JUPITER, Fla. — Talks broke down between MLB and the MLBPA on Tuesday afternoon leading the league to declare it’ll make a final offer for a new collective bargaining agreement before a 5 p.m. EST deadline.
“We thought there was a path to a deal last night and that both sides were closing in on the major issues,” a league spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon. “They couldn’t make us a CBT proposal last night so we agreed to extend the deadline to exhaust every option.
“The MLBPA had a decidedly different tone today and made proposals inconsistent with the prior discussions. We will be making our best offer before the 5 p.m. deadline for the MLBPA that’s a fair deal for players and clubs.”
A union source disagreed with the optimism expressed by the league after a marathon 16.5-hour bargaining session on Monday. At that time both sides made concessions on several issues but major obstacles to a deal remained.