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JUPITER, Fla. — The two sides arrive daily at Roger Dean Stadium and break into camps — the players huddle in the parking lot for a few minutes, some fielding requests for autographs from fans nearby, as the league sets up inside.
After more than two months of looking past each other, offering proposals and counterproposals that have gone nowhere, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have taken their negotiations to Florida — where there are signs that talks have started to move in the right direction.
New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and Chicago Cubs center fielder Ian Happ have been among the players in attendance over the first two days, joining Rockies owner Dick Monfort and Padres owner Ron Fowler on the league’s side.
But before anyone gets too confident that the MLB season will absolutely start on time — Opening Day is currently scheduled for March 31 — the reality is that the sides are still far apart on key core economic issues, and the clock is ticking on the deadline to reach a deal without losing regular-season games for the first time since the 1994-95 player strike. Over the past week, we asked agents and executives not involved in the day-to-day talks what they believe would be a realistic compromise on each of the biggest issues. Here’s what they told us.
Arbitration and pre-arbitration pool
The issue: The union wants to get young players paid more. It has proposed two ways to do so: First, by getting them to arbitration more quickly. Currently, only 22% of players are arbitration-eligible after two years of service time. The union’s last proposal was for 80%, and it also included over $100 million in a bonus pool that would award the top players who aren’t yet eligible for arbitration. The two sides are far apart here: The league is steadfast on keeping Super 2s at 22% and has agreed to the new pool, but offered just $20 million.
What insiders say: For decades, most…
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Source : espn
