MLB and the MLBPA have met for five consecutive days this week, but a new CBA still has not materialized. The two sides have failed to find common ground on key issues. The league’s threat of cancelling regular season games looms large.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic provided his take on MLB and the owners’ strategy in a pointed article on Thursday.
“But the owners’ strategy from the start was to squeeze the union until regular-season games were in jeopardy, all the while recoiling in disgust when the player-serfs rejected their crumbs and refused to view them as benevolent despots.”
MLB’s plan has worked the way they wanted it to. Now, the players are beyond frustrated with how the owners have approached the CBA negotiations.
Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler gave his thoughts in a pair of tweets on Thursday that the pitcher has since deleted.
Buehler has since deleted his passionate tweets, but it’s hard to imagine that Buehler is the only player who had it with MLB owners.
If a new CBA isn’t agreed upon by this coming Monday, the league is prepared to cancel regular season games.
The competitive balance tax, anti-tanking measures, and arbitration rules are the major hurdles that must be cleared if Opening Day is going to happen on time.
According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, the league and players will continue to meet throughout the weekend.
