MLB Rumors: League Requests Federal Mediator's Assistance to Help Resolve Lockout

Major League Baseball is reportedly turning to outside assistance in an effort to resolve the lockout ahead of the 2022 season.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Thursday that the league sought help from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to facilitate further discussions with the Players' Association.

There hasn't been much progress on discussions, and Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported the league said Thursday it will not make a counteroffer after saying it would Tuesday.

The two sides met this week, and Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reported the union offered to reduce their pre-arbitration bonus pool request from $105 million to $100 million. However, she also classified talks as "heated."

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated explained the owners previously proposed the pre-arbitration bonus pool be set at $10 million, so there is plenty of ground to make up on that point.

The players have also suggested reducing the experience requirement to reach arbitration to two years of service time, which, per Verducci, is seen as a "non-starter" by the league's owners.

There has been some movement on what could be seen as smaller issues that likely won't hold up negotiations as long as some of the more direct financial topics could.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the league proposed a universal designated hitter, while the union offered a 12-team playoff format as opposed to the 10-team one that was in place during the 2021 campaign.

Still, Passan explained there was "little progress" this week, which means "the on-time opening of spring training at this point is in grave danger and, frankly, would take a miraculous deal coming together to rescue."

Spring training games are scheduled to start Feb. 26.

Perhaps the addition of a federal arbitrator can accelerate talks so the 2022 campaign is relatively unaffected, but both sides are still far apart on multiple topics.