After MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced the cancelation of the first two series of the regular season, a few key members of the Players Association conducted a press conference of their own. Union executive director Tony Clark, lead negotiator Bruce Meyer and two members of the player executive subcommittee — Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller — spoke with the media (including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America and Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).
Broadly speaking, union leadership reiterated their desire to continue negotiations after today’s league-imposed deadline passed without an agreement. Clark stated that the union was willing to reengage with the league as soon as tomorrow and pointed out that the union never aligned with the league setting this afternoon as an inflection point in talks. (At his press conference, Manfred suggested the parties couldn’t resume discussions until Thursday). However, union leaders also doubled down on their solidarity and willingness to wait out the lockout in search of a deal they find palatable.
Clark alluded to the progress the sides had seemingly made in discussions yesterday as a reason to keep talks open, but he and Meyer each stressed that the union believes there are significant gaps to be closed on key issues. That’s particularly true on the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players — where there’s a $55MM gap in 2022 between the parties’ latest offers — and the base threshold for the competitive balance tax, which has an $18MM discrepancy. There’s also a $25K difference in the sides’ offers on the 2022 league minimum salary. All those gaps would enlarge over the course of the CBA, as the union is seeking more rapid expansion than the league has offered on each. (The gap on the CBT, for instance, would reach $33MM by 2026).
The league also introduced possible on-field rules changes to the mix late during negotiations. The commissioner stated the league had been pursuing a pitch clock and a ban on defensive shifting, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (on Twitter) they’d also sought to make the bases larger, all of which would’ve taken effect in 2023. Clark expressed general openness to discussions on rules changes but added he was perplexed with MLB raising those issues so late in the process.
Bridging those gaps may prove challenging enough, but there’s also the added tension that comes with the league’s cancelation of games. Manfred flatly stated that it would be MLB’s position that players shouldn’t be paid for any contests lost, thereby raising the possibility of prorated salaries. Meyer disagreed with the league’s outlook, stating that the union will pursue “compensation” for those missed games if they’re not made up at a later date. MLB has maintained those contests are officially canceled, not postponed, but the union has expressed their belief those games could be rescheduled (with full player pay, of course).
How long the lockout will continue is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear that today represented a setback in hopes of finding an eventual endpoint. Clark frankly called it a “sad day for baseball,” and it seems possible that heightened animosity in the wake of the league’s actions could threaten whatever progress had been made yesterday. For instance, the union has previously suggested they’d refuse to agree to expansion of the playoff field in 2022 if regular season games were lost and player salaries prorated. That may perhaps be a fatal blow to whatever frameworks of a 12-team postseason were being discussed yesterday, to give a speculative example. What comes next is to be seen, but the near-term future of the sport is shrouded in uncertainty, having officially reached a point that Manfred had previously said would be a “disastrous outcome.”
JayKay
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
FSF
This is SO sad! All off season long, the players have looked like a jilted mistress begging for their lover to take them back.
They need to grow a pair and go on the offensive instead of always reacting and looking like a bunch of beggars.
JeffreyChungus
I saw on twitter that there is a well-respected private mediator named Frederick Fitzgerald Fazbear who is currently in Ukraine working to resolve the situation. We need to airlift him from Europe to Palm Beach so we can get baseball as soon as possible
rangersfan77
The MLPA rejected the possibility of a mediator.
Patrick OKennedy
As they should. Federal mediation is a path to an intentional impasse by MLB.
martevious
MLBPA doesn’t want a mediator because they don’t want things to be fair and reasonable. They want what they want, and they don’t want to move off of their position.
Steve Nebraska
I am still here in Jupiter. We are waiting to see if anything happens tomorrow. There are a lot of people talking about how the deal was close until Scott Boras showed up. Everyone is saying “Scott Boras blew up the deal” because all he is concerned about is the CBT threshold going up. Everyone is saying that he has all the big name clients and he personally benefits from the CBT number going up and nothing Bill Madden talking about it if you guys want to check it out. The feeling is that the whole thing fell apart after Boras showed up and talked to “his people.”: youtube.com/watch?v=lUSY-hLjzBM
Apparently Max Scherzer “went crazy” after Boras showed up. I saw Scherzer here, too.
Al Hirschen
The union should stick to there guns and break the small market owners.The small market owners,if they can’t make it should sell or move
Arnold Ziffel
The owners take the risk, scrap the season and teach those greedy idiots a lesson. Everyone on both sides are total morons.
sdbaseballguy
There is no risk when your franchise value increased 10 fold over a decade.
kylegocougs
What risk do the owners take? What risk does any billionaire take in this broken economy
fox471 Dave
Wow, kyle. Really?
dkcsmc1991
It takes all kinds apparently
FSF
Arnold Z,
First off, most owners did not pay anything close to recent market value. But for those that did, half their purchase gets funded by the government. In fact, it’s more since they get the benefit of washing losses against non baseball income. Here’s how it goes (hypothetical numbers).
Cohen buys Pets for $3.0 billion. Since a baseball team has no hard assets, the entire amount (or pretty close to) is considered “goodwill”. That goodwill can be written off over 15 years. So every year that goes by, Cohen can take a deduction of $200 million on his tax return. It’s not just limited to the financial results of the Pets (since they don’t make anywhere near that much), he can wash it out against his hedge fund earnings or whatever other income he’s got going on.
The new owners are using MLB team purchases as a tax shelter. The investment is merely franchise value growth.
rangersfan77
Sell to who……. the market will still be small no matter who owns the team!
Please, Hammer. Don't hurt 'em.
Even I think some owners should sell. I don’t know how the city of Pittsburgh is considered “small market.” Someone should ask the Steelers and the Penguins owners if they think Pittsburgh is a small market. The Pirates used to sell out all the games in the early 90’s. They only stopped when the team got so terrible.
Rhyde1990
LMFAO
oldoak33
Who was the last owner that sold for a loss?
Asking for a friend
sjwil1
wait it out, Tony… watch them go broke.
both sides are dumbazzes
Rsox
The players are likely to go broke faster than the owners. They all have other business ventures beyond owning a baseball team. Right now somewhere someone online is buying a Mike Trout or a Bryce Harper or a Shohei Ohtani jersey, revenue for the owners. Someone is pre-ordering MLB: the Show 22, revenue. A box of ’22 Topps Baseball Cards, revenue. The owners can outlast the players for far longer than the players can outlast the owners.
sophiethegreatdane
Those business ventures are leveraged, in debt, and reliant upon baseball revenues. Heck, most of the teams themselves are leveraged. Don’t fool yourself into believing all the owners are liquid.
flamingbagofpoop
You think most owners depend on baseball revenues to sustain their other businesses?
oldleftylong
Tony Clark was a less-than MLB player and a Less-Than negotiator. The players have just delayed the season. Ugh!!!
sophiethegreatdane
Owners locked the players out, and maintain the lockout. So, no.
JerryBird
Blah, blah, blah! Both sides need to stick to negotiating and not trying to cover their asses for fans and media. This constant dick measuring is just way too old and boring to hear.
sophiethegreatdane
Agreed
wvpirate
Announcing that Manfred has been fired might help the negotiations. I have seen nothing but terrible suggestions from Manfred since he became Commissioner. With the way negotiations have been handled. And the changes Manfred wants made. I am not sure I want to watch anymore. And I have been watching since 1971.
sjwil1
Manfred stays because the owners get richer and richer.
Tony must go, players keep getting the short straw under him
oldleftylong
The Tigers got the short straw when he was a player!
HalosHeavenJJ
Agreed. The fact he was brought in due to being an experienced labor negotiator only to be at the helm of the first work stoppage in forever is just further proof of his failure.
I give Arte props for voting against Manfred when he was elected. He got it right that time. Pujols, Hamilton, Wells….whole nother story ha ha.
nukeg
Manfred is an absolute failure. There’s no way around it. I hope he goes to sleep tonight realizing he’s an utter disaster as a Commissioner.
dkcsmc1991
How is he a failure? If you don’t know what you are talking about try keeping your mouth shut
nukeg
Mrs. Manfred has joined the chat.
flamingbagofpoop
No, you’re just clueless on who Manfred works for. He has not been a failure for his employers. You can hate him all you want and disagree with the things he announces, but it’s not like he’s making these decisions on his own.
martevious
He is clueless, and he has given us many, many examples of it. He IS an utter disaster as commissioner.
dshires4
Negotiations should be live-streamed. If y’all wanna finger point and blame one another in the press, then the tax paying public that unfairly foots the bill on stadium construction and pays ridiculous prices to go to a game —that makes all this possible in the first place— deserves to see what is happening behind closed doors.
cowdisciple
Maybe they could sell that to the cable networks. Might be worth a few bucks.
goob
Bovine brilliance!
jhend12
Stream it on MLB.tv and then black it out
Bowadoyle
Hope the players miss the entire season. Should we set up a go fund me? Food banks? I had season tickets for many years and gave them up when the home run record was rendered meaningless!
sjwil1
might wake them up
Vizionaire
if the season is canceled it will hurt the owners more than it does players.
Ancient Pistol
That depends on the team.
sjwil1
nah, just a big tax write off. Players can be on unemployment… selling their Porsche
Vizionaire
what teams are going to advertise? no games this year?
notnamed
owners would just use minor leaguers, and they should
Vizionaire
yeah, how many will watch them on mlb tv for $130 when milb tv is just $49.99?
Sunday Lasagna
@ Vizionaire, you really think a cancelled season is going to hurt the guys below more than the players? These net worths were posted by MLBTR mlbtraderumors.com/2021/12/mlb-owners-net-worth.ht…
The owners have money from other businesses, that’s why they were able to become owners…
Angels: Arturo Moreno – $3.6 billion. (Forbes link)
Astros: Jim Crane – $1.4 billion. (Forbes link)
Athletics: John Fisher – $2.6 billion. (Forbes link)
Blue Jays: Rogers Communications, chairman Edward Rogers III – $11.5 billion. (L.A. Times link)
Braves: Liberty Media, chairman John Malone – $8 billion. (Forbes link)
Brewers: Mark Attanasio – $700MM. (L.A. Times link)
Cardinals: William DeWitt Jr. – $4 billion. (L.A. Times link)
Cubs: Ricketts family – $4.5 billion (Forbes link)
Diamondbacks: Ken Kendrick – $600 million. (L.A. Times link)
Dodgers: Guggenheim Baseball Management, controlling partner Mark Walter – $5 billion. (Forbes link)
Giants: Charles B. Johnson – $5.8 billion. (Forbes link)
Guardians: Dolan family – $4.6 billion. (L.A Times link)
Mariners: John Stanton – $1.1 billion. (L.A. Times link)
Marlins: Bruce Sherman – $500MM. (L.A. Times link)
Mets: Steve Cohen – $15.9 billion. (Forbes link)
Nationals: Lerner family – $4.9 billion. (Forbes link)
Orioles: Peter Angelos – $2 billion (L.A. Times link)
Padres: Peter Seidler – personal net worth unknown, Seidler Equity Partners estimated net worth of $3 billion. (ESPN link)
Phillies: John Middleton – $3.4 billion. (Forbes link)
Pirates: Bob Nutting – $1.1 billion. (L.A. Times link)
Rangers: Ray Davis (co-chairman with Bob R. Simpson) – $2.2 billion. (Forbes link)
Rays: Stuart Sternberg – $800MM. (L.A. Times link)
Red Sox: John Henry – $3.6 billion (Forbes link)
Reds: Robert H. Castellini – $400MM. (L.A. Times link)
Rockies: Richard L. Monfort – $700MM. (L.A. Times link)
Royals: John Sherman – $1.25 billion. (L.A. Times link)
Tigers: Ilitch Holdings – $3.8 billion (L.A. Times link)
Twins: Pohlad family – $3.8 billion (Forbes link)
White Sox: Jerry Reinsdorf – $1.7 billion (Forbes link)
Yankees: Steinbrenner family – $3.8 billion (Forbes link)
SupremeZeus
Cooling-off period.
erauber
League looks pretty dumb right now. Lock out to speed things up, to only really negotiate the last week
allweatherfan
The MLB negotiating tactics leave a lot to be desired…wait 43 days to counter, throw in new wants with no warning, cancelling games as a threat, last-best offer BS etc
xtraflamy
Same message being posted by a whole lot of accounts. Seems like shills, people working for the union, or people just parroting a message.
flamingbagofpoop
new wants with no warning? What does that even mean. Do you understand how negotiations work?
User 2079935927
Stealer Wheels said it best ..
Clowns to he left of me, Jokers to the right
Ill stay in the middle with you
fstop13
“Here I am stuck in the middle with you”
User 2079935927
F-stop- thanks for the correction
astros2017
Players should state that if they aren’t paid for 162 games this year, there will be no expanded playoffs
bluesteele
They can ask for anything they want, but they’d lose. The owners hold the power. The owners will make back every penny lost in a pretty short order. Not true for players.
Ancient Pistol
In that case, owners should cancel the first six weeks of the season. Ownership doesn’t make any money in April and early May anyway.
bluesteele
I agree! There is very little downside and ALL of the upside. You’re giving up cold months anyway. Smart move.
bluesteele
I wish every owner would immediately leave for a tropical vacation and tell Tony they’ll be back in a week if he wants to chat then. There is literally NOTHING to hurry for. Make them sweat it out owners!!! You’re winning.
kylegocougs
And what are the owners if the players are greedy?
saluelthpops
Greedy
dkcsmc1991
Successful owners
bluesteele
Capitalists running businesses and negotiating exactly like you would in their position.
Bryzzo2016
I never thought I’d side with the owners, but it’s clear that Tony Clark has an axe to grind and he’s messing with the players he’s supposed to represent. It’s very clear that the owners were the ones compromising and this clown Tony Clark is more concerned with acting like a tough guy and having sour grapes over what’s happened in the past. His arrogance would be comical if it weren’t so detrimental.
As a fan of a large market team, I can still clearly see that the current CBT is the only small chance for small market clubs to compete with large market teams. The owners offered a healthy raise to the league minimum as well as a bonus pool for young stars severely out performing their rookie deals. I don’t see anything but an axe to grind coming from the MLBPA. I’m over it, bring on the scabs. Play ball.
Ancient Pistol
It seems the BIG issue is the player aren’t satisfied with how teams now evaluate talent value. I’m getting a sense this is in fact the main issue.
HalosHeavenJJ
That should be their bone of contention. I think we all realize front offices value young players more than ever before yet the fundamental economics of the game are still “strike it rich in free agency.”
The model changed. So should the model for compensation.
Hence my suggestion for a floor and big boosts to minimum salaries.
And the CBT getting raised will just make the competitive imbalance worse while moving less money to overall payroll than a floor would.
Halo11Fan
I don’t think they need a floor, but what might be nice is a yearly pool of half a billion where each team can use that 1/30th of that money to supplement one year of one contract. If you don’t have a contract that large, you don’t get the money.
Ancient Pistol
It’s not the minimums that need the boosting, it’s the middle that is the issue. This is why I don’t understand the Player’s position on a minimum since raising the min to $750k+ will only mean the $2 to 4 million dollars guys will get wiped out since FOs will just go with a younger player who’s salary is close to the middle anyway.
I don’t think the Union even gets this.
fjmendez
I think a floor is better to force small-market teams invest more in their talent. Revenue sharing and changing the order of the draft won’t do much to help prevent tanking
flamingbagofpoop
I agree with you on this. I can understand raising the minimum too, but the middle years are where you generally see players vastly out producing their salary, since it can sometimes take players a year or so to get acclimated. It’d be interesting to see a sliding scale for pre-arb player salaries based on performance.
greatgame 2
Replacement AAA players not “scabs”
jbigz12
Fast forward to a scab scenario—-very few with a good chance of making the big leagues would ever play. Permanent banishment from the union & the disdain from any of your future teammates is probably enough of a detractor.
Worked out for Kevin Millar but he’s really the only one I can think of. It’d be worse quality than AAA baseball —-just in a large stadium.
tigerdoc616
Totally wrong. Owners have hardly budged on anything. They are the ones that locked the players out to speed up negotiations, then didn’t even make an offer for 43 days. They are the ones who have not been negotiating in good faith.
budman_63755
The owners are operating from an agreement that both sides had agreed on five years ago. The players are reaching for the sky and they’re cutting it 10% at a time. They are cutting something they actually never had.
mike156
Neither of the two sides owe the fans anything. The fans owe the players and owners nothing. It’s purely transactional, But, as a fan, and as a taxpayer, I’d like to see a nationwide ban on free goods for owners. Let them pay for their own stadiums and infrastructure, and let’s not hand them juicy tax breaks. Now, that’s probably also going to hurt the players in some towns, because teams that lose their freebies have less to pay to players. But that’s business. Baseball fans a willing to pay a premium price for a quality product. If the owners and players can’t figure out how to get past their difference, there’s no reason for us, and our fellow taxpayers who don’t like baseball, to hand them our hard earned money,
flamingbagofpoop
That’s on your local politicians
Fred Park
All right, now I think I understand what is going on.
MLB wants to completely break the union.
They want a return to the old days where there was no players organization.
And they are not going to budge.
Whatever MLB does it does it to put the players union in a bad light. Put the blame on MLBPA.
And if we have to lose a whole season, then MLB will still not budge..
All the cliff-hanging atmosphere was merely posturing by MLB.
We fans have just been missing the real point all along.
The_Voice_Of_REASON
Seal the door, Rob. SHOVE IT IN THEIR GREEDY FACES!
User 3921286289
You’re grounded until Opening Day.
stymeedone
That could be a while.
9lives
Since I’m done til at least ’23, I am hoping the players stand firm. Don’t give them any extra playoffs. Sit the whole season out if you must.
bluesteele
Owners win that battle. Awful advice. One of the players biggest arguments is that 80% of the league doesn’t make big money and need to be protected. Those players are the ones that would be hurt by your strategy. Billionaires will be fine.
Halo11Fan
Keep negotiating but of course the players didn’t agree with this deadline. They would have preferred a deadline in the middle of summer so their strike would have a greater negative financial impact.
Both sides are so full of crap. Do they think fans are stupid?
brewsingblue82
The Players say the owners are trying to control the narrative by saying they believed a deal would be made. Which is true. But this is the same thing. It’s the players trying to control the narrative by saying “Well it’s not our fault, we were willing to keep talking.” Both sides suck. I understand the players wanting more of the pie. But every job is this way. The top people keep getting richer while the people working are “underpaid”. I use that loosely here, because honestly, the players still get paid extremely well. Should they be paid better in comparison to how much the owners make? Sure. But this isn’t a perfect world.
377194
Don’t bother. IDGAF.
athleticsdilly
Go away you guys. Loved baseball my entire life – and I’m 61 – until now! Shame on both sides. Whatever happened to compromise for the better of the game? Go away and don’t let the door hit your ass out the door!!
scooper
Tony Clark is Wack, average player at best and bad negotiator now.
Both sides are too Pretty Tony and are worse than congress. Nine days and come up with nothing, good for you both.
Greedy, Corny, highfalutin and pretentious players. Awh I don’t get paid enough for playing a little kids game for half a year. Lol God bless ya’ll!
Your making the game worse to watch which is actually garbage now anyway, Players either strike out 300 times or only pitch 5 innings now. If anything you should be getting paid less than previous players.. Take care now!
30 Parks
“Tony Clark is Wack” – that should be the title of Rob Manfred’s inevitable book.
kylegocougs
How many little leaguers tear their UCL? How many little leaguers have to push their body to 100% physically
jeremyryandavis@gmail.com 2
Go watch the way some coaches and parents treat their little leaguers today and you’d be shocked. And saddened.
377194
Pay me $200 million, I’ll play 200 games and then I’d clean the stadium.
Vizionaire
can you hit .400 against minor league pitchers? even if you do all you’ll get is $10,000 max!
Halo11Fan
The average minor leaguer makes 35,000. Googling is your friend. And chances are that minor leaguer got a huge signing bonus and will be in the major shortly. Never let the facts get in the way of an absurd position.
Vizionaire
that amount is average. is that how they get paid in the rookie league?
kylegocougs
Which are slave wages
Halo11Fan
And how many players make it in the rookie league? And the ones that do, typically got a large signing bonus.
They could get rid of half the minor leagues and never miss them. And they’d be doing the players a favor because they’d have to find a career that actually has value.
Vizionaire
nolan ryan was drafted in the 12th round. if he gave up baseball in the rookie ball it would have been a great loss for the baseball. and he is not the only superstar who were drafted in later rounds.
Sunday Lasagna
32% of workers in the US make between $12.50 and $20 per hour, that is $25-$40 K per year, the same amount being paid to those minor leaguers at the low end….and they are being paid to play a game and get all their money during the season and get to make more at another job in the offseason or take the time off.
flamingbagofpoop
Wasn’t there an article in the Athletic about how he wasn’t actually a 12th round pick? He got $30,000, which is $267,000 today and made his MLB debut at 19…can’t imagine he spent a lot of time in rookie ball.
Fred Park
Get used to it.
The CBA is a thing of the past.
There won’t ever be another one. The owners will get their way.
Will there be a game called baseball?
We don’t know.
prov356
That’s a little over dramatic Fred.
Fred Park
Well, Prov356, we’ll find out.
But I think it’s true.
These are overly dramatic times.
flamingbagofpoop
Only if you live on twitter
bobtillman
Not to worry,,,the USFL (incarnation number 47) starts in April….
DarkSide830
starring…PAXTON LYNCH!
bobtillman
Only until Drew Lock shows up.
jbigz12
Cardale Jones is the prize pony
bobtillman
Do you think the MLB Network will run Ken Burnes’ Baseball at some point?
Fish Monger
Back when baseball players were men.
Fish Monger
Unless the fans show their displeasure this crap will continue every few years.
I ask all of you when this is over to cut your ticket buying, TV game watching, or any other revenue stream and cut it by 25 percent. Both sides are too reliant that we will just come back and pay for their services. Let’s send a message to both sides.
greatgame 2
Missed games =no pay
Dogs
Missed Games mean Owners have to refund the Local & National TV Broadcasters. Plus I heard the owners have to start paying them back this year for the games not played back in 2020.
starting in 2022 every MLB team will receive a guaranteed $60.1 million via national TV deals (averaging out the money from the life of those deals). Likely every local tv deal averages >$40m per year. So every single team is getting $100m+ guaranteed before selling a ticket.
Missed Games=Pay Back
happyhal
The owners have a history of unfair labor practice violations. Even the umpires filed charges against them. Once again they are not negotiating in good faith and once again the union will be filing charges with the NLRB. But at this point none of that matters since we are now almost certainly facing a lengthy delay in the start of the season. Be clear, the owners think we are all chumps. They don’t care if we threaten to never go to another game. They know we are addicted to baseball like a crackhead and will be back as soon as the games get good. So if there are no games til June, big deal, as long as they keep that extra couple of million for themselves. There’s that house in the Hamptons they MUST buy.
Halo11Fan
Yes. I. No fan of Marvin Miller, but before Miller the owners really stuck it to the players. Then it got a little better and has gotten so much better we have no real idea who is sticking it to whom
kylegocougs
The owners won’t talk about how much money they make, so it’s obvious who is shady
Old York
MLB needs to consolidate teams. There are far too many uncompetitive teams in this league and it is causing the game to destroy itself.
Arnold Ziffel
Old York, this problem never existed before the p,Ayer’s grabbed Marvin Miller. The worst thing baseball ever did was give free agency.
Old York
Well, that would mean that if I join a company, they should employ me for life, which is never happening in today’s world. They don’t even want to pay part of your pension anymore.
stymeedone
What’s a pension? Haven’t heard that word in my career.
Tom Emansk1
From now on billionaires gotta pay for their own freaking stadiums. Hard to provide economic benefit to the community when the stadium is empty.
Michael Macaulay-Birks
The sad thing to me is that as mad as I am, and ready to give up baseball I know I will be back, I’ve already been back twice before, I just wish the owners and players knew how much we the fans care about the game, love the game etc. I hope they get their crap together
Old York
The problem with falling in love with one baseball league is that eventually, you get tired of it. I enjoy all levels of baseball and find it just as fun to watch high school baseball as it is to watch MLB. I’ve coached a few 11U and 13U teams and they are always fun and competitive. Just because the guy isn’t making $30MM/year doesn’t mean the qualify is horrible.
gregpitikus
You’d think the fact that the cancellation of Opening Day doesn’t even seem to be making a blip in national news headlines would suggest to both sides that they might want to put things in perspective, and get a deal done sooner rather than later if they’re interested in having a sport to go back to. I’m actually surprised at just how few people outside of bubbles like MLBTR seem to care about the whole situation.
The_Voice_Of_REASON
Culturally irrelevant.
MarlinsFanBase
Who do MLBPA think are their clients? Tom Brady? LeBron James?
Good job MLB and MLBPA, you’re doing a great job at keeping yourself in a top position with the younger generation! Miss a month or two and see how much younger fans will miss this game.
Old York
For me, it’s not fun because a lot of the strategy has been removed from the game. We don’t see as many triples, base stealing , hit-and-run and bunting to move players along. It’s all about 3 true outcomes. I heard Joey Gallo was complaining about the shift recently. The problem is, if you, as a professional batter, can’t make the adjustment, then why are you even in the league? I get that adjustments take time and such but MLB is about constantly needing to make adjustments. If the defense is all on one side, work on hitting to the opposite side or at least bunting to that side for a hit. The defense isn’t going to allow you to constantly get on base and will need to adjust.
MarlinsFanBase
Agreed. This has become a game dependent on HRs and strikeouts or guys keeping their bats on their shoulders for the guys that dial it up 100 MPH who can’t find the strikezone. Leadoff hitters don’t know how to set the table Batting average (the stat that shows how successful you are when you swing the bat) is disrespected. Guys with low ability to hit who either are the equivalent of Dave Kingman or go up to the plate praying for a walk since they can’t hit, are considered stars. Sad game right now.
tigerfan1968
I think the MLB can request a secret player vote on their latest offer. I would do that before any further negotiating. If you think everything is just wondeful out there players turn the TV on or go and fill up your SUV. Another problem is the owners should be clear this is their final offer not their final FINAL offer…
Patrick OKennedy
The current proposal would be unanimously rejected by the players.
Anyone paying attention can plainly see that the proposed CBT threshold increases of less than 5% make the de facto salary cap even harder. With the history of that issue alone, it is a complete non starter with players. It’s not a close call.
alanofla
Perhaps it’s time for MLB to get rid of the owners who never seem to be able to compete, no matter how much revenue sharing they receive. Failing that, now that the DH is apparently going to be universal, dump the league names and consider splitting the teams into an upper and lower tier, much like soccer is handled in Europe. If that’s not the answer, then seriously consider contracting some teams and then do it.
If it’s the same owners who can do nothing but complain and obstruct who are the ones preventing real progress, and a more equitable split between owners and players from occuring, who really needs them? They can make tidy profits from selling to people who actually care.
Tampa Bay finds a way to compete despite its horrible stadium situation, yet Pittsburgh with its beautiful setting cannot? All over this site I see comments like “nobody forces the players to play if they don’t like it.” Well, no one makes owners own teams if they can’t seem to do it successfully.
While some concerns thrive, others go bankrupt. This is the nature of business. If some MLB teams cannot make it, new ownership or moving the team is the answer. Otherwise, contract the franchise. Nothing lasts forever.
kylegocougs
I totally agree, the owners are the most obsolete and worthless part of the system.
Sunday Lasagna
@kylegocougs “the owners are the most obsolete and worthless part of the system”,
Without owners, who is going to pay for stadium upkeep, stadium workers, utilities, taxes, front office staff, equipment, etc, – do the players pay for any of that? No. A company owner does not just pay wages. they incur all the other costs of running the business. Did the Atlanta Bravwes workers buy the team for $450,000,000, or did Liberty Media spend that money. Do the players pay the costs listed above, no, Liberty Media spends that money. Fans are needed the most, and are the most difficult to replace once they are gone. Team Owners are needed the 2nd most, very few people have the resources to buy a MLB team and actually want an MLB team vs investing elsewhere. The current players are 3rd, the best 780 players can be replaced by the next best 780- players. There are over 10K NCAA D1 players. If there are fans and owners, players can be found.
Dogs
Look at team rosters. In my opinion there are not enough MLB ready players on many of these teams. This tells me there are to many teams in MLB.
Maybe its time to cut 1 team from each division or the 6 teams that can’t support themselves then reorganize all of the divisions.
By doing this teams would become more competitive, a lot more competitive & players would make more money & last longer as Players as they did before all these expansions.
just a thought
tigerdoc616
Glad you want to negotiate, that is the proper tone to take publicly. But if I were you, would let any call from Manfraud go to VM and call him back after a couple of days. A cooling off period is appropriate. Good thing your strike fund is well financed. You are going to need it.
Give ‘em ‘ell Tony!
Doug Jones
dougdeb@hotmail.com. Good thing the USFL is set to start innn April. MLB didn’t learn a thing from the strike of the early 90s. GREED is killing the sport. I love MLB but I an learn to live without it.
BirdieMan
A few days ago the players said no expanded playoffs if any games were cancelled. I hope they stick to their guns. The owners waited 6weeks to make a proposal that could have avoided cancellation.
hoof hearted
Tony Clark is to the players union, what Steve Boras is to contract negotiations – greedy
hoof hearted
What TC is asking(in more money) for young players; you’ll see older players (34-37) getting kicked to the curb.
Some prospect will come in, get afew years to prove themselves; don’t make it- yet if they never see the MLB again, pocket millions without contributing much to the game.
From the owners perspective; those first 3 year of team control is the teams time to see IF they got it and can stick on a MKB roster.
If they don’t got it, why should they pocket millions??
Minor league success doesn’t= MLB success.
Luckybrew
But difference is Boras usually gets what he wants.
basquiat
Got a notification re MLB TV subscription today. We get a continuing resolution until there is a settlement.
swtnes34
Manfred and Clark leaving their mark on the game for all of eternity….congratulations!
Ghost Pepper
Then there’s the others that won’t be working.
Too many to name but you all know who I’m talking about. There’s a lot!
stymeedone
We ate still waiting for the players to make a proposal that could have avoided cancellation. It seems like they have collected their war chest and are bound to use it.
LordD99
…but the owners will continue to play games. Just not baseball games.
JerryBird
Why do you guys keep trashing Manfred? He is just a figure head. He does ONLY what the owners tell him to do. He says ONLY what the owners tell him to say. That is all he does. He has nothing to do with negotiations, nothing to do with decision making. He has zero input and nothing of his own original to say. 100% puppet. He is only there to take the blame for what the owners are doing and he does it to perfection. Your comments for or against him are totally meaningless. When you start trashing him, you are just falling into what the owners want you to do, blame their little hat-wearing monkey instead of them. You guys are the real idiots if you don’t recognize this.
LordD99
He’s the face of the owners, so if you have an issue with the owners, you have an issue with Manfred.
laswagn
Perhaps it’s time to start bashing the owners by name, sidestepping their puppet.
laswagn
I wonder if an alt baseball league would work, unlike what happened with football?
48-team MLB
They need to bring in Saul Goodman to handle this.
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
LOL all these guys saying they’re done watching baseball forever will be the first ones logging onto MLBTR when the transaction freeze is over.
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
The fans are the last ones to ever be considered yet we keep coming back because baseball played by professional athletes is a hell of a sport and often our narcoticizing drug that makes life suck just a little less. Bring it on, I need my hit.
bucincharlotte
RIP=MLB
Loyal fan that is moving on! Billionaires and Millionaires doing battle! I would rather watch HS, College and travel teams having fun!
Patrick OKennedy
MLBPA should propose the following:
CBT threshold- split the difference on the thresholds, at $229 million for the lowest tier, $ 249M and $269 for two more tiers.
Minimum salary- split the difference at $737,500 in 2022
Split the difference on increases over 5 years, at $15M per year
Bonus pool: $60 million, or $2 million per team
Expanded playoffs: 12 teams starting in 2022
14 teams when MLB expands to 32 teams
Next move:
If MLB disagrees, players agree to play ball on March 31 under terms of MLB’s last offer and will not strike during the 2022 season, except that the CBT has sunset as per the previous CBA.
Continue to negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement.
Last resort:
If both of these offers are rejected, demand full pay for the 2022 season
File a grievance with the NLRB for MLB refusal to bargain in good faith, requesting that the previous CBA continue in effect, without a CBT per that agreement
In addition, file a breach of contract action based on the bad faith action, seeking full pay during the lockout while players were willing to work without a strike
Really- if the CBT was removed as an obstacle, the other numbers gaps could be closed
Redhomer81
What is really sad is how few times they have met since the offseason until this point. This was inevitable. Procrastination rarely meets a deadline. It is what it is. Both sides are going to feel the backlash of fans.