NEW YORK 鈥� There was little movement Tuesday in talks to end the nearly two-month-old baseball lockout during a contentious meeting that lasted about 90 minutes.
Players made a proposal that contained two changes, lowering their plan for a pool to pay pre-arbitration players from $105 million to $100 million and cutting the number of players impacted by proposed service-time anti-manipulation rules.
Owners will respond to the union, perhaps later this week, but it has become clear there is little chance spring training will start as scheduled on Feb. 16.
In a sign of the lack of progress, the union has started to distribute withheld money to players from its stoppage fund.
Opening day is scheduled for March 31, and a deal would have to be reached by late February or early March for an on-time start, given the need for players to go through COVID-19 protocols and then have at least three weeks of training and some exhibition games.
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Ronald Blum, The Canadian Press
