Major League Baseball could be barreling toward a horrible year in 2027, when games could be canceled amid a labor dispute. But opening proposals for a new collective bargaining agreement were exchanged only about a month ago, and fans would be wise to stay patient at this stage, experts say.“I would say, don’t over-read it, because there’s a lot of discussions to happen,” said Alexander Colvin, dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, one of the top academic centers for management-employee relations.The most intriguing piece of this process might revolve around the owners’ strategy to convince players of the merits of a salary cap: how and when the league decides to sweeten its offers in a lengthy back-and-forth. So far, the league appears to be taking a slower path, rather than trying to bowl over players at the outset.Thursday will provide new data points. The sides have a scheduled meeting today in New York in which the league plans to make its first proposals on some key economic pieces it has yet to address, including what’s known as the “reserve system,” people briefed on the negotiations who were not authorized to speak publicly said.MLB will likely dangle increases to the minimum salary, which this year is $780,000. It could also offer to grant players earlier access to salary arbitration, which currently takes three years for most players, or to free agency, which takes six.The union, which has made proposals on those topics already, plans to make proposals on other matters Thursday.Ultimately, MLB might still well be conservative in what it offers. The early days in labor negotiations often are geared toward communicating one’s own goals, rather than trying to please the other side.“Typically what you’d do is put out your priorities: these are the areas we want to change the system,” Colvin said. “Then you’re listening for what the other side is prioritizing. And then you can make the trade-offs later.“It’s generally better you don’t make the trade-offs in advance: you wait ‘til each side’s laid out what its interests are, and you try and figure that out first.”But even inside that framework, MLB, which is faced with a steep task, has seemed inclined to build its case slowly. When it comes to a cap, the league is trying to soften the opposition players have held for decades. In service of that, MLB could have a month ago offered an improvement in just one of those areas: say, the minimum salary.The league’s overall strategy is not yet clear, but high-level planning is involved: a leading management-side law firm, Proskauer Rose, advises the owners as outside counsel.“One possibility would be to ask for the moon and the stars, and then maybe you’re willing to settle for half the moon at the end,” said Al Latham, who teaches law at the University of Southern California and was previously a partner at the firm Paul Hastings. “On the other hand, there are cases where you know from the start what you’re going to have to do in order to make a deal.“And maybe you’re willing to at least signal, if not in a formal proposal, that you’re willing to consider a major give on the other side in return for what you’re asking.”The owners could be banking that if their cap proposal looks better and better over time, players might think twice about choosing to miss games when crunch time arrives.