Click here to read a transcript of Wednesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
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Although my entry wasn’t a question, I very much appreciate the empathy.
I get why most of the questions were on the CBA, but part of me is tired of talking about it at this point and was hoping more questions would be on trades, FA targets, breakout candidates, etc. I just want some semblance of normalcy.
Understandable, but it’s only one day after MLB canceled games from a lockout they created. Fans are annoyed and recognize the CBA has to be settled before we can move on.
Eh, it’s been going on for 3+ months.
Wake me up when they sign an agreement, because otherwise, nothing else effects me.
I’m the opposite. Every chat has the same player/trade/FA questions so I’d rather get a different take on these important issues. Maybe if they didn’t answer the same questions every chat I’d feel differently.
Like it or not, Manfred outplayed Tony Clark. I get manfred had all the advantages but in the end, it doesn’t even matter. You have to fall sometimes to lose it all. Tony Clark isn’t the man for the job
And manfred is?¿?¿?
capable at doing what the owners want him to do.
That’s why there’s a new lead negotiator for the players this time. If Clark remained actually in charge, there would be baseball but the players would be getting minimum wage and have to pay their own travel expenses.
And they’d also have the option to change professions if that were the case. Just as they can do at any time they’re not happy with they’re chosen profession
bigjon, please stop with this same repetitive take about the players getting a different job. Did you even read the chat? They are highly skilled in an $11 billion industry and are simply trying to get the biggest piece of the pie they possibly can. We all would feel the same way in their situation.
but they’d have top notch chefs!
We don’t know if Manfred outplayed Clark/Meyer. Negotiations are ongoing. MLB carefully built the playing field, beginning with the lockout, not making an offer for six weeks, then slow-talking negotiations until 24-hours prior to the deadline they created. That 24 hours produced the most intense negotiations the two sides have had in the past year. That was also the first opportunity for the union to really see where MLB was going to focus. The MLB negotiators then tried to ram a deal through in the middle of the night. It was a good tactic, but the MLBPA wisely backed away and now they have more control then they did prior. The MLBPA is going to make back pay part of any final deal, as they have in the past. It is the owners now who are losing money. Opening Day weekend is always a big money maker. They can’t finalize their Apple Deal, their NBC deal, etc. until they can make a deal with the players.
In the end, the players will get less than they wanted, but they’ll still do pretty well and they’ll likely built a framework for future CBA’s.
One thing I have to begrudgingly give the owners credit for is they know better who has the real authority in any negotiation: the party who can walk away more easily. Sure, there are guys like Trout and Scherzer who could, assumedly, at least, walk away right now and never need another dime. But then there are guys still on their pre-arb deals who didn’t get an outrageous signing bonus or who have already spent it all on a house. Those guys are going to cave eventually and the owners know it. The owners can afford to walk away from the table for the rest of the year; it’ll hurt them financially, but not nearly as much as it would hurt the players.
Manfred announcing the league was willing to miss up to a month of games may have taken away some of their leverage. Players will get back to the table later in the month and slowly try to claw back some of their asks. I bet we see a similar situation 4 weeks from now where the league announces a March 31 deadline for a May 1 opening day or something and the players will use that deadline as leverage
This seems to be echoed by Rich Hill, who said in an interview that the small-middle market owners aren’t rolling in dough during April and May and are willing to push the season back to reduce operating costs and start the season in a more profitable period
No LP fans
Owners own businesses to make money simple as that. I find it hard to find empathy with the players. Who is making them play? Riddle me that. The owners have money its not like they ever needed a franchise it’s the other way around. Show me a major league player struggling to make ends meet. Just one. However, the minor leaguers should be more adequately compensated for sure
You sir/madam hit the nail on the head!
Show me an owner struggling to make money. What’s your point? Why not get as much as you possibly can in a very short career when you’re highly skilled and those skills are very desirable?
Wow. The owners job is to fairly compensate his employees, how much he makes is 110% irrelevant. Take business 101
All I want is baseball before May 20th. Of course I want it before. Noth sides are greedy.
Billionaires hire better lawyers than millionaires.
“Baseball has been berry berry good to me” Chico Escuela
Sammy Sosa also said that.
I disagree with Mr Adams. I don’t care how big a company is, when you start by asking for an additional $150k per employee for about half the employees and then add a request for $150MM for a pool for that same group of players, that’s gonna put a gulp in any company’s throat. Its not like that amount is just laying around. Its gotta come from somewhere, and every team doesn’t have it in the owners pocket (probably the big markets). Yes revenue is up, but I know my expenses seem to out pace my income. Until there is some data on what has happened to costs, I can easily see the players ask as an over reach. Also keep in mind that those payroll amounts are just the salary portion, and does not cover any of the benefit costs that the players receive. I believe I read somewhere that the cost of medical coverage was out of control and the players get the best coverage. They’re not dealing with an HMO.
really the issue to me is asking for both. just one of those asks may fly, or a combination of both, but they are simply asking for a lot more overall. I think the owners arent opposed to paying the young players more, but it can’t be a sharp increase all at once. make it more gradual.
The MLBPA percent of revenue has decreased from 51/49 to 57/43. MLB is about to sign additional huge TV contracts. The MLBPA ask have not been unreasonable.
Where is the agreement that the players are paid based on a % of revenue? Surely, if they wanted that, they could try to bargain for that.
Additionally, as mentioned above, until you know the costs, it’s hard to determine how much that really means.
Some posters want us to think the players are starving and the fans don’ pay their salaries.
Some posters want us to think the owners are starving and player payroll is tied closely to the cost of attending a game. Ticket prices are based on supply and demand. If they were tied to player salaries, why don’t ticket prices plummet when teams slash payroll?
There are lots of people that make very little money when they first start in a job, most of them don’t have a $600k minimum to look forward to, either.
Most people aren’t one of 1200 people in an $11 billion industry, with incredibly desired skills.
If they have such desirable skills and demands are so high, why aren’t they willingly going elsewhere? No one is stopping them, but themselves.
I’m pulling for a millionaire come back win over the billionaires.
1000 years from now:
“We’re pulling for the quadrillionaires over the quintillionaires.”
Fry had it so good in Futurama…
Lost me when you said Manfred is “exceptionally good at his job.”