MLBPA expected to make counter offer to MLB’s proposal on Monday, per report

Major League Baseball and the MLBPA are expected to meet again on Monday, and the union is expected to issue a counter-proposal to the offer MLB made last Thursday, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. This will only be the second time the league and the union have had formal discussions since a lockout was instituted at the beginning of December.

Frustrations are mounting among fans and the media as the lockout drags on and the two sides drag their feet in trying to get a deal done. It’s been widely speculated that MLB wants to “run out the clock,” so to speak, in an attempt to pressure the players into accepting an unfavorable deal. Thus, the players’ only recourse seems to be to delay important events such as spring training — which is scheduled to begin in just under a month — in order to put the pressure back on the owners.

At this point, it’s almost certain that these slow negotiations will result in a rushed, messy free-agent process, and it’s looking more likely by the day that early spring training workouts — and maybe even games — will be wiped out. It should be interesting to see how aggressively talks accelerate as the bottom line is threatened for both the owners and players.