MLB Players Association declines MLB’s request for federal mediation

Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesThursday, MLB owners asked for federal mediation of their lockout-induced (lack of) negotiation with players.

As I noted in that article, federal mediation in the 1994/95 baseball strike failed to produce an agreement, and the union found it to be pretty useless:

“It was a joke. It had no value,” said Don Fehr, head of the MLBPA during the 1994-95 strike. “And there were all kind of agendas at work in the mediation that had nothing to do with the agendas of the parties trying to resolve the dispute.”

Thus this should not come as a surprise to you:

I’m with the players here. The statement “The clearest path to a fair and timely agreement is…