A day where optimism was looming, Saturday’s meeting ended up taking a turn for the worse. Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) had Max Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, Jameson Taillon, and Marcus Semien in attendance. At the same time, the other player reps from all thirty teams joined in through Zoom. According to Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN, the MLBPA made a proposal that featured moves on the Competitive Tax Balance (CBT), arbitration eligibility, and revenue sharing.

The MLBPA’s offer did not impress the owners, and the meeting between the two sides was said to be hostile. Moreover, the two sides remain far apart regarding the core economic issues such as the luxury tax thresholds and rates, the new pre-arbitration bonus pool, and the minimum salary with just two days away from Major League Baseball’s (MLB) deadline without canceling regular season games.

According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, “MLBPA dropped its request for arbitration eligibility expansion from 75 percent of players with 2-3 years of service time to 35 percent.” The MLB does not want to expand it from the current 22 percent.

The MLB proposed a $1 million increase for the year 2023 in Competitive Balance Tax. . 2022 remains $214 million, 2023 increased $1 million from $214 million to $215 million, 2024 remains at $216 million, 2025 remains at $218 million, and 2026 remains at $222 million.

According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, both sides did agree to credit a full year of major league service to the players who finish either first or second in Rookie of the Year voting in each league by the Baseball Writers Association. Still, the player must not be on the top 100 prospects, and the player must not have spent the entire season on the big league roster.

Although both sides have agreed to the pre-arbitration bonus pool from the central revenue, the players union wants $115 million shared to 150 players. Still, the management wants $20 million to be shared among the 30 teams. According to Jess Rogers of ESPN, the union withdrew their proposal to cut revenue sharing by $30 million yearly but did keep the plan to give the small market teams reason to grow locally generated revenue.

Rule changes can be made with a one year notice or with the player unions agreement, but it is now being proposed that rule changes could be made with 45 days’ notice by six management officials, two union representatives, and one umpire.

Sunday, February 27th, will mark the seventh day in a row at Roger Dean Stadium at 1:00 for a negotiating session between the MLB and the MLBPA.