The Washington Post's Chelsea Janes reports that Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association met for over an hour on Monday before taking a break to continue later in the day.
Dan Halem, Dick Monfort and other members of the MLB contingent just walked out of the area of Roger Dean where they had been for talks. Hour and fifteen minutes of talks, it seems, for those who care. Unclear if they?re done for the day or just breaking out to chat separately.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 21, 2022
The two sides are continuing meetings in Jupiter, Florida, to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement. The hour-long first session is an upgrade over the mere 15-minute meeting they had last Thursday in New York. The owners and the MLBPA will need to come to an agreement by February 28 to prevent any delays to the start of the season. The length of negotiations has already caused postponements to spring training games.
The core issues at hand center around the fact that the average player's salary has declined while franchises have become much more valuable. Also, at issue is that younger players are contributing a lot more and still receiving a lot less compensation.
MLB has been in a lockout since December 2, after the expiration of the previous CBA.
Over at FanDuel Sportsbook, the Los Angeles Dodgers are favored at +600 to win the 2022 World Series.
