MLB, players' association plan to meet again Tuesday after sides make progress, sources say

MLB and the MLB Players Association will meet again Tuesday after a Monday bargaining session led to the first progress between the sides since the league locked the players out.

According to sources, the union offered a broad proposal in which it dropped its request for age-based free agency and significantly cut the amount of revenue sharing it asked the league to funnel away from small-market teams.

The union was asked by MLB to remove three items from its list of desires: changing the six-year reserve period before free agency, lowering the eligibility for arbitration and adjusting revenue sharing. The league implemented the first work stoppage in more than a quarter century when negotiations ended after the MLBPA declined to do so.

Sources said that the union rejected three MLB proposals during Monday's meeting. A formula-based salary system for players between two and three years of service time, a draft-pick reward for success by players who started on Opening Day rosters, and a slight tweaking of the draft lottery were all offered by MLB.

The players remained steadfast in their positions, including raising the minimum salary to $775,000, bumping the competitive balance tax threshold from $210 million to $245 million, and instituting a draft lottery among non-playoff teams for the first eight.

Dropping the request for age-based free agency, which would make some players eligible for free agency before the current six-year standard, helped set the stage for Tuesday's meeting. According to sources, the union asked for smaller-market teams to receive less revenue sharing in an earlier proposal.

MLB's Dan Halem and Bruce Meyer, the lead negotiators, as well as Andrew Miller, the union leader, and Dick Monfort, the league's labor relations committee head, were in the small meeting.

Spring training is set to start in mid-February and time is becoming a factor in the negotiations. While a delay of spring training is unlikely to change the trajectory of talks, the specter of losing regular-season games is expected to play a role.