MLB Lockout Thread

[WI O’s Fan]

Is it better to have a lock out now with hopefully a new agreement instead of a strike in the year like in 94?  I believe option a is much more palatable.  Btw, in 94 I had tixs to the first games that the players struck  on.  Weekend trip from Tampa to Baltimore with brother and friends.  I am still bitter on the 94 strike.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, WI O’s Fan said:

Is it better to have a lock out now with hopefully a new agreement instead of a strike in the year like in 94?  I believe option a is much more palatable.  Btw, in 94 I had tixs to the first games that the players struck  on.  Weekend trip from Tampa to Baltimore with brother and friends.  I am still bitter on the 94 strike.

Maybe?  But were the players likely to strike?

[connja]

Reading the tea leaves and listening to the way both parties are talking, I don't have any hope of an agreement int he near future.  I hope I"m wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if this costs half the season or more.

[MGH5208]

17 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Maybe?  But were the players likely to strike?

Probably.   Would it have been before opening day?  Before the playoffs and WS?   whatever time would have cost the owners the most money,   The lockout is only "the ultimate economic weapon" because he didn't get to deploy his strike first.  

And I don't buy all this "we waited for 43 days" to negotiate.  Pick up the freakin phone and call the other side to schedule something.  I'd normally say "we're all adults here" but I don't think that's the case here. 

and I'm far from pro owner, but all this BS from clark and scherzer make me sick

 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

 

Hard to argue. There really wasn't any reason to lock out the players until before spring training started. But we're talking Manfred and the owners here, not exactly the most forward thinking group!

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

17 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Hard to argue. There really wasn't any reason to lock out the players until before spring training started. But we're talking Manfred and the owners here, not exactly the most forward thinking group!

Commissioners of all the major sports leagues are the worst I can remember during my lifetime. I’d slightly prefer Selig over Manfred, and never imagined I would ever say that after Selig’s reign. 

[Sports Guy]

16 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Commissioners of all the major sports leagues are the worst I can remember during my lifetime. I’d slightly prefer Selig over Manfred, and never imagined I would ever say that after Selig’s reign. 

Adam Silver is really good.  
 

 

[Can_of_corn]

Jason Heyward on Instagram.

[LookinUp]

I don't doubt for a second that the owners are playing hard ball and doing exactly what Heyward is saying.

I don't doubt for a second that if the owners waited for the players to have the leverage then the players would be doing the same thing.

They're not different. Just arguing for different sides.

[LookinUp]

13 hours ago, Hallas said:

 

The current luxury cap is such that only 3-5 teams ever exceed it, and they never exceed it for more than a year at a time, so I'd say that it's got a lot of teeth as it is.

That's kind of my point. The tax has no teeth if only a few teams ever see it. What does Baltimore care about the luxury tax? It's basically a slap on the wrist to keep the Dodgers and Yankees from going absurdly wild in free agency.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, LookinUp said:

I don't doubt for a second that the owners are playing hard ball and doing exactly what Heyward is saying.

I don't doubt for a second that if the owners waited for the players to have the leverage then the players would be doing the same thing.

They're not different. Just arguing for different sides.

I do think that intentionally shortening one season is shortsighted and will do more long term harm than short term good if they don't end up with significant gains in the actual CBA as well.

 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

That's kind of my point. The tax has no teeth if only a few teams ever see it. What does Baltimore care about the luxury tax? It's basically a slap on the wrist to keep the Dodgers and Yankees from going absurdly wild in free agency.

How low would you have to set a tax to bother the Elias/Angelos Bro Orioles?  100M?

[Ripken]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

Jason Heyward on Instagram.

...lots of words...

I don't know if any of that is accurate but it sure felt [to me] like everything he said there is completely true.  A 13 week lockout and nobody did a damn thing for the first 12.  Then the owners made offers in the final moments that had no chance of being accepted.  What part of that looks like the owners truly desire baseball in April?   

I'm not totally with the players here either - I don't believe some of their rhetoric, their asks are high, and the Clark/Max pairing is just bad.  Clark should have been fired long ago and the $40M+ guy sitting there makes for poor optics.  Add in a scumbag like Manfailed and this is going to be a mess for a while.  

[LookinUp]

15 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I do think that intentionally shortening one season is shortsighted and will do more long term harm than short term good if they don't end up with significant gains in the actual CBA as well.

 

You may be right. My guess is the owners see a world where people are outraged at something new every single day and that they'll move on quickly.

[LookinUp]

14 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

How low would you have to set a tax to bother the Elias/Angelos Bro Orioles?  100M?

Or how much revenue sharing would you have to do? The financials in this sport are so skewed that the change to do it "right" would be massive.