During an in-person negotiating session that lasted more than two hours, the MLBPA officially rejected the league’s first proposal and made a counteroffer, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The sides, in what can only be viewed as progress given the lack of contact earlier this offseason, will meet again on Tuesday, reports Hannah Keyser of Yahoo Sports.
Per Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the union made two significant concessions on Monday.
The first was to drop its request for an age-based free agency system that would have sped up the years to free agency for some players. The league had not been open to that change.
The second was a revision to a proposal regarding revenue sharing.
According to The Athletic, the two “major hurdles” left to clear revolved around whether the league is open to any changes at all regarding revenue sharing and whether the league is open to reworking rules regarding when players hit arbitration.
Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to spring training in roughly three weeks, so the two sides will need to work fast in order for spring training to start on time.
The first spring training games are scheduled for February 26, which includes the openers for the Mets and Yankees.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].