JUPITER, Fla. — Major League Baseball’s owners characterized Sunday’s long day of negotiations with the players as “productive,” with the looming of the league’s Monday deadline to complete a Basic Agreement in order to start the regular season on time. The two sides will resume talks on Monday morning.
At the unsubtly named Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, talks began shortly before 1 p.m., and there were four meetings between representatives. That they had hung around so late provided a sliver of encouragement, all the more so after Saturday’s session when the players moved significantly on arbitration eligibility and revenue sharing, only for the owners to stick to their stance that both issues ranked as third-rail, untouchable and immovable.
The MLB Players Association shortened its roster on Sunday, with only three players — new Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, new Rangers infielder Marcus Semien and free agent Andrew Miller — participating. On some days of this Jupiter Summit (Sunday marked the seventh straight day), as many as 10 active players reported. Similarly, no owners took part in the sessions, although the Yankees’ Hal Steinbrenner, the Rockies’ Dick Monfort, the Padres’ Ron Fowler and the Rangers’ Ray Davis — all of whom had taken part earlier in the week — remained on site caucusing, as did commissioner Rob Manfred.
In response to the clubs’ threat to cancel games and dock the according pay if no deal could be reached by Monday, the players vowed to not sign off on an expanded postseason without receiving their full season’s salary.
As of early Sunday afternoon, the two sides remained considerably apart on virtually all of the core economic issues which both sides were willing to discuss, including the minimum salary, the pre-arbitration bonus pool and, most notably, the competitive-balance tax. They had made progress on the draft lottery, with the top six picks in play, although the clubs wanted a 14-team tournament and the players prefer 12.