Morning Mound Visit: MLB expected to cancel another week of games

Walking back Rob Manfred’s announcement of canceled games last week, MLB still believes a 162-game season is possible. For that to happen, the players need to accept the league’s latest deal on Tuesday. If they don’t, MLB will cancel another week of the regular season.

Most signs point to the players rejecting the league’s offer as MLB’s latest proposal sees the competitive balance tax never going higher than where the union thinks it should start. According to a report from Evan Drellich, MLB offered to start the CBT at $228 million with yearly increases. Ultimately, it would end at $238 million. $238 million is the player’s starting point for the soft salary cap.

That already seems like a nonstarter, and as Drellich says, there are “major strings attached.” The players have already conceded on increased arbitration eligibility for players with two-to-three years of service time, the size of the bonus pool for pre-arb players, rule changes, and playoff expansion.

Again, the owners could accept anything the union proposed in the last week or so and come out the victors. They don’t just want to win these negotiations. They want to squeeze out every last drop no matter the long-term damage to the sport. It’s impossible to negotiate in good faith with this sort of people. I mean, come on, the president of the Yankees cried poor on Monday. The Yankees!

Josh Timmers | Bleed Cubbie Blue: Meanwhile, the owners of the Cubs put in a bid to purchase Chelsea FC. Owning a baseball team really bled the Ricketts family dry, didn’t it?

Stephen Tolbert | Battery Power: Expanded playoffs look like they’re coming to MLB. Is it bad that the playoff field will increase by at least 50 percent before the league expands? Yes. Is it also bad that ownership is only putting this through for profit irrespective of the damage it does to competitive integrity? You bet.