Labor Talks Done For The Day; Here's Where We Stand

The owners and players union have concluded talks for the second consecutive day, and while there is some movement in most of the key areas, there are still some wide disparities on the main economic issues.

Labor talks are over. Here's what happened.

- MLB agreed to accept parameters of a pre-arbitration bonus pool for top 30 WAR. MLBPA seeking $105M. League offered $10M.
- MLB offered minimum raise to $615K. MLBPA wants $775K.
- MLB withdrew offer to change arbitration structure
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 25, 2022

MLB insider Jeff Passan reports that the league has accepted the union's proposal of a "pre-arbitration bonus pool" for the top 30 young players in the game (based on the WAR metric). This is good.

However, the MLBPA is seeking a pool of $105M, while MLB is offering $10M. Yes, there's a bit of disparity there. Passan says the players are "laughing" at the owners' amount. This is bad.

As well, MLB has agreed to raise the league-minimum salary to $615,000 (previous offer was $600,000). The union wants $775,000. Minimum salary affects about half of players. There's hopefully some middle-ground to be struck on this point.

And the other big move to come out of today's talks is that the league has withdrawn their offer to withdraw salary arbitration for any group of players.

So while there are still some gulfs to cross, some much wider than others, the general consensus is that at least they're talking and there is some progress being made. But this is going to be a long and arduous grind.

My take on the negotiations is that despite the MLB and MLBPA being far apart on most core economic issues…at least there is movement on both sides and for the first time there is a pathway for an eventual agreement…although it will take time and be a grind. Progress & Dialogue
— Jim Bowden⚾️ (@JimBowdenGM) January 25, 2022