For the first time since the owners locked out the players 43 days ago, MLB and the MLBPA discussed core economic matters in a video meeting Thursday. It is the first substantial bargaining session since the work stoppage began. The two sides discussed other non-economic matters last month, though the topics discussed Thursday will ultimately determine when the lockout ends.
MLB made an economics proposal during Thursday's session, which ended around 2 p.m. ET, and it was not received well by the union, report The Athletic's Evan Drellich and ESPN's Jeff Passan. MLB Network's Jon Heyman reports MLB proposed raising the minimum salary and making more money available to Super Two players, a subset of players who quality for arbitration four times rather than the usual three based on their service time.
A deal was never going to be struck Thursday — this session was intended to reignite talks — and the question now is how quickly the MLBPA will submit a counterproposal.