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The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) rejected Major League Baseball's offer of working with a mediator Friday to resolve the league-induced lockout which is now in its 65th day.
Spring training workouts in Arizona and Florida are scheduled to start February 16. But that timeline is in major jeopardy while the lockout drags on. Also in trouble is the start of the season. The league and players would need to reach an agreement by early March at the latest to ensure opening day, scheduled for March 31, starts on time. Teams need at least three weeks of spring training, from initial workouts to exhibition games, to be ready for the season.
However, the MLBPA declined to work with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to help the parties reach an agreement after the league suggested bringing in a mediator.
"Two months after implementing their lockout, and just two days after committing to Players that a counterproposal would be made, the owners refused to make a counter, and instead requested mediation," the MLBPA said in a statement. "After consultation with our Executive Board, and taking into account a variety of factors, we have declined this request."
The MLBPA also said in the statement that the players are ready to negotiate. However, a Major League Baseball spokesperson questioned why the players rejected working with a third party if they were prepared to negotiate.
"It is hard to understand why a party that wants to make an agreement would reject mediation from the federal agency specifically tasked with resolving these disputes, including many successes in professional sports," the statement read.
December 1, 2021, the Major League Baseball collective bargaining agreement, which allows MLB and the MLBPA to conduct business, expired and produced a work stoppage. The lockout is the league's first since the 1994-1995 players' strike.
"We don't need mediation because what we are offering to MLB is fair for both sides," tweeted pitcher Max Scherzer, who is one of four association reps on the MLBPA's powerful executive subcommittee.
"We want a system where threshold and penalties don't function as caps, allows younger players to realize more of their market value, makes service time manipulation a thing of the past, and eliminate tanking as a winning strategy," Scherzer wrote.
Not having a new collective bargaining agreement in place does not mean spring training and the season cannot begin. Both sides could agree to start the baseball calendar under the previous agreement while working out a new one. That option has yet to be discussed in public.
Teams cannot sign players to new contracts during the lockout. Additionally, players cannot use club facilities to work out or rehabilitate injuries.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred previously said he was disappointed with the league-induced lockout but believed it was the best choice to protect the upcoming 2022 season. Manfred also consistently harped on his concern about missing regular-season games because of the lockout, which is exactly where this protracted discussion appears to be heading.
"We hope that the lockout will jumpstart the negotiations and get us to an agreement that will allow the season to start on time," Manfred said in early December. "This defensive lockout was necessary because the Players Association's vision for Major League Baseball would threaten the ability of most teams to be competitive."
