If you are a ‘Glass is Half Full’ type (an optimist), you probably found at least some comfort in Evan Drellich’s recent piece in The Athletic (subscription required), in which he wrote:

“Major League Baseball is preparing new core economic proposals to deliver to the Players Association. When they’re presented, likely this month, core economic talks in the sport will have restarted for the first time since owners initiated a lockout on Dec. 2, marking a positive development.”

But if you are a ‘Glass is Half Empty’ type (a skeptic), you probably said to yourself (and others):

“I’ll believe it when I see it.“

Try as I may, my Glass is ‘Half Empty’ over this entire MLB lockout thing. This from Yahoo Sports‘ Chris Cwik on Saturday:

“It’s tough to know whether the league restarting talks in January will be a good thing without knowing the particulars of the offer. Talking is better than the status quo, but only if the players feel the offer is negotiable. If the league’s offer doesn’t satisfy what the players are seeking, or comes off as insulting to the players, that could create a further schism between both sides.

“Reports from December suggested the two sides were far apart in negotiations. The players likely don’t feel much better after the league scrubbed player portraits and stories featuring current players from its website the day the lockout took place.”

My Half-Empty Glass comes from that “…without knowing the particulars of the offer,” thing, and even more so from this:

“But the resumption of conversations won’t necessarily mean that pitchers and catchers will report on time to major league camp in the middle of February. On the contrary, the start of spring training is in peril until there is real movement. And real movement might not come until more is at stake than simply an on-time start to spring training.”

And if that doesn’t make your Glass Half Empty, this probably will:

Player response to the January proposal will be a much better indicator of the end of the lockout. If the players feel the January proposal is negotiable, an end to the lockout could come sooner than expected. But if the players are frustrated with the owners’ latest effort, it could be a while before the two sides talk again.

Please pass the water jug.

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UPDATE:

Late Monday morning, MLB Trade Rumors reported that according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, MLB is planning to make its proposal to the MLBPA “…within the next two weeks.”

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