MLBPA expected to make proposal during Thursday meeting with MLB, per report

Major League Baseball owners and the MLBPA are set to meet Thursday afternoon to continue working toward a new collective bargaining agreement. The union is expected to make a proposal, per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich:

The players’ proposal comes in response to a Saturday offer from the league that reportedly received a very unfavorable response from the union.

While the two sides are in agreement on some relatively minor issues, such as a universal designated hitter, the removal of penalties for teams who sign qualified free agents, and the basic beliefs that the minimum salary should be raised and a league-wide bonus pool should be established for pre-arbitration-eligible players, there are still many issues left to settle.

The two sides are still very far apart on how much the minimum salary should be raised, how big that bonus pool should be, how much the competitive-balance threshold should increase over the length of the CBA, and how significantly luxury-tax penalties should be adjusted. There is also an ongoing dispute about whether there should be limits on how many times a player can be optioned to the minors per season — and if so, what the limit should be. MLB also has asked for the ability to further downsize the minor leagues, though the players have reportedly vowed to reject any offer that would do so.

Spring training camps were set to open earlier this week, and as the lockout continues, the chances of part of the regular season being wiped out continue to rise.