In the least surprising event of the offseason, the MLB owners and MLBPA could not come to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) as the old CBA elapsed at midnight on Wednesday night.
As a result of it elapsing, the MLB owners decided to enact a lockout, so there will be no new transactions made, players cannot be in contact with club personnel, and players cannot use club facilities until the CBA is resolved.
When the lockout when put in place at 12:01 AM (Eastern time) on Thursday, both MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark released statements about the lockout and the MLBPA’s response was perfect.
MLBPA had a perfect response to the MLB lockout
The MLBPA had a perfect response to the MLB lockout imposed by owners at 12:01 AM E.T. on Thursday.
They said, in part, that the lockout is a “dramatic measure” that is “not required” but was imposed only to “pressure Players into relinquishing rights and benefits, and good faith bargaining proposals that will benefit not just Players, but the game an industry as a whole.”
You can read the brief statement below.
Statement from the Major League Baseball Players Association: pic.twitter.com/34uIGf762W
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) December 2, 2021
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred released a statement as well. It was a long-winded diatribe (in comparison to the MLB statement) as it was 800 words, or 5.5 times longer than the MLBPA statement.
Manfred claims that he believes that “it appears the Players Association came to the bargaining table with a strategy of confrontation over compromise. They never wavered from collectively the most extreme set of proposals in their history, including significant cuts to the revenue-sharing system, a weakening of the competitive balance tax, and shortening the period of time that players play for their teams.”
Manfred also claimed that “ll of these changes would make our game less competitive, not more.”
However, he did reveal some of what they offered to the MLBPA.
- MLB owners “offered to establish a minimum payroll for all clubs to meet for the first time in baseball history”
- MLB owners offered a plan that would “allow the majority of players to reach free agency earlier through an age-based system that would eliminate any claims of service time manipulation”
- MLB owners offered a plan that would “increase compensation for all young players, including increases in the minimum salary.”
Manfred also claimed that “hen negotiations lacked momentum,” the owners tried to create momentum by accepting MLBPA’s proposals for:
- A universal Designated Hitter
- The creation of a new draft system using a lottery similar to other leagues
- An increase in the Competitive Balance Tax threshold that would affect only a small number of teams.
You can read his full statement here.
Of what it sounds like, the sides are still very far apart in negotiations and it could be a long, cold winter for MLB fans.