Sources: MLB, players union to hold bargaining session Thursday

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association plan to hold a bargaining session Thursday, the first since the league locked out the players Dec. 2, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

MLB reached out to the union to set up the meeting, during which the league plans to make a core-economics proposal, 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 sports economics, and the meeting could be a harbinger for the length of the game's first work stoppage in more than a quarter century.