MLB owner Rob Manfred, the main representative for the owners, talked to the media o Thursday and communicated that the league is ready to put a competitive offer in the table for the union.

He failed to get into specifics other than the official agreement of the universal designated hitter rule and the elimination of draft pick compensation, though.

All we know is that crucial economic matters will be discussed in Saturday’s meeting, which likely includes minimum salary, competitive balance tax, bonus pool for young major leaguers, and others.

Rob Manfred said Spring Training is not delayed at this time. So at least there's that. CBA negotiations meeting is coming up on Saturday.

— Matthew Moreno (@MMoreno1015) February 10, 2022

Fans are starting to worry because the start of spring training is in serious jeopardy: training camps were slated to open in a matter of days and the first games are scheduled for February 26.

Will there be a deal in time to avoid delaying the start of the season?

Manfred remains hopeful that will be the case.

MLB Thinks Spring Training Could Begin Quickly After Reaching A Deal

He said that, once a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is reached, spring training could start relatively quickly, in less than a week, to be precise.

Rob Manfred says he expects once a CBA is reached (whenever that is), it would take less than a week to get spring training underway

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 10, 2022

A normal spring training lasts about a month and a half, perhaps a bit less.

In theory, there could still be a few days before the situation reaches critical stages, provided there can be a relatively quick deal, of course.

Manfred, judging by his tone and the sense of urgency he showed on Thursday, appears to be eager to finally reach an agreement, which is good, but offers a bad look for the league.

It’s good because there is, at least among fans, an optimistic environment before Saturday, which is the day for the allegedly “good” offer that owners will present to players.

But one can’t help but think how much pain and suffering would every party involved would have avoided if Manfred and the owners would have shown this urgency a lot sooner.

Why is he suddenly so willing to make negotiations advance?

Was he waiting for players to budge by now? It’s impossible to know for sure, but the answer is likely yes.

When the real danger of delaying spring training and losing games arrived onto the scene, owners appear to be a bit more eager to truly negotiate.

That is, of course, if the offer they will present on Saturday is truly competitive: that will be on the players to determine.

They Have A Handful Of Days To Agree Before Jeopardizing The Start Of The Season

The logic indicates that both sides have about a week to finalize an agreement if they want to start things right on schedule.

Considering how far both parties are in their respective positions, that seems like too little time for them to hammer out a deal.

They will both try to find solutions anyway, so the baseball world will be very attentive to what happens on Saturday.

If the players feel offended by the offer, you can be sure that spring training won’t start on time.

If they at least acknowledge it’s closer to what they seek, then there could be hope in the horizon.

In any case, the sides reaching a deal on Saturday seems almost impossible.

But will be a crucial day in the 2021-22 CBA negotiations, a pivotal one for the future of the 2022 season without a doubt.

The post Rob Manfred Offers A Spring Training Timeline appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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