Tony-OH

It will be interesting to see how it shakes out, but I think Rutschman starts on opening day for the Orioles for several reasons. He's the #1 prospect in baseball and has already performed well in AAA. He's 24-years old and a catcher which means he won't be eligible for free agency until he'll be playing in 31 old season and for a catcher, that could be very, very old. Also, there is no legitimate option to be the starting catcher on the roster so even if the Orioles tried one of those Mountcastle starts to gain an extra year, it just really doesn't make sense in this situation.

The scariest thing in your post is saying yep to #2. It boggles my mind that people actually think that some local politicians in some city you don't live in should decide what you have to put in your body in order for to get paid to work. Let's just move on. We really have nothing more to discuss on this situation.

It's pretty amazing that this was the best they could come up with to solve this issue. It's just dumb.

Some friends of mine have started talking to me about doing a few cities a year. I've honestly only been to Nats, Colorado, and Pittsburgh for games when it comes to current stadiums.

This post literally reminded me of the scene in Billy Madison where Billy thinks he said something really smart, but the moderator just eviscerates him with this: Getting all spun up over cojanes and spinning it towards historical warfare has to be one of, if not the dumbest analogy, I've see used on this board. May God have mercy on your soul! Just because I think they should leave Toronto for Buffalo doesn't mean I think they will do it and yes, we all know MLB is going to start putting their stupid advertising patches on their uniforms. No one is claiming they are no longer a fan if these things happen or don't happen.

But your employer has not made that a requirement. That's the issue here that you are failing to understand or refusing to accept. Answer me this, Seattle decides that to work in their city you must be vaccinated for Anthrax. Should every player who has not gotten an Anthrax vaccine not get paid when their team visits Seattle? Where does this end? MLB has rules for employment for MLB players and personnel. Getting vaccinated for anything is not among the rules. If MLB chooses to play baseball in a country or city that has different rules from them, the players who do not meet those local rules should absolutely be paid or MLB should not play in those areas. I'm not debating the right to get vaccinated or not here. I'd debating the fact that your employer has rules for your employment and as long as you follow those rules and are willing to play/work, then you should be paid. And BTW, when players had passports issues with Canada in the past, they still got paid.

It will be interesting since MASN is making a business decision and not paying for their announcers to be on the road once again despite all national COVID mandates being repealed outside of masks on transportation. MASN got shamed into doing a few games last year. They are pretty much doing these broadcasts on a shoestring budget now. Wonder who's cashing all those cable sports fee checks and where that money is going? Meanwhile the fans get announcers trying to guess on fly balls because all they have is the broadcast feeds. It's embarrassing.

If your company does not require you to have a vaccine to work, then yes, you should be paid if you can't work in a country they do business in. This is simple and not even debatable. This has nothing to do with whether you agree with vaccines or not, this has to do with the fact that vaccines are not required by MLB. If MLB chooses to do business where some of their employees can not work because of local laws (and I agree that they have every right to make those laws for their country), the players should still get paid. If MLB had any cojones, and we know they absolutely do not, they would take the team away from Toronto and put in a Buffalo where that's not an issues until Canada changes their laws to allow their players to work. Or, MLB could institute a mandate that all players must be vaccinated. Since they have chosen to not make this mandate, the players should be paid.

This is also a good point. If that means I get a chance to make a trip to watch the Orioles play in Cinncinnati or Milwaukee at least every other year I'm fine with that.

Sure, just like if they found a way to just advertise in a box around the game for 30-seconds instead of a commercial that would help speed the game up. But they didn't trade anything away, just added more advertising in front of the viewer. Call me crazy, but I like the uniforms clean with team or city name on front and last name of player on back. Hell, I wasn't even happy with the gigantic Nike swoosh on everything.

I'm not a fan of this at all either. You can't tell me MLB doesn't have enough revenue streams that it needs to go to this. It's honestly embarrassing and makes them look like a lesser league. Will it destroy the game, no, but count me as someone that thinks advertising on uniforms is so low brow.

Now that their is Universal DH, i have no issues at all with it. Less games against the same old opponents is a good thing to me. I much rather watch the Orioles take on those teams then watch more games in the awful Tamps dome and Skydome (blech) and less games against big market teams can only help the Orioles. It should have always been a balanced schedule once wild cards came into play.

They absolutely do. But MLB should ensure that their players are allowed to play. As long as it's not mandated by MLB to have a vaccnine to play, MLB should ensure that baseball is only played in cities/countries that allow their players to perform. The Blue Jays should just be moved to Buffalo and end all these shenanigans with that country to our North.

Are you joking? They absolutely should be paid. They are not choosing not to work. they are being told they will not be allowed to work in that country to the North. I don't want to turn this into a vaccine conversation, but if you want to work and someone tells you that you can't, you should still get paid. What's next? Individual cities determining what constitutes the ability work? Maybe Seattle decides if you haven't been vaccinated against ringworm you can't play? Will MLB allow that? If it's legal to play in MLB without the vaccines, MLB should stand up and just say then MLB will not be played in those cities/countries that ban players from performing. Personally, i thought watching games in the Buffalo park was 100 times better than watching in that awful sky dome.

The one thing we always have to give the Orioles credit for is they didn't sell out the name of the stadium.

I liked starting a man on second on extra innings. I thought I would hate it but honestly, I ended up liking it and it stopped those tediously long games that destroy bullpens.

Glad to see the players stuck it to the executive board for the union. Great job by the players to realize this was BS and time to get back to the game. Unions bosses always suck and are more worried about their paydays and power then the rank and file they supposedly are looking out for. Let's get back to baseball!

It's a nice piece that highlights how this situation really stinks for these young players on the 40-man. This affects the Orioles even more because they have so many young pitchers on the 40-man that are in limbo.

It's reasonable to ask that this process take some time to make sure things are done right. But of course it's silly to cancel games over this. But neither the owners or MLBPA care about having games at this point. It's about winning at all costs to them both.

Shhh, you'll upset the player people who think there is no way the player peasants can work for $700k minimum wage and make ends meet. And good Lord, implement an international draft?? The horrors!! Let's miss games!

Agreed on that last sentence!

I swear, some of you think your state and national politicians care about your thoughts and ideas too! EVERY SINGLE THING in these negotiations by both sides are used in order to make more money for themselves. All you have to do is follow the money. It works in everything!

Sure man, a deal is being held up because five Latin players, who probably are getting a cut out of the current corrupt system now are concerned about some 14 year old they never met. Not buying it for a second. This is the last thing the MLBPA can use to squeeze out a few more million in something else.

They don't. They are using it as a negotiating tactic. Not even sure why the MLBPA has a say since these kids are not even on the 40-man. it's all just something the players are using to get more money for their constituents, the 40-man roster guys (but mainly how to get veteran players paid more).

Matt Scherzer could close these gaps all by himself!