MLB commissioner Manfred joins in on negotiations as lockout talks appear to gain momentum

Baseball players and owners took a first step toward salvaging opening day, nearing agreement Friday on an amateur draft lottery during lockout negotiations that included a surprise one-on-one meeting between Commissioner Rob Manfred and union head Tony Clark.

While an agreement on the draft was not complete, the talks gained momentum for the first time as Major League Baseball's end of Monday deadline approached for a deal that would preserve opening day on March 31 and a 162-game schedule.

Talks will continue Saturday, the 87th day of baseball's first work stoppage since 1995. The sides remain far apart on the big-money issues of the competitive balance tax thresholds and rates, salary arbitration eligibility, the size of a bonus pool for pre-arbitration-eligible players and the minimum salary.

In another sign of the disruption caused by baseball's ninth work stoppage, MLB cancelled three more days of spring training games through March 7. Exhibition games were to have begun Saturday.

But for the first time all week, both sides expressed a feeling they had moved in a positive direction.

Manfred had not attended bargaining since the first session of these talks in April. He has a home in the area and had been in the background at the ballpark during the first four days this week, speaking with management officials.

The players' association had not known he was in the area, and Manfred surprised the union Friday when he asked for a one-on-one meeting with Clark.

Manfred then made the short walk from the offices near home plate where management officials had grouped, crossed the small driveway behind the right-field foul pole and entered the building containing the Cardinals spring training clubhouse, where players had