BRADENTON, Fla. -- After extending the window of negotiations one more day to try to get the regular season done, the players association's leaders unanimously voted against Major League Baseball's "best and final" offer ahead of Tuesday's 5 p.m. owner-imposed deadline to avoid losing games.
As a result, the first two series of the regular season will be cancelled, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday. It is the first time games will be cancelled due to a work stoppage since 1995.
The Pirates' first two series were set to be played against the Cardinals at PNC Park from March 31-April 3, then in Cincinnati April 4-6.
While the two sides had productive 11th-hour negotiating sessions deep into Monday night, to the point that the league granted one more day on the deadline, they were still too far apart on many of the core economic issues that have been present throughout the process including how high the competitive balance tax should be, what should be the minimum player salary and how large a bonus pool of pre-arbitration money for pre-arbitration eligible players should be.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, while the players moved off their original $245 million CBT offer and the owners increased their $214 million proposal, the two sides were still about $18 million apart for the 2022 season, not to mention the increases in subsequent seasons:
The MLBPA's previous offer:
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 1, 2022
- 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
For reference, the 2021 CBT was $210 million. The previous CBA had it increasing from $189 million in 2016, the last year before the previous deal, to $195 million in 2017 and $206 million in 2019.
Manfred argued that the CBT could not increase more due to the league having "a payroll disparity problem." Talks of establishing a $100 million salary floor to help close that gap was briefly brought up at the very start of negotiations, but was quickly rejected when the owners tied it to lowering the CBT to $180 million, which would have been only slightly higher than it was in 2011($178 million). Most estimations forecast such a deal would have lowered spending on player salaries from previous levels by hundreds of millions over a five-year CBA, though those figures all could've been open to negotiation, as all others have been. Neither side expressed public desire to do so, however.
Last year, only two teams were taxed: The Dodgers, who had a payroll of $262.1 million, and Padres, whose payroll was $184.1 million, but they had a higher tax number due to several contracts' annual values. While penalties for exceeding the CBT are usually limited to just monetary, many clubs use the figure as a cap, giving themselves a reason to not spend more than that CBT.
Owners previously tried to increase the penalties for exceeding the CBT in this CBA, but had agreed to the previous' CBA's penalties instead.
Both sides agreed to a bonus pool, which would be paid equally by all 30 teams, for pre-arb players to receive more based on their performance. The players moved off of the $100+ million totals originally requested and abandoned plans to expand super-two arbitration-eligible players, but they still finished $60 million apart for 2022.
There were also discussions for the players association to withdraw a 2018 grievance against the Pirates, Rays, Marlins and Athletics for not spending their portion of revenue sharing on major-league salary.
There was some progress made late during a nine-day bargaining session in Jupiter, Fla. over the past week, most notably both sides agreeing to expand the postseason field from 10 to 12 and implementing a draft lottery, but that was not enough.
"We need to regroup and figure out how we're going to move the process forward," Manfred said to assembled media in Jupiter Tuesday.
The league implemented the lockout on Dec. 2, making the 91-day work stoppage the second-longest in the sports' history, only behind the 1994-95 players strike. The league did not make an offer for the first 43 days of the lockout.
Manfred justified the lockout at the time it was implemented by saying it was "defensive" to try to prevent losing regular season games. Last month, he said cancelling games would be a "disastrous" result.
The MLBPA offered the following statement:
Statement from the Major League Baseball Players Association: pic.twitter.com/rmpciPsQm4
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) March 1, 2022
Given the league and players association's relationship the past few years, cancelling regular season games always seemed like a possibility for these CBA negotiations. That includes players making less money each year of the previous CBA, reaching the same level they had in 2015 in 2021, and the contentious negotiations both sides engaged in to try to start the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Spring training games have officially been cancelled through March 7, though that will likely be pushed back further.
Manfred said the soonest a deal could be reached is Thursday. Both sides have expressed willingness for players to quickly report to training sites once a deal is reached to start an abbreviated spring training, and the regular season, as quickly as possible.