MLB Rumors: Players' Reaction to Owners' CBA Proposal 'Was Not Positive'

Baseball remains in a lockout after the latest round of discussions between the MLB players association and team owners.

Jeff Passan of ESPN provided the latest update on Thursday:

Jon Heyman MLB Network provided more details on the offer from MLB:

Other proposals were also discussed in Thursday's meeting:

MLB initiated a lockout on Dec. 2 after the two sides were unable to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement before the previous one expired.

Spring training is scheduled to begin on Feb. 26, but the latest disagreements could prevent the year from beginning on time. The regular season is currently slated to start on March 31.

There had been limited official communication between the two sides since the initial lockout, but they agreed to a videoconference meeting on Thursday. According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, it was the first discussion focused on "core economics" since the start of December.

There had been proposals from both sides over the past month, but economics remains the biggest question mark in this holdout. One major issue is the lack of competitive balance due to payroll disparity. 

Heading into 2022, the New York Mets are projected to have a payroll of $236 million while the Cleveland Guardians rank last with a $29 million payroll, per Spotrac. 

While there has been no real discussion of a salary cap, the players want to see a salary floor that forces owners to put more money into their teams.

"The players see how the game's levers incentivize teams to lose," Passan and Jesse Rodgers of ESPN explained. "The low-revenue owners believe that the fewer restraints on payroll exist, the less likely they are to be competitive."

The latest update showed the two sides are seemingly still far apart on these issues.