TAMPA, Fla. — After another offseason of players complaining about free agency and the allocation of revenue, of MLB and the union going back and forth, of Adam Wainwright, not exactly an alarmist, telling a St. Louis radio station, “Unless something changes, there’s going to be a strike. One hundred percent,” the two sides are at least able to discuss some of the issues at hand.

A few of those issues will get a trial run this summer.

“I’ve actually been pretty pleased with MLB and the union sitting down right now, because they don’t have to sit down on anything until the next CBA,” said Jameson Taillon, the Pirates’ Major League Baseball Players Association representative. “… I think you’re seeing MLB and the union sitting down, at least, and discussing, which does show goodwill.”

Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to increase both the pace of action and the number of balls in play, and MLB is studying ways to eliminate dead time. The players, already concerned about altering the fabric of the game and making it a drastically different sport than their forebears played, haven’t been in the most compromising of moods. But that could be changing.

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As Taillon noted, the league and union are talking despite the fact that the collective bargaining agreement does not expire until 2021. And despite Manfred having the power to unilaterally enact some on-field changes, he does not want to do so without union approval.

But they will be enacted somewhere else, and they will be enacted all at once.

MLB joined forces with the independent Atlantic League to test several new rules designed to reduce dead time and increase balls in play. Among the rules, announced Friday:

• No mound visits except for a pitching change or injury

• TrackMan, a radar tracking system, will assist umpires with balls and strikes

• Pitchers must face a minimum of three batters, unless they are injured or end the inning

• Two fielders must stand on either side of second base when the pitch is thrown

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• Time between innings reduced by 20 seconds

• And the big one: In the second half of the season, the mound will be moved back two feet, to 62 feet 6 inches.

“This first group of experimental changes is designed to create more balls in play, defensive action, baserunning, and improve player safety,” Morgan Sword, MLB’s senior vice president of league economics and operations, said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing them in action in the Atlantic League.”

The rule eliminates drastic defensive shifts, which could cause more ground balls to result in base hits. The three-batter rule prevents a series of pitching changes to gain a platoon advantage, each accompanied with three minutes of inaction. Moving the mound back could counter the ever-increasing velocity from today’s pitchers and the climbing strikeout totals.

“I think they don’t want to change the fabric of baseball without having the players on board with it,” Taillon said. “I think that’s why they want to test everything out first, see how it goes. As of right now it’s not something I’m concerned about at all. I don’t think big league players are going to agree to move the mound back. That’s really talking about changing the game right there.”

Whereas in the past, players resisted change without always factoring in how that change might affect them — lower attendance and television ratings could affect revenue and TV contracts, which could trickle down to the players economically — players now understand the initiatives’ importance.

“I think we realize, we’re entertainers in a certain sense,” Taillon said. “Our jobs are based off of fans. If there’s no fans, there’s no baseball. So we need to be aware of that. We need to be willing to change with the times if something makes sense. That being said, you can’t just go back and completely change baseball.”

Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.

First Published: March 10, 2019, 8:19 p.m.