MLB Lockout Thread

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

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.

I think most of the owners are too insulated for that happen.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

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.

I think the only thing keeping smaller market teams from spending more is their desire for a substantial annual income from their investment.

 

[LookinUp]

46 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think the only thing keeping smaller market teams from spending more is their desire for a substantial annual income from their investment.

But smaller market teams aren't the only ones who want a substantial annual income. They just have a narrower band in which to operate to achieve that end.

And so what if they do? We're not communists here. Profit isn't bad.

[orioles119]

17 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

You are the exact fan Manfred is counting on for sure. 

My apologies for liking other sports I guess.

[Sports Guy]

The theory of the owners not caring to miss the first month and are using that as leverage could have teeth.  I don’t think their intention was to miss those games but I do think that knowing it won’t really hurt them that bad causes them to have take it or leave it attitude for the time being.

If that is true and this has been their mindset all along and they are going to go with the concept of needing just 4 weeks of ST (which will end up being a mistake and more guys will get hurt), that means the real deadline is basically the original date of opening day…March 31, which is 4 weeks from today.  If at that point, you really start to see the owners move on a lot of these issues, I think it shows that the theory of missing games in April wasn’t a big deal to them is correct.

 

[Can_of_corn]

57 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

But smaller market teams aren't the only ones who want a substantial annual income. They just have a narrower band in which to operate to achieve that end.

And so what if they do? We're not communists here. Profit isn't bad.

I'm not saying it's bad.

I'm saying that a cap isn't about balance it's about increasing owner's profits.

They are using the idea of promoting increased competitive balance as a means to reduce spending and increase profits.

[LookinUp]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm not saying it's bad.

I'm saying that a cap isn't about balance it's about increasing owner's profits.

They are using the idea of promoting increased competitive balance as a means to reduce spending and increase profits.

I'm under no illusions that either side is interested in anything other than the bottom line, and the biggest market teams doing the best is best for the bottom line.

[Tony-OH]

26 minutes ago, orioles119 said:

My apologies for liking other sports I guess.

No, most of us like other sports. and I really wasn't bagging on you, just saying that you are the kind of baseball fans the owners are counting on. Who cares about April and May games, right?

Well as a huge baseball fan, I do. Cancelling games because of this is not acceptable to me. I just need to decide what my reaction will be but need to see how many games they cancel.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Ripken said:

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.  

There are no good guys in this on either side. You have awful greedy owners who could care less about baseball in April and May and you have awful greedy MLBPA who want more and more money. Anyone on either side is a hypocrite unless they have a financial stake in all of this or are a fanboy sycophant for players. 

It's all makes me want to find other interests. I've been a diehard baseball fan since I was 4. I'm not lying when I say this BS is about the final straw for me giving a crap about MLB. Does this mean I'll never watch an Orioles game again, no, doubt that, but like with the NFL, I will no longer support them financially.

[TAMC]

1 hour ago, LookinUp said:

I'm under no illusions that either side is interested in anything other than the bottom line, and the biggest market teams doing the best is best for the bottom line.

I worked for a railroad when I was in college.  The dynamic between the railroad management and other employees was so toxic that they actually searched for ways to poke the other side in the eye.  The attitude build up for decades in that case and we may be seeing the same thing playing out in MLB.  It almost seems that even the money is secondary to "scoring" against the other side.  Two over-competitive sides -- uber-rich folks and top flight athletes.

[Gentile4]

I love baseball, but I didn't have Netflix, Hulu, and HBOMax in 1994. 

[Too Tall]

 

It's hard for me to feel sorry for anyone in this escapade except us, the fans. What is even more frustrating, is there is no good way to express our displeasure than to stop doing and caring about what we have spent our lives enjoying. Yes, even though the Orioles have been bad more than good lately, I have so many great memories dating back to 1954. Baseball above all else is an entetainment business. I just don't feel entertained right now!

I share the frustration on this site.  I plan to pivot to minor league baseball and maybe return if/when the top tier gets its act together.  There is also March Madness. All staffed by the yet to be union members of their respective sport. The young pursuing a dream will always be special to me. However, I'm also reminded of Ogdan Nash - "The trouble with a kitten is that eventually it becomes a cat!" So, let the "cats" fight and let's play ball - minor league ball!

[Sports Guy]

The 2 sides met today.  Just the 2 negotiators.

[jarman86]

On 3/2/2022 at 8:36 AM, orioles119 said:

I will say that the owners played the media like a fiddle.  They used them very well throughout Monday.  It's funny noone heard from the MLBPA too.

When you are the last party to make an offer and the response is to lock you out instead of continued talks....yeah I probably would not respond either...

[jarman86]

15 hours ago, MGH5208 said:

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

 

Possibly, but the MLB and MLBPA have played enough seasons in history with no agreement and no work stoppage that I would have preferred the owners to continue negotiations before locking out players in December.