My understanding is the owners would be all for this idea, but the players would certainly strike. The owners preemptively implemented the lockout in hopes to have some kind of leverage.
And now the owners want the Feds to step in:
I hope the Feds step in with both feet and pull the “nice little anti-trust exemption ya got there, shame if anything happened to it…” card.
Pathetic. After two months of doing nothing at all, they make an offer each and given up.
Reports are saying MLBPA is unlikely to accept MLB’s offer of a mediator. So, we got 1994-95 all over again where basically nothing happened until a judge issued an injunction forcing the two sides to play ball. That judge btw was Sonia Sotomayor.
The stupidity of all involved here is just appalling.
MLB attendance peaked in 2008. Since then what they’ve done is increased revenues through new sources, effectively increasing their share-of-wallet from existing customers, but there is no evidence, at all, that MLB is increasing its customer case. Increasing share-of-wallet only works to a point but the fact revenues have stayed up seems to have blinded them to the fact that this is a sports league that is unquestionably in danger of going through a serious decline.
Fighting over what slice of the pie you get is awfully stupid when you’re in danger of soon having a way smaller pie. There is, as near as I can tell, no plan at all to increase the number of fans they have, and an unofficial plan to decrease it.
On the other hand, it makes sense for both sides to optimize the deal in their favor now, before the decline does inevitably happen. Because I do agree that MLB is at or near peak revenue. It’s becoming cliché at this point, but the fact is they just do not market the game on any kind of wide scale level. Mike Trout, believe it or not baseball fans, is not a household name like LeBron James or Tom Brady.
And MLBPA has officially declined the request for mediation. I was sensing that most fans were kind of taking the players’ side in this, but the fact is both sides suck. The owners said they’d counter the players’ last offer but instead offered up mediation. Honestly, that makes sense if you know your counter is going to be so far off the mark as to be rejected immediately. Bottom line, expect a couple more months of this at least.
Well, at least there’s one bit of good news. We’ll never have to deal with Joe West behind the plate ever again.
Rob Manfred will apparently address the media tomorrow. Probably to officially announce a delay of the start of spring training. Doubt they have to cut any time from the regular season yet. But it’s coming.
I’ll be genuinely amazed if the season DOES start on time. They appear ready to fight until the league is a rubble.
Well, no delay yet. But they will require 4 weeks of spring training and opening day is March 31, so they’ve got 19 days to get something done. A few details are already agreed upon by both parties, including the universal DH. So there’s some good news for you NL fans out there.
Maybe they’ll avoid total stupidity.
Anything yet about pace of play? Are we getting a pitch clock with teeth? Are batters going to have to stay in the box between pitchers?
From what I’ve heard, those aren’t the big points of contention, and is more up to MLB than any CBA. Let’s hope - I can’t imagine what the hold up is on any of those.
In unrelated content, I ran across this today. I don’t like the White Sox, but I love the trend towards more passion in the game, especially from pitchers. This is awesome:
You would hope so. The money they are fighting over isn’t really that large in the scheme of things, particularly compared to how much a shortened season could cost. Then again owners are also currently claiming that baseball is a worse investment than the stock market, so I’m not overly optimistic about them being totally rational.
Spring training is ridiculously long and is now more of a money grab by Florida and Arizona, these guys don’t show up out of shape and haven’t touched a baseball since October like in the past when most players worked a second job in winter.
2 weeks should be good enough to get to playing the regular season
But not enough to evaluate the upcoming talent. Spring training does serve a purpose other than giving us (Fl resident here) a chance to see the big boys play.
Those kids are all put in extended Spring Training anyway. Plus, some of them are already there, since the non-40 man roster guys that were invited to camp aren’t locked out (a pretty small portion, unfortunately).
Yeah, Manfeed didn’t do the owners any favors with that S&P comment. That won’t go over well on Saturday.
I wouldn’t care if the NL kept pitchers hitting, as long as it was strictly for NL games. The DH would be used whenever they played AL teams, home and away, including the postseason.
It really should be up to the NL fans, somehow.
Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman has announced his retirement from the only organization he’s ever played with.
He was the first first-round draft pick in Nationals history (not counting the Expos), making his debut that 2005 season in the September call-ups. A two-time All-Star, he was a member of the Nats’ 2019 World Series championship team, hitting the first World Series home run in franchise history.
I think he gets his jersey retired, but even speaking as a Nats fan, I don’t think he gets into the Hall of Fame.
Somewhat interesting summary of what we already know about declining interest in MLB. The average MLB fan is 57 years old! I really feel like the current CBA negotiation is both sides understanding that this is peak revenue for the sport, so get yours now.
As lockout drags on, poll indicates MLB could be charting path to irrelevance | Sporting News
Definitely a member of the Hall of Very Good, but not Hall of Fame worthy, probably a few good guy votes but off the ballot the first year.
With the Nats in full rebuilding mode, I’m glad he chose to retire rather than putting the Nats in a tough situation. Even with an NL DH, they just don’t need an aging platoon guy.