Morning Mound Visit: MLB and MLBPA meet for more than 15 minutes

MLB and the MLBPA met for several hours on Monday to negotiate the new CBA. The league made some slight concessions, but nothing indicates a deal is particularly close. MLB offered a $20 million bonus pool to the top 30 pre-arbitration players though the players want $115 million for the top 150 players. The league also offered to include the bottom four teams in the draft lottery. The players want the bottom eight. Most notably, the league rescinded their request to control the number of minor league jobs available, but the league could still unilaterally impose roster size reduction in the future.

Meetings are expected to continue in earnest as MLB’s soft deadline to start the season on time approaches. To avoid a delay to the season, the lockout would need to end by February 28. It’s worth mentioning that the league could choose the end the lockout at any time, and the season could carry on under the sunset provisions of the old CBA until a new agreement is made.

Grant Brisbee | The Athletic $: The lockout may not end by March 1, but it will almost certainly end before the year 2052. What exactly will baseball look like in 30 years? Well, the average fastball velocity will keep going up, facial hair will be gone, and the Rangers will have another ugly ballpark.

Jake Devin | Pinstripe Alley: Baseball Prospectus released the 2022 PECOTA projections last week which means it’s time to start identifying players the various systems don’t agree on. Will Giancarlo Stanton be a great hitter again or merely good? Will Anthony Volpe hit a bit or not at all?