Mets Rumors: Winter Meetings still up in the air with no new CBA

The potential of a new CBA getting done between MLB and MLBPA is still likely, but as time goes by, concern will grow.

In the words of Adam Rubin, “OH NO.” The current collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association is set to expire this week and a new deal still hasn’t gotten done. Naturally, fans of the Mets and of our favorite American pastime in general worry that a lockout could ensue if a new agreement isn’t reached, and reached soon.

To add even more concern, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted out Monday evening that “club officials understand that if sufficient progress isn’t made this week in CBA talks, teams won’t participate in winter meetings.”

Of course, this thought process makes sense, but unfortunately, it’s not at all comforting to hear that the two parties are still so far apart that canceling the Winter Meetings could be a real possibility.

The current labor deal expires on Thursday, December 1st, but that doesn’t mean the deadline is final. As MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery pointed out, both owners and players could agree to extend the deadline if they feel sufficient progress has been made. Unfortunately for fans, this outcome would likely keep the Winter Meetings in play, but could ultimately make them less exciting as both owners and players could be less inclined to sign without a labor agreement firmly in place.

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Major League Baseball and the Players Association have recent history on its side, thankfully. The last strike was in 1994, and since then both sides of the aisle have been able to come together and work out the necessary deal to keep the baseball season from slipping away. Hopefully the same happens again this time before the Winter Meetings are forced to be canned, and we can get the Hot Stove season really started.