The Lockout Diaries: Week 5

[Nick Nelson]

Dear journal,

It's been 35 days since darkness fell upon the world of baseball. A new year is upon us, and under normal circumstances we'd be looking ahead eagerly to the start of spring training in a few short weeks.

Alas, there is no end to this lockout in sight. 

Reports emerged last month indicating that MLB and its Players Association were not expected to start talking core economics until January. We're here now, and still no movement is apparent. Bob Nightingale tweeted on Monday that "no negotiating sessions [are] currently scheduled" between the two sides.

Seemingly determined to further tarnish his own tattered reputation while presiding over the first labor stoppage in three decades, commissioner Rob Manfred made waves this week by dropping the axe on Ken Rosenthal, one of the finest sports reporters in the biz, over perceived negative coverage. Rosenthal will no longer appear on MLB Network, though thankfully his exceptional work can still be found via FOX and The Athletic.

Speaking of exceptional reporters, the latest writeup from Jeff Passan of ESPN opens up with this burst of sunshine:

Quote

More than a month into Major League Baseball's lockout, well aware that the league and players haven't had a single substantive negotiating session since the work stoppage began and that spring training is fast approaching without an iota of progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement, a longtime baseball man very calmly said into his phone earlier this week, "What the f--- are we doing?"

The first month of the lockout was largely unnoticeable to me amidst the bustle of the holiday season, but now I can feel my irritation growing and compounding. Manfred and the league are doing nothing to engender sympathy or support with their lack of urgency and bizarrely adversarial actions. 

To keep my mind off that whole stagnant situation for the time being, I'm focusing on Twins-related distractions. I've been putting together my annual top 20 Twins asset rankings, and rolled out part 1 (16 through 20) and part 2 (11 through 15) this week. I'm excited to dig into the top 10 next week. I'm also excited about a new podcast/video series project that I've been working with the team on. More details on that soon. 

For now, these serve as sufficient diversions. But as the month of January progresses and the traditional reporting date for pitchers and catchers grows nearer, it'll be harder and harder to ignore the elephant in the room. Before long, we'll be looking at an inevitable delay to spring training, and Opening Day will enter the crosshairs.

How much more bad press will Manfred and the league manage to attract by then?

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[Whitey333]

Manfred is a joke!  And I guess the owners are too since they hired Manfred.  They seemed hellbent on destroying what once was a great game.  Now it's barely recognizable.  The poverty ridden players are driven by greed and ignorance.  Same can be said of the owners. The fact that Manfred and the owners locked out the players after players association doesn't realize they already have the best deal in all of sports flies over everyone's head.  Baseball has been declining in popularity for the past few years.  I'm sure this disagreement won't help as most of the nation deals with the pandemic and real hardships.

[Joey P]

How can they be so blatantly communist with their excommunicating of the best reporter in baseball. What are they trying to hide? It can't be their dislike of baseball, thats already too obvious. 

[AceWrigley]

I've never been a Manfred fan. I guess locking out the players wasn't enough; have to start locking out the reporters too. I'd call Manfred a pinhead but we don't want to get personal about it.

[MN_ExPat]

All I can say is thank god for HS and college baseball.  My son and his fellow pitchers on the staff just started their official bullpens this week.  So at least there is still some very good baseball out there to be found .

[Game7-91]

4 hours ago, Joey P said:

How can they be so blatantly communist with their excommunicating of the best reporter in baseball. What are they trying to hide? It can't be their dislike of baseball, thats already too obvious. 

If they were really communistic tey would redistribute capital and wealth in equal shares among erey franchise, player, and employee of mlb and its affiliates. As it is, MLB corporate is just a sadsack affiliation of profiteers who rely on strong arm internal tactics to quash dissent. MLPBA is a slight step up from their corporate overlords, very slight. They all deserve each other. 

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

I've never been a Manfred fan. I guess locking out the players wasn't enough; have to start locking out the reporters too. I'd call Manfred a pinhead but we don't want to get personal about it.

... or to insult any pins, in the process.

[tony&rodney]

Manfredball. Ghost runners on second base will be his legacy.