ESPN reports that Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association will meet on Thursday:

MLB reached out to the union to set up the meeting, during which the league plans to make a proposal that touches on some core economic and competitive issues, according to sources. The lockout came on the heels of face-to-face meetings in Dallas, during which the sides made no progress on a new labor deal as the previous collective bargaining agreement was expiring.

While the parties met during December to discuss ancillary issues, the path to any eventual deal runs through the sport’s economics, and the meeting could be a harbinger for the length of the game’s first work stoppage in more than a quarter century.

ESPN.com

That’s good news, as I was seeing predictions of talks not starting for a couple of weeks.