Major League Baseball canceled its second wave of games amid the lockout with the MLB Players Association on Wednesday, wiping out all games through Apr. 14.
The move comes as MLB and the MLBPA reached a stalemate during negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides had made progress over the past several weeks including adding a pitch clock, installing the designated hitter to the National League and a six-team draft lottery to discourage tanking.
But the latest hangup surrounds the implementation of an international draft. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, MLB proposed that the international draft would cover amateur players from Latin America and Asia as opposed to having teams sign players overseas through a system of draft-pick compensation.
The players balked at the idea and sent a counteroffer before the league canceled its most recent wave of games.
The development throws another wrinkle into negotiations. MLB was committed to playing a 162-game schedule despite the cancellation of the first three series of the season but Wednesday’s deadline puts that in jeopardy.
Passan also reported that the MLBPA has threatened to remove a proposal to expand the postseason from 10 to 12 or even 14 teams.
With the second wave of games, the Minnesota Twins’ Apr. 7 home opener against the Seattle Mariners has been canceled. The earliest the Twins would open up the season is Apr. 15 against the Boston Red Sox.
https://twitter.com/aarongleeman/status/1501703260167675912
