Commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday acknowledged that he worries that Major League Baseball's labor negotiations could lead to a long work stoppage resembling the 1994-95 players' strike that cost the league 948 regular-season games and the entire 1994 postseason.

"Of course I do," Manfred said Wednesday during the owners meetings. "We want to make an agreement. We made a proposal on one set of topics. At the outset of negotiations, I went and said myself, 'We're open to whatever ideas people have, but we need a realistic framework that addresses the fans' concerns about competitive balance.' You just can't ignore that financial penalties have not gotten it done for us."