"Publicity Stunt": Players Balk At Owners Offer of Mediation

Talks between the baseball owners and players have hit another roadblock. The MLB owners' offer of making use of a federal mediator to help move the process along has been flatly denied by the players union, who referred to the offer as "a publicly stunt." Their response was swift and pointed:

Statement from the Major League Baseball Players Association: pic.twitter.com/KBssy2e66U

— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) February 4, 2022

“Two months after implementing their lockout, and just two days after committing to Players that a counterproposal would be made, the owners refused to make a counter, and instead requested mediation,” read the union statement. “After consultation with our Executive Board, and taking into account a variety of factors, we have declined this request."

San Francisco Giants' pitcher Alex Wood was more succinct:

How can MLB request for there to be a mediator from the Federal Government to help with negotiations when they literally haven’t even done any negotiating up to this point? Asking for a friend.

— Alex Wood (@Awood45) February 4, 2022

Mediation is simply a voluntary, non-binding process, in which a neutral party tries to help both sides come together on a solution. But Evan Drellich of The Athletic notes that the union "famously had a poor experience" with mediation during the 1994-95 strike. 

Now, "it’s unclear from which side the next proposals will come."

The owners will hold their quarterly meetings in Florida next week, where it's hoped that another bargaining session can be scheduled. Spring training would have been opening within the next week or two in a business-as-usual season. This, however, is anything but, and the start of spring training will most certainly be delayed.