Once it was confirmed that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will hold a press conference on Thursday at the conclusion of the owners’ meeting and also that the owners and the MLB Players Association were not scheduled to have any additional negotiations. With any additions to the lockdown going on through the weekend, most people assume Manfred will announce spring training camps won’t open next week, as planned.
It’s not, but that doesn’t mean fans should be overly optimistic.
As Jeff Passan Noting to ESPN, Manfred did not officially postpone early spring practice while speaking to reporters Thursday. Manfred also said he believes “we will have an agreement in time to play on our regular schedule.”
MLBPA refuse an MLB proposal last week for a federal mediator to provide assistance. Instead, the MLB will submit a new proposal to the union at some point on Saturday.
Manfred declared himself an “optimist” and added that the parties “always have a breakthrough to reach an agreement” and end the shutdown that threatened training sessions in February.
“That is the art of the process,” Manfred continued. “Someone makes a move. And that’s why we’re going to be making additional moves on Saturday to create flexibility on the other side and what appears to be a huge hole in terms of this or that topic is not a big gap anymore.”
The most worrying thing for anxious baseball fans, Mike Axisa and Matt Snyder of CBS Sports, was that Manfred echoed earlier comments and reports that both teams and players needed four weeks of spring training prior to the start of meaningful games. Thus, the math says that camps must open three weeks at the latest from Thursday for Opening Day to happen on time on March 31.
The two sides are said to be still far from each other on a deal, but the fact that they are talking before the Super Bowl is better than nothing as the unofficial March 3 deadline gets closer and closer with each passing day.
