MLB Players React After League Postpones 2022 Opening Day
The MLB and MLBPA failed to agree to a new CBA before the league's self-imposed deadline Tuesday, For the first time in over a quarter century, the MLB will miss games over a work stoppage. The league and its players' association failed to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement before the MLB's self-imposed deadline on Tuesday, and MLB then announced the postponement of 2022 Opening Day.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the season's first two series would be canceled in a press conference moments after the 5 p.m. ET deadline.
This comes after the MLB and MLBPA met daily in Jupiter, Florida for the past nine days. The sides spent 16 hours together at Roger Dean Stadium on Monday, their original deadline day, but couldn't hammer out a deal that day or the next. Now, the MLB will miss games over a work stoppage for the first time since the 1995 season.
The MLB reportedly made a final offer before Tuesday's deadline, one that would raise the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $25 million to $30 million and increase salary minimums from $675,000 to $700,000 -- including a raise of $10,000 per year. But the offer, which was still far away from what the MLBPA proposed on the Competitive Balance Tax, clearly didn't satisfy the MLBPA, as its players union unanimously declined it.
MLB stars such as Marcus Stroman and Evan Longoria have already shared their thoughts on the 2022 season's delay. Here are their reactions and more from around the league:
New York Mets centerfielder Kevin Pillar seems to think the MLB would be better served promoting its players rather than arguing with them.
Stroman, Pillar's former Mets teammate, was also critical of the MLB's promotion of players. The former Gold Glove winner even called for Manfred's resignation as the MLB commissioner.
Manfred laughed and smiled during his aforementioned press conference, actions that Texas Rangers catcher Jose Trevino won't soon forget.
MLB Postpones Start Of Regular Season After Latest CBA Talks Strike Out
Major League Baseball and its players union could not come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement by a Tuesday deadline, prompting the league to cancel the first two series at the start of the 2022 season which had been scheduled for March 31. That means a season would not start until April 8 at the earliest.
“The calendar dictates that we’re not going to be able to play the first two series of the regular season and those games are officially canceled,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said today, according to ESPN. He said the union’s negotiations team is leaving the talks which were being held in Jupiter, FL and “no agreement is possible until at least Thursday.”
The league had previously scheduled 15 games for Opening Day on March 31, including the Los Angeles Dodgers’ home opener and defending World Series champ the Atlanta Braves opening at Miami.
The two sides had been at loggerheads over what always was expected to be tough negotiations on a new deal, and the league locked out players preemptively December 2 in what it said was an attempt to finalize a new CBA before the regular season’s scheduled March 31 start. The league has already postponed the start of spring training as the lockout has dragged on.
Major-league issues are in play in the new contract, including expanding the playoffs from 12 to 14 teams, adding the designated hitter to the National League, increasing minimum salaries, creating a bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, and making adjustments to the luxury tax.
The original deadline imposed by the league to keep the March 31 opening day in play was Monday; a 16-hour session between the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association offered no deal but enough optimism to extend the deadline to 5 p.m. ET today. MLB’s last and final offer made earlier Tuesday was rejected by the union, according to reports.
The postponement keeps baseball in limbo, with teams unable to sign free agents without a deal and teams not able to train together. The league has said spring training can start “within days” of a CBA being signed.
MLBPA Unanimously Rejects MLB's Final CBA Offer Ahead of Deadline
The Major League Baseball Players Association unanimously rejected the owners' final offer on a new collective bargaining agreement ahead of Tuesday's 5 p.m.
MLB's owners reportedly made the offer to the players association before the deadline that the league set with a number of proposals that fell well short of reported requests by the players.
"We thought there was a path to a deal last night and that both sides were closing in on the major issues," a league spokesperson told ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "They couldn't make us a CBT [competitive balance tax] proposal last night, so we agreed to extend the deadline to exhaust every option.
"The MLBPA had a decidedly different tone today and made proposals inconsistent with the prior discussions. We will be making our best offer before the 5 p.m. deadline for the MLBPA that's a fair deal for players and clubs."
Given the gulf in the negotiations and the league's insistence that the players had changed their tone and its take-it-or-leave it offer, there will naturally be the impression that the owners weren't negotiating in good faith.
And previous reports noted the owners were fine with a later start to the regular season and canceled games, as they ostensibly hoped the players would back off their requests to receive their paychecks.
"We're just trying not to get screwed," one player told ESPN's Jeff Passan about the labor negotiations.
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A work stoppage will come down to how much each side is willing to compromise and how long each side is willing to wait out the other side. Generally, a longer work stoppage would put more pressure on the players, whose livelihoods are baseball.
But the players, at least for the moment, appear willing to dig in and avoid taking a bad deal. Given MLB's negotiating tactics to this point, an abridged or even lost season always seemed possible.
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