MLB CBA Negotiations Drag in February. Spring Training in Danger?


                                       Photo from: https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb


MLB fans everywhere are waiting for their teams "Truck Day", the day where the team loads up their 18-wheeler rig full of baseball supplies and heads for either Arizona or Florida to begin a month-and-a-half stretch of warming up, practicing, drills, routine and exhibition games to prepare for the 162-game season. in early December, the MLB owners and MLB players association entered into a lockout as they were not able to come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) before the deadline. As the MLB lockout rolls into its 6th week, fans from Los Angeles to Boston, Miami to Seattle are all worried that the Truck Day will not be coming anytime soon.

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the CBA lockout is destined to continue, and it sounds as though spring training will be delayed because of it. Nightengale cites salary arbitration, draft pick compensation, minimum salaries and luxury tax thresholds as the biggest stopping points for the negotiations. So, that means, you guessed it! money is stopping the two siders from coming to an agreement. (MSN.com)

Nightengale also said that MLB was "furious" at the union for only making slight changes to their talks for a new CBA. These stalled negotiations and lockout have affected not only the start of spring training, but also has been affecting how teams approach free agents. There are still several big-name free agents that are unsigned because of the lockout such as:

-Freddie Freeman
-Kyle Schwarber
-Kris Bryant
-Chris Archer
-Zack Greinke
-Clayton Kershaw

This lockout may have also contributed to massive free agent signings happening before the initial lockout began, some record deals were made such as: 

-Javier Baez (Tigers - 6 years, $140M)
-Marcus Semien (Rangers - 7 years, $175M)
-Corey Seager (Rangers - 10 years, $325M)
-Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays - 5 years, $110M)
-Max Scherzer (Mets - 3 years, $140M). (NBCSports.com)

What remains to happen with the CBA negotiations is unknown and all signs point to a delay in Spring Training, which was scheduled to begin February 16.



MLB Free Agent Tracker: Full list of 2021-22 free agent players | RSN (nbcsports.com)

Spring training ‘likely’ to be delayed by MLB lockout, insiders say (msn.com)

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