LOS ANGELES -- The Major League Baseball Player's Association is open to the idea of a salary floor. Just not the one the league proposed last fall.

Last August, the first official offer from MLB to the union for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) involved implementing a salary floor of $100 million, one that would have had 12 teams, including the Pirates, raise their opening day salaries. The trade off was the luxury tax threshold would be lowered to $180 million, with steeper penalties for going over.

Assuming most teams would use the luxury tax mark as a salary cap, like many teams do, the offer almost certainly would have lowered the percentage of the league's revenue players receive. As a result, the deal was swiftly rejected, and the concept of a floor was not brought up in negotiations again.

However, during a media availability with Baseball Writers Association of America members at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday, Executive Director Tony Clark said the union was "willing to have a conversation about a mechanism on the bottom that's akin to the mechanism on the top," referring to the luxury tax.

"It didn't manifest itself," Clark followed shortly after about why those talks did not extend beyond that first offer, saying the two sides wanted to have different types of conversations of the nature of a potential deal.

The subject of a potential salary floor was not broached when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke shortly after. 

A potential floor would have come with some alteration to league revenue sharing to help some clubs reach the $100 million threshold.

To speculate, it seems incredibly unlikely that a floor would be approached until a new CBA needs to be established. The current expires in 2027.

As part of the new CBA, the union opted to rescind one grievance against the league for its handling of the 2020 season, but did not rescind grievances against four clubs who they argued did not spend their portion of revenue sharing on MLB team payroll: The Pirates, Marlins, Athletics and Rays.

Clark opted not to delve too deep about the status of those grievances, but said there are still "competitive integrity concerns." 

"We were able to get traction in some areas," Clark said. "Some improvements, but not as much as we would like. It remains to be seen whether the adjustments and changes we made to the CBA are going to affect the decision-making of the clubs that, at least as we sit here right now, are concerned about."

NOTES FROM CLARK, MANFRED

• Clark said that an automated strike zone will not be implemented until 2024 at the earliest.

• Manfred said that league expansion beyond 30 teams will likely not be explored until the Athletics' and Rays' stadium situations are resolved.

“The condition of the [Oakland] Coliseum is a really serious problem for us," Manfred said. "… This is not news. It is not a major league quality facility at this point.”

He followed by saying, "this needs to happen now."

• During his availability, Manfred was asked if MLB teams do not pay their minor-league players a living wage because they cannot afford to, or because they are unwilling.

“I reject the premise that they're not paying a living wage,” Manfred said, citing teams now providing players housing, improved minor-league pay and signing bonuses as points to support teams.

• It sounds like the Draft will be a part of All-Star week moving forward.

"We like, and ownership likes, the idea of building the draft as part of All-Star weekend," Manfred said.

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