With a handful of teams lighting the hot stove early with relatively minor transactions, there’s a possibility MLB offseason may not go into full swing at the annual Winter Meetings. First on the schedule is the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.
MLB and the players’ union are facing a 12 a.m. ET deadline on Thursday, Dec. 1, to avoid the league’s first work stoppage since 1994. Much has changed in the five years since the current CBA was put into place, with the qualifying offer system and international draft among the topics at the forefront of discussions.