MLB late this afternoon made its final proposal of the day to the MLBPA, and "barring a stunning surprise, MLB is expected to make their official announcement of a delayed 2022 regular season" (TWITTER.com, 3/1). The players are "expected to vote no" on the league's latest proposal (TWITTER.com, 3/1). The players today made a counter offer to MLB on "several key areas." On the league minimum salary: the MLBPA’s "latest offer starts at $725,000, with increases of $20,000 in first few years of deal, a source said, then a different increase later." MLBPA also offered to "drop its request on the new prearbitration bonus pool to $85 million in the first year," with a $5M "increase annually over course of deal," a source said. The union previously was at $115M (TWITTER.com, 3/1). On the competitive balance tax, the union "dropped their request" to $238M, $244M, $250M, $256M, $263M, respectively (TWITTER.com, 3/1). In MLB's last proposal, there was "no change in the CBT" (TWITTER.com, 3/1).
Giants P Alex Wood tweeted that MLB had "pumped to the media" last night and today that there was momentum toward a deal. Wood: "Now saying the players tone has changed. So if a deal isn’t done today it’s our fault. This isn’t a coincidence. We’ve had the same tone all along. We just want a fair deal/to play ball." Wood noted the last 24 hours, there was "cautious optimism on the players side because the owners were actually at the table negotiating with us toward a deal." Wood: "If there’s no deal the optimism from MLB was a PR illusion to make it look like they tried" (TWITTER.com, 3/1).
