Sixteen and a half hours later...

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association had a marathon bargaining session on Monday (which bled into the early morning hours on Tuesday). No new CBA was reached, but there's real momentum towards a deal for the first time since the lockout began. On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick breaks down the latest on the lockout. Apparently, a 12-team expanded postseason has been agreed to in principle. Additionally, the penalties for exceeding the Competitive Balance Tax (also known as the "luxury tax") will remain the same. The league had been pushing for harsher penalties. Also likely to be in a new deal: a pre-arbitration bonus pool of at least $25 million (the players likely will need this to be at least $40-50 million), substantial increases to the league minimum salary, and a significant bump to the CBT threshold amounts. Although the sides remain apart, for the first time since the lockout began it's not that difficult to see an agreement being reached.

Ben also discusses the state of starting pitching in the NL West, and compares the Giants to their division rivals. While the Dodgers and Padres have good starting pitching on paper, both have significant question marks. Yu Darvish and Blake Snell were big offseason acquisitions last year, but neither was a real difference maker for the underperforming Padres. Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw is a free agent and Trevor Bauer is a great unknown at this point for LA. The Giants have Logan Webb and three solid mid-rotation arms, but there is injury risk. The Rockies and D-backs are pretty clearly ranked fourth and fifth in Ben's interpretation.

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