MLB Lockout Thread

[SteveA]

4 minutes ago, Too Tall said:

I wonder, if MLB ended the "lockout" tomorrow - but the sides were still where they are at this moment - would the players strike? If they did, how would that change public perceptions? Seems to me that would paint the union on a different canvas.  Also seems to me, MLB is doing the union a favor by not forcing ITS hand.  What am I missing? What would a seaon look/feel like played with no agreement? Now i'm getting more interessted in the dynamics than baseball. It's been a long,dull winter!  I need a drink!

 

They wouldn't strike now.   They would wait to earn half a season's worth of paychecks and strike in July or August.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Neither wide is interested in resolving this thing. We're going to miss games this year at the very least. It's childish and embarrassing on both parties.

Suicidal hubris from both sides. Ugh.

[Moose Milligan]

33 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

This is really the problem with ownership.  They just don’t care about the game.  

Of course they don't.

Is *anyone* surprised anymore that professional athletes and the owners that own the teams don't care about anything as much as they care about money?  It's not the 1950s anymore.

[Too Tall]

18 minutes ago, SteveA said:

They wouldn't strike now.   They would wait to earn half a season's worth of paychecks and strike in July or August.

Thanks. Makes sense except I think that would really tick folks off. So the "lockout" is the owner's way of being proactive now if you were, realizing they would rather take a PR hit themselves now than potentially revisit what happened once before when the end of a season and the World Series was lost? Not willing to potentially pay for half a loaf. I honestly don't know which side I hate more? 

[SteveA]

8 minutes ago, Too Tall said:

Thanks. Makes sense except I think that would really tick folks off. So the "lockout" is the owner's way of being proactive now if you were, realizing they would rather take a PR hit themselves now than potentially revisit what happened once before when the end of a season and the World Series was lost? Not willing to potentially pay for half a loaf. I honestly don't know which side I hate more? 

Yep, you pretty much nailed it.   Whoever initiates is going to take a PR hit, and the owners bit the bullet and did it because they knew the players would do it in mid-season, and the owners don't want to give up a televised postseason.  

And both sides are motivated by pure greed and neither has the fans' interests at heart.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s really pathetic.  They can’t even agree to meet.

It seems like each side feels they will gain the advantage once regular season games are at risk, so neither side is motivated to push this along.   The pace is really maddening.   

[Pickles]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

A mediator isn't a magician.  If one or both sides aren't interested in a reasonable middle ground what's a mediator going to do?

The more I see how ownership is handling this the less I feel that they will be amendable to a reasonable middle ground.

Where has anyone claimed a mediator is a magician?

You seem to be attacking strange strawmen.

I simply suggested that imo we have reached the point where outside mediation seems to be the next logical step.

And personally, I'm not putting this on the owners anymore than the players.  A 15 minute meeting ten days before the deadline suggests to me that neither is operating in good faith.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

12 minutes ago, Frobby said:

once regular season games are at risk

Ah yes, the old "frantically do your homework during homeroom in the morning right before it's due" strategy. What could possibly go wrong? 

[Frobby]

I look at it this way: if there has to be a work stoppage-shortened major league season, it may as well come in a year where the Orioles aren’t going to be very competitive anyway.   And I know how to find Prince George’s Stadium.   

[Pickles]

48 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I look at it this way: if there has to be a work stoppage-shortened major league season, it may as well come in a year where the Orioles aren’t going to be very competitive anyway.   And I know how to find Prince George’s Stadium.   

Sure, but I think the point of contention people would take with that is the idea there "has" to be a work stoppage.

Both sides are choosing that.  This isn't an act of God.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Sure, but I think the point of contention people would take with that is the idea there "has" to be a work stoppage.

Both sides are choosing that.  This isn't an act of God.

We don't know that players would choose a work stoppage.

[Pickles]

5 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

We don't know that players would choose a work stoppage.

They're choosing not to negotiate so.....

[Can_of_corn]

35 minutes ago, Pickles said:

They're choosing not to negotiate so.....

So?

Doesn't mean they would be opposed to playing out the season under the current deal.

[Frobby]

34 minutes ago, Pickles said:

They're choosing not to negotiate so.....

It’s still the owners who have stopped the season from progressing in the normal way.   I’m not saying that because I side with the players in the negotiation, it’s just the fact.  If the owners hadn’t imposed a lockout, would the players have staged a strike?   Maybe, but we don’t really know.   

[NCRaven]

30 minutes ago, Frobby said:

It’s still the owners who have stopped the season from progressing in the normal way.   I’m not saying that because I side with the players in the negotiation, it’s just the fact.  If the owners hadn’t imposed a lockout, would the players have staged a strike?   Maybe, but we don’t really know.   

I am far more certain about that than you are.  I believe that if the owners ended the lockout now and there was no CBA in place by September, the players would strike then and threaten the playoffs.  The owners figured there would be a work stoppage and decide to control the timing of that stoppage.  I’m not pro owner, but I don’t blame them for taking that step.