MLB Player on Owners' CBA Negotiations: 'They Want to Kill Their Own Product'

MLB players are putting the blame squarely on the owners after the two sides could not come to an agreement Tuesday.

"It's just about morality to me," a player told David O'Brien of The Athletic. "It's a business, but business is booming....When it comes to corporate greed at that level, it's just hard to comprehend how far [owners] will go. They don't want to just win; they want to kill their own product. It's crazy."

The MLB Players Association rejected the final collective bargaining agreement offer from the league, likely creating a delay in the 2022 season, per ESPN's Jeff Passan. 

The two sides remained far apart on several monetary issues. 

According to ESPN's Jesse Rogers, the league offered $30 million in a pre-arbitration bonus pool each year for the entire deal, while the players union wanted to start at $85 million and have it increase each season. The money would go toward qualified players in their first few seasons before they hit free agency.

There was also a disagreement regarding minimum salaries, with the MLBPA requesting a starting point of $725,000, while the MLB offer was $675,000, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic. 

While these are raises compared to the last CBA, it's not consistent with the increased revenue generated across baseball.

MLB recently signed a seven-year deal with ESPN worth $550 million per year, and team value has increased. As Passan noted, the 30 MLB teams are worth $55.28 billion combined after being valued at $15.68 billion just 10 years ago.

Players clearly believe they deserve a larger piece of the pie and that owners are preventing it from happening.