MLB Lockout Thread

[wildcard]

And play 2022  season under the 2021 rules.

Maybe they determine that since both sides are making a lot of money its better to play than lockout or strike.

[Frobby]

The chances are about zero, I expect.   

However, I could imagine some sort of 2-3 year solution that allows them to kick the can down the road while increasing the chances of being past COVID.   
 

 

[waroriole]

I assume the fact that they’re making lots of money will be the catalyst to get something done before the season is impacted. However, baseball seems to have the least trust among owners and players of all American sports. I’m not sure what to make of the complete lack of urgency. Is it because they know they’ll be able to reach an agreement but this is a bargaining tactic; or is it that they’re nowhere near an agreement and they need cooler heads if they’re going to come up with something. Either way, the lack of talks is concerning for an outsider. 

[NCRaven]

Nothing major happens until a deadline gets near.  The opening of spring training is the most obvious deadline in this process.  So I expect pressure to mount by then.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

The chances are about zero, I expect.   

However, I could imagine some sort of 2-3 year solution that allows them to kick the can down the road while increasing the chances of being past COVID.   
 

 

So you think there is a zero chance of one year but maybe a 2 or 3 year.   Sounds pretty similar to me.

[Philip]

I am astonished that everything that’s been proposed so far doesn’t deal with the problem facing baseball. Expanding the playoffs because playoff baseball is interesting doesn’t address the problem of baseball games not being interesting. Why not make baseball interesting so that all the games are interesting and not just playoff games. And one proposal to eliminate tanking Is to give the first pick in the draft to the best of the non-playoff teams. Which is… Inexplicable is the kindest word that comes to mind.

It is ridiculous that two groups of educated people can’t even identify A problem, And that needs to happen before they can begin to discuss a solution.

[spiritof66]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

And play 2022  season under the 2021 rules.

Maybe they determine that since both sides are making a lot of money its better to play than lockout or strike.

I think the owners have crossed that bridge by locking the players out and having Manfred announce to the world -- whether or not you believe him -- that the purpose of the lockout is to get a deal done that will preserve the full season and enhance competition. I don't believe Manfred or the owners are capable of saying they made a mistake, overplayed their hand, miscalculated the players' response, whatever you want to call it, and retreat to a stopgap that preserves the status quo that they say is killing the game.

I don't know where this goes, including when agreement on a new CBA is reached or what it says about issues like revenue sharing, minimum salaries and free agency. But I am pretty sure that until they start negotiating, there won't be a CBA and spring training won't start. If I were on either side of this, I'd rent some conference rooms as close as possible to the other side's main office -- there are lots of unused conference rooms in midtown New York -- have my key negotiators (who probably are working from home) work remotely from those conference rooms, and announce that my side is ready to talk -- all Mr. Manfred and his friends, or Mr. Meyer and his friends, have to do is tell us they're coming and walk across the street.

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, Philip said:

I am astonished that everything that’s been proposed so far doesn’t deal with the problem facing baseball. Expanding the playoffs because playoff baseball is interesting doesn’t address the problem of baseball games not being interesting. Why not make baseball interesting so that all the games are interesting and not just playoff games. And one proposal to eliminate tanking Is to give the first pick in the draft to the best of the non-playoff teams. Which is… Inexplicable is the kindest word that comes to mind.

It is ridiculous that two groups of educated people can’t even identify A problem, And that needs to happen before they can begin to discuss a solution.

I don’t think that rules relating to how the game is played are the top priority of the labor negotiations.   They are more concerned with how the pie gets divided than with how to grow the pie.   That may be short-sighted, but that’s how it is.   They can make changes to try to grow the pie any time, but the only time pie-slicing changes occur is when a CBA is expiring.   

[spiritof66]

35 minutes ago, Philip said:

I am astonished that everything that’s been proposed so far doesn’t deal with the problem facing baseball. Expanding the playoffs because playoff baseball is interesting doesn’t address the problem of baseball games not being interesting. Why not make baseball interesting so that all the games are interesting and not just playoff games. And one proposal to eliminate tanking Is to give the first pick in the draft to the best of the non-playoff teams. Which is… Inexplicable is the kindest word that comes to mind.

It is ridiculous that two groups of educated people can’t even identify A problem, And that needs to happen before they can begin to discuss a solution.

I find it astonishing that MLB does nothing to deal with these problems. But this is the one time I wouldn't expect that to happen: everything else is on hold while the parties try to work out a CBA (which may address some of the game's problems). That's one of the reasons it's so frustrating that we're about eight weeks from the scheduled start of spring training, and as far as we know the sides not only aren't talking to each other about a CBA, they're not talking about talking about a CBA.

[Aglets]

0.5%  if i had to ballpark it.

[wildcard]

47 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

I find it astonishing that MLB does nothing to deal with these problems. But this is the one time I wouldn't expect that to happen: everything else is on hold while the parties try to work out a CBA (which may address some of the game's problems). That's one of the reasons it's so frustrating that we're about eight weeks from the scheduled start of spring training, and as far as we know the sides not only aren't talking to each other about a CBA, they're not talking about talking about a CBA.

Its will be 6 week tomorrow for the O's report date for pitchers and catchers.  Feb 15th.

[Redskins Rick]

59 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

I find it astonishing that MLB does nothing to deal with these problems. But this is the one time I wouldn't expect that to happen: everything else is on hold while the parties try to work out a CBA (which may address some of the game's problems). That's one of the reasons it's so frustrating that we're about eight weeks from the scheduled start of spring training, and as far as we know the sides not only aren't talking to each other about a CBA, they're not talking about talking about a CBA.

Im not shocked that MLB is doing nothing. 

 

[Tony-OH]

We have no one who is the steward for the game. Neither the owners or players care about the game or the fans, they care about making the most money that they can. 

I'm about to drop a bunch of money on new servers and site design only to have a sport that probably won't be playing for awhile. Why? Because of outright greed by the both sides.

Manfred is the worse commissioner in the history of the game and the Player union leads are greedy union heads who are more worried about getting themselves rich then worrying about the game and the fans. 

Since the very fact that neither sides cares about the game or fans and just thinks whenever the get things settled the fans will just be there, makes me very, very concerned that we won't see baseball until June or July.

I hope I'm wrong, but when it's early January and they don't even have scheduled talks, it show us they are no hurry to get a deal done so the season starts on time. 

First we had COVID that cost us games, and now we have greed that will cost us games.

 

 

 

[scOtt]

5 hours ago, waroriole said:

I assume the fact that they’re making lots of money will be the catalyst to get something done before the season is impacted. However, baseball seems to have the least trust among owners and players of all American sports. I’m not sure what to make of the complete lack of urgency. Is it because they know they’ll be able to reach an agreement but this is a bargaining tactic; or is it that they’re nowhere near an agreement and they need cooler heads if they’re going to come up with something. Either way, the lack of talks is concerning for an outsider. 

Bash both sides up against their stupid heads, "Do you remember how much money you lost in 2020??? How much wages?"

Maybe into Feb cooler heads prevail, they give a little on both sides' position and work something out.

[scOtt]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think that rules relating to how the game is played are the top priority of the labor negotiations.   They are more concerned with how the pie gets divided than with how to grow the pie.   That may be short-sighted, but that’s how it is.   They can make changes to try to grow the pie any time, but the only time pie-slicing changes occur is when a CBA is expiring.