It was reported earlier this week that there are currently no negotiating sessions scheduled between Major League Baseball and the Players Association. ESPN’s Jeff Passan followed up Wednesday with a report of his own saying that the league is working on proposals to bring to the table and that sources indicate that the earliest negotiations will ramp up is late January.
Passan also reports that the owners are hoping to determine what the players’ top priority is. The possibilities include raising the Competitive Balance Tax, earlier free agency or anti-tanking measures.
If negotiations don’t get serious until around the end of January, that would seemingly put the start of Spring Training in jeopardy given how wide the gap appears to be between both sides.