Sources - MLB Players Association to make counteroffer to league in Monday meeting

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association plan to meet Monday, when the union is expected to present a counteroffer to the league's proposal last week, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The players' association asked Major League Baseball on Thursday to schedule the negotiating session, which is to take place in-person, sources said.

This would be the second meeting between the sides since MLB locked out players on Dec. 2. The meeting would come 11 days after clubs gave the union a proposal.

News of the meeting was first reported by The Associated Press.

There is dwindling time to reach an agreement in time for spring training to start as scheduled on Feb. 16.

The scheduled March 31 opening day is also increasingly threatened, given the need for players to report, go through COVID-19 protocols and have at least three weeks of workouts that include a minimal number of exhibition games.

Players don't receive paychecks until the regular season, and owners get only a small percentage of their revenue during the offseason. Those factors create negotiations until mid-to-late February, when significant economic losses become more imminent.

When owners made their new proposal during a video meeting on Jan. 13, players reacted coolly and said they would contact MLB when they were ready to respond.

Baseball's ninth work stoppage, its first since 1995, started Dec. 2 following the expiration of a five-year labor contract.

Unhappy with a 4% drop in payrolls to 2015 levels, players have asked for significant change that includes more liberalized free agency and salary arbitration eligibility.

Six seasons of major league service have been required for free agency since 1976. Salary arbitration eligibility since 2013 has