JUPITER, Fla. — Talks broke down between MLB and the MLB Players Association on Tuesday afternoon, leading the league to declare that it will make a final offer for a new collective bargaining agreement before a 5 p.m. EST deadline.
MLB’s final proposal, which was delivered before 4 p.m., featured an increase from $25 million to $30 million in a pre-arbitration bonus pool each year for the length of the deal, while the union wants to begin with $85 million in the pool and go up by $5 million each year. On CBT thresholds, the league’s last offer remained the same as its previous one, which started at $220 million and was flat for three years before going up to $224 million in Year 4 and $230 million in Year 5. The union wants to start at $238 million with raises to $244 million, $250 million, $256 million and end at $263 million.
The league also increased its proposal for minimum salaries from $675,000 to $700,000, moving up $10,000 per year. Those figures are based on there being an increase to 12 postseason teams and the addition of five lottery slots in the draft.
“We thought there was a path to a deal last night and that both sides were closing in on the major issues,” a league spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon. “They couldn’t make us a CBT [competitive balance tax] proposal last night, so we agreed to extend the deadline to exhaust every option.
“The MLBPA had a decidedly different tone today and made proposals inconsistent with the prior discussions. We will be making our best offer before the 5 p.m. deadline for the MLBPA that’s a fair deal for players and clubs.”
A union source disagreed with the optimism expressed by the league after a marathon 16.5-hour bargaining session Monday into Tuesday. At that time, both sides made concessions on several issues, but major obstacles to a deal remained.
The sides remain far apart on two main issues and have smaller differences on several others.
