MLB union says it is not advocating spring training boycott

USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY

The Major League Baseball Players Association sought to distance itself from recent suggestions that players were planning a boycott of spring training.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, the MLBPA said the notion of players sitting out a portion of spring training in protest of a suppressed free agent market was not a "recommended course of action" from the union.

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A tense winter between labor and management picked up steam Friday when prominent agent Brodie Van Wagenen implicitly accused owners of collusion to suppress the market and suggested that an angry and motivated group of players might boycott spring training to send a message.

Such a boycott would likely run afoul of national labor laws. The MLBPA and MLB agreed to the most recent collective bargaining agreement in December 2016 and it runs through the 2021 season.

With the union and MLB both touting a "partnership" that has ensured labor peace since the 1994-95 stoppage, the task of sparring with management will likely be left to agents such as Van Wagenen and Scott Boras, who told USA TODAY Sports the current state of the game reflected a "non-competitive cancer."