB Players Association said in a statement: “After large offers were made to the league this afternoon and substantial responses were expected, players have yet to receive a response.” He said. The players want to play and we can’t wait to get back on the pitch for the best fans in the world. Our priority is to sign a fair contract for all players and we will continue to negotiate to that end. “
The talks continued Wednesday night, according to planners – a positive sign that the MLB’s decision to cancel the games is not a sign that the talks have gone beyond eternity.
The decision comes after owners told the union Wednesday that they should have chosen an international draft that players do not support or maintain in a qualifying offer system that they believe limits free agent spending and the union has refused none.
Instead, the MLBPA offered a deal whereby the owners would retire in exchange for an offsetting project, in exchange for ongoing discussion of the international project until November 15; If players do not accept the draft at this time, the owners may continue. draft. Choose the compensation. However, after postponing Tuesday’s recently set deadline for further negotiations and then updating it to 6pm on Wednesday, MLB did not want to delay the deadline any further. It turned out to Manfred that it was too late to reconsider the union proposal.
Often, skipping such a deadline marks the end of negotiations, or at least a cooling-off period. When Manfred canceled the games last week, it was several days before the parties met face to face.
But “deadlines” mean something different in these negotiations: fluid rather than precise, symbolic rather than effective. The owners and their brokers told the union that accepting a deal by Tuesday would save all 162 games. Season and, above all, the player’s pay for the entire season and length of service. If they missed this deadline, the MLB believed they could implement a shorter schedule and consequently reduce the players’ pay. Schedule and salary remained in agreement despite MLB restrictions, so far the merger has been fair, according to the union.
Just a week ago, Manfred knocked out 162 games. He and his owners met the deadline on February 28, extended the deadline as negotiations began in the early hours of March 1, and announced the cancellation of both teams’ first two sets after they were unable to agree on a agreement that afternoon.
Last week, Manfred cited the complications of the Interling match as a reason why matches were canceled, not postponed. A few days later, the negotiating team told the union that if the players accepted a deal by Tuesday, the team owners would be able to secure their entire season and get their full salary back. As late Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning, the parties continued to talk.
At this point a new important topic emerged: the creation of an international project, the concept of a long discussion that gained importance at the eleventh hour. The MLB international draft came to prominence on Tuesday at the end, when the union announced that owners would be ready to forgo direct draft pick compensation for top free agents – what players see as the limiting factor. free player costs – in exchange for the current changes. A free international registration system for players outside of the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea, with a more structured and centralized project, according to negotiation experts. Again, MLB extended the deadline by one day to allow for further negotiations.
Starting Wednesday morning, former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz and current San Diego Padres star Fernando Tati Jr. Many Latino players, including many, have opposed replacing traditional junior signing traffic with a draft. . With international player development experience arguing that the current system allows players to choose a franchise where they will move to a new country and spend their later teens. According to them, the project involves a form of cost control that does not currently exist.
However, on Wednesday several agents and executives asked to join the MLB, claiming the project would help root out some of the widespread corruption through the signature system. The MLB also claims that its proposal is designed to ensure that the same number of players sign up every year, with the higher slots draft values allowing Latino players to invest more money each year.
As the public debate on the idea has spread beyond the negotiating room and into industry, it has also dominated the negotiating table. After receiving an offer from the union on Wednesday, the MLB negotiation team called the club owners. According to an MLB official, the negotiators presented three options to the union.
The first was the implementation of an international project and the completion of an adequate procurement system; The second was to preserve the status quo, which meant that the international signature system would not change, but the selection of suitable proposals would remain; And the third option is for the owners to agree to give up in exchange for a fee to consider an international project from 2024.
Had the union accepted the project by November 15, the deal would have been implemented just as agreed on Wednesday. But if the players disagreed, the MLB would get the right to reopen the CBA after the 2024 season, effectively reducing the five-year contract to three, allowing the MLB to renegotiate any part of the deal that it thought was not working internally. . . Kindness.
The fact that MLB could be asked to answer any questions showed how far the parties went in Jupiter, Florida last week; here the trading sessions were a broader discussion than a focused synthesis of options. The negotiators said.
According to an MLB official, the owners began bidding for an international project in July 2021. The MLB claims that although the union has repeatedly rejected the project, redistributed negotiations, and spoke publicly on issues such as competitive balance taxes and minimum wages, the international project has always been important to its owners.
But for the union, the discussion of the international draft compensation draft was a strategically engineered negotiation that forced players to choose what they thought would reduce free agent spending and a bill that most of its members do not. claimed.
I was in Florida. We have never proposed an international project. We discussed it but MLB said they wouldn’t offer us anything. At this point, we have informed all players and agreed that there will be no drafts.
It is the MLB that pollutes the water and prevents refilling. Fan, please stay with us.
– Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) March 10, 2022
“I was … [Florida]. We have never proposed an international project. We discussed it, but the MLB said they wouldn’t offer us anything, “she said. Max Scherzer wrote on Twitter. At that time we informed all the players and agreed on the draft. It is the MLB that pollutes the water and prevents refilling. “Fan, please stay with us.”
The union was disappointed that MLB promised a full counter offer and many stopped with this ultimatum. However, a few hours later, representatives from both sides recontacted and tried to work on an international project to pave the way for other problems in the coming days.
But now time is very important. The cancellations, announced Wednesday, have moved opening day to April 14, one day before MLB plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut.
Source: Washington Post
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
