NEWSLETTER
The big question in the wake of last week’s mediation spat: now that the players have rejected the owners’ request for federal mediation, and the owners have said they still think it’s the best route … what actually happens next?
Well, we know that the calendar has owners meetings this week anyway, so there are obviously going to be extensive conversations on the MLB side about what to do. The hope, then, is that it produces internal movement by the owners, and a new offer:
MLB owners meet Tuesday-Thursday in Orlando, where they will regroup. The union expectation is a new MLB offer will come soon, and presumably that happens after the owners convene. It’s obviously getting late with spring training originally scheduled to start 10 days from today.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 6, 2022
That would be good, but I’ll caution you now not to get too eager. The nature of collective bargaining and labor law is such that the sides still have to negotiate, even after the mediation kerfuffle. So the owners making a counter to the players, at some point, is essentially the bare minimum.
Also, even if it’s true that the owners will make a new offer later this week, you can pretty much assume it’s going to be another offer that moves the ball very little. It’s just impossible for me to imagine the owners making a huge move after the players rejected the request for mediation. “We can’t do this on our own anymore … oh, you don’t want a mediator? OK, we’ll finally make a significantly better offer.” I just don’t see it happening. I want to see it. The time has come for it. Heck, the time is overdue for it. But I don’t see it happening.
Instead, the owners will make their offer – barely moving, or maybe even just rearranging things – and they will say to the players, “Hey, you said you wanted us to make a new offer, so there you go. See how hard this is without a mediator?”
Maybe I’m being too pessimistic, but there is nothing in the last couple years (or last couple CBAs) to suggest a reasonable offer will suddenly be forthcoming.
I’ll just hope that the timing of the owners meetings presents a come-to-Jesus moment for some of the harder line types, and a new offer, while not a substantial move, will be enough to get the players to come back with another counter. I understand that the owners flat out do not want to discuss revenue sharing or increasing arbitration to the full second year class. But why not at least move up the minimum salary, the pre-arbitration bonus pool, and the luxury tax a little more in your next offer, as a show of good faith?
This is going to take a really long time either way, but I’m just desperate to see things keep moving.
