MLB players and teams have a conversation into the night, as the deadline for openings nears

Owners and teams narrowed differences on Friday and Saturday. They were still at odds on major issues, including luxury tax rates and thresholds, as well as the size of the bonus pool for pre-arbitration player and minimum salaries.
Several of these issues were at play in negotiations where management wanted the union to agree to an expansion of the postseason from 10 to 14 teams, two more than the players are willing to accept.
MLB states that if there’s no agreement by Monday night, there won’t be enough time for training to begin the season as planned.
Between 1 and 6:30 p.m. Dan Halem, Deputy Commissioner, made four walks from Roger Dean Stadium’s offices to the area where Cardinals players can congregate in the Cardinals clubhouse building.
Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller, as well as chief negotiator Bruce Meyer and union head Tony Clark, attended the talks. Scherzer, who is nearby, left the talks in the afternoon, but may return.
Morgan Sword, senior Vice President Patrick Houlihan, and Reed MacPhail, MLB executive vice president, met with union officials, who are familiar with many details of the complex collective bargaining agreement. The contract expired at 359 pages. There were also separate agreements covering benefits, joint drugs rules and handling domestic violence allegations.
The ninth baseball work stoppage began Dec. 2. Spring training games were supposed to begin Saturday, but have been canceled until March 7.
MLB offered to increase the luxury tax threshold from $210m last season to $214m this year. It will also raise it to $220m by 2026. The union also wants higher tax rates. They are similar to a salary cap.
Players requested a threshold of $245 million this year. This will rise to $273 million in the final season.
The union wanted to increase the number of players who have at least two years of major league service, and less than three to 35% to the top 35%. This was in addition to the 22% cutoff that had been in place since 2013.
The union suggested that $115 million be distributed to 150 players in the pre-arbitration pool. Management proposed that $20 million be divided among 30.