Bargaining session scheduled for Thursday, per report

MLB and the MLBPA are scheduling to hold a bargaining session on Thursday, January 13, according to Jeff Passan on Twitter.

The lockout began on December 2, and there have been no meetings between the sides since then. Passan says the plan is for the league to present a “core-economics proposal,” which would presumably deal with issues such as free agency, arbitration, and revenue sharing.

With the scheduling opening of spring training a little over a month away, the complete lack of activity between the sides over the past month-plus has been a bit concerning — while I think expectations were that there wouldn’t be a deal struck until late January or early February, the fact that there haven’t even been any discussions lately would seem to make it less likely for the lockout to be resolved prior to pitchers and catchers being slated to report.

There’s still plenty of time to get a deal done, and I am still of the mindset that it is unlikely games will be canceled. The two sides meeting this week is obviously a good thing, even though I expect to hear that the sides are extremely far apart once that meeting wraps up.