Reported MLBPA Requests from Latest 15-Minute Meeting with MLB amid CBA Lockout

The Major League Baseball Players Association made some adjustments to its requests for a new collective bargaining agreement during Thursday's abbreviated meeting with Major League Baseball. 

Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, the union requested 80 percent of players go into arbitration instead of its original demand that all players gain eligibility with at least two years of service time. 

The MLBPA also increased its request for a pre-arbitration bonus pool from $100 million to $115 million. 

ESPN's Joon Lee noted the meeting between the two sides lasted a total of 15 minutes.

Lee did note that MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem and MLBPA Senior Director Bruce Meyer had a "side conversation" that lasted 20 minutes after the official meeting wrapped up. 

Thursday was the first meeting between the two sides since Saturday's talks that The Athletic's Evan Drellich reported left the MLBPA reps "underwhelmed."

Per Drellich, MLB proposed a $5 million increase in the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $10 million to $15 million and incremental increases in the luxury-tax threshold from $214 million in 2022 to $222 million in 2026. 

The league's proposal also maintained the 50 percent tax rate for teams exceeding the threshold for the first time, 75 percent for the second time and 100 percent for the third time. 

During a press conference after the owners meetings last week, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters he believed a four-week spring training would be necessary before the start of the regular season. 

Assuming that time frame holds, MLB and the MLBPA would need to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement within the next two weeks and get players into camp by March 3.

The currently scheduled start date for the 2022 regular season is March 31. MLB imposed the lockout at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1 when the previous CBA expired.