MLB lockout talks recess, will resume Monday with deadline nearing
Sides remain distant on issues including luxury tax threshold and minimum salaries
Negotiators for locked-out players and owners recessed their talks until Monday, the day Major League Baseball had set as a deadline to salvage March 31 openers.
The sides held a series of short and more frequent meetings that management considered productive. The talks stretched into Sunday night and are set to resume at 10 a.m.
MLB said that by the end of Monday's session — whenever it finishes — either there will be a deal or the league will begin to cancel regular-season games. MLB had said that was the latest an agreement could be reached to allow enough training time to start the season as scheduled and play 162 games.
Some of those issues were in play during negotiations in which management wants the union's agreement to expand the postseason from 10 teams to 14, two more than players have thus far been willing to accept.
Between 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem made four walks from the offices in the main part of Roger Dean Stadium to the area where players caucus in the Cardinals clubhouse building beyond the right-field wall.
Max Scherzer, Andrew Miller and Marcus Semien attended the talks, a smaller group than in recent days, along with union head Tony Clark and chief negotiator Bruce Meyer. Scherzer, who lives nearby, left in late afternoon but may return.
Baseball's ninth work stoppage started Dec. 2. Spring training games were to have begun Saturday and have been cancelled through March 7.
MLB began the day offering to raise the luxury tax threshold from $210 million US last season to $214 million this year, increasing it to $220 million by 2026. Teams also want higher tax rates, which the union says tend to act like a salary cap.
Players had asked for a $245 million threshold this year, rising to $273 million by the final season.
The union wanted to expand the players with at least two seasons of major league service and less than three to the top 35 per cent, up from the 22 per cent cutoff in place since 2013.
The union proposed the pre-arbitration pool to have $115 million distributed to 150 players and management proposed $20 million be split among 30.
