Nick Geddes
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After nine days of meeting in Jupiter, Florida, the MLBPA has unanimously rejected MLB’s final proposal on a new collective bargaining agreement, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the media from Jupiter after the deadline passed, saying he will cancel the first two series of the regular-season. Opening Day was scheduled for Thursday, March 31, which the league had threatened to cancel if a deal was not agreed upon before MLB’s self-imposed 5 p.m. ET deadline.
MLB’s final and “best” offer ends up as a “slap in the face,” as one player told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
MLB’s Final Offer:
- – No changes to CBT thresholds (220/220/220/224/230)
- – A $5M increase on pre-arb bonus pool from $25M to $30M
- – An increase of minimums from $675K to $700K, moving up $10K/year
MLBPA’s Final Offer:
- – CBT thresholds at 238/244/250/256/263
- – Pre-arb bonus pool at $85M with $5M annual increases
- – Minimums at $725K going up $20K a year
The MLBPA released a statement via Twitter, saying they are disgusted, yet not surprised by the outcome.
Not even 16 hours of negotiation Monday could help matters — 16 hours where MLB indicated that they had made progress entering the wee hours of the night. The tone from the MLBPA’s side, as MLB made known to reporters Tuesday, had changed overnight, leading to this outcome.
Negotiations have officially reached an impasse, with no indication on when the two sides will meet again.
“We need to regroup and figure out how we’re going to move the process forward,” Manfred said.
It’s equally a sad day for baseball, as it is for its fans, arguably the biggest losers after today’s news. It’s only compounded when you realize that MLB waited over 40 days into the lockout to make its first offer — none of them moving the needle for the MLBPA.
Baseball’s future, amid a dip in ratings, attendance and interest, appears to be in peril. Fans will tell you Manfred is the villain and it’s hard to argue after watching him speak at the podium.
The man who put the kibosh on MLB’s Opening Day was beaming as he took questions from reporters, before declaring that the concerns of fans were his top priority.
“The concerns of our fans are at the very top of our consideration list,” Manfred said.
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Baseball does not deserve either its greedy owners, its totally incompetent commissioner, or even its childish, me-me-me player’s association.
Worst commissioner ever. I’m honestly curious to know what percentage of the owners still support him. It’s obviously more than half, because otherwise he’d be gone, but I’ve got to wonder what their reasoning must be at this point.
Coal miners 60 years ago needed a union adults who make millions playing a game do not need a union just fucking pathetic these greedy never enough mfers
Thisclose to telling baseball to piss off
have the farm play this season