MLB Sends Scathing Statement About MLBPA With Regular Season On Verge Of Suspension

Last night, it was reported by several different media pundits that the MLB lockout was close to being lifted.

According to some insiders, the MLB and MLBPA was significant progress on Monday, and it there was optimism on both sides that a deal would get done prior to the league-instituted 4 p.m. ET deadline today to start Opening Day on time.

The two sides still have to finalize luxury tax thresholds with tweaks to smaller issues before a deal is reached.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 1, 2022

Significant progress has been made in these 15 hours of talks, but several hurdles still need to be resolved before a deal can be consummated before breakfast.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 1, 2022

But on Tuesday, the MLB and MLBPA could not come close to ironing out the details to end the MLB lockout. And after the league sent its “final offer”, they slammed the players association for their negotiating tactics.

“We thought there was a path to a deal last night and that both sides were closing in on the major issues. They couldn’t make us a CBT 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 pm deadline for the MLBPA that’s a fair deal for players and clubs.”

….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 pm deadline for the MLBPA that's a fair deal for players and clubs."

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) March 1, 2022

It looks like commissioner Rob Manfred and the MLB owners are using the past two days as an opportunity to pin the whole MLB lockout on the players. But reading between the lines, its likely that two sides were never particularly close to a deal.

Some reporters probably got word from league officials that a deal was close, making it look worse for the MLBPA when the two sides couldn’t save Opening Day on Tuesday.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who’s at fault here. But rather that the MLB lockout is going to continue to do damage to the game of baseball going forward. And who knows when the sport will recover from the past few years of incompetence?

At this point, its anyone’s best guess when we’ll see the MLB regular season start…

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