Second Deadline Passes, Still No Deal

My heart goes out to the part-time stadium and gameday employees, many of whom are retired or handicapped and use these games to supplement social security. Cities with taxpayer-funded stadiums need to consider lawsuits against MLB owners for loss of income for these employees, not to mention the business around stadiums losing revenue.

Whether the players get more money or the owners get more money, it doesn't affect me at all because it surely isn't ending up in my pocket. I just want baseball. A pox on both their houses!

  On 3/1/2022 at 10:37 PM, USAFChief said:

play with whoever shows up.

 

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I encourage you to go to college, high school, town ball, and organized youth league games plus minor league games when they all start up. MLB is not a place for lesser players. You wouldn't come to me for surgery. I'm very frustrated with the lockout myself though.

Millionaires arguing with Billionaires. Big Dix Hot Dogs should be catering........

Any player on a MLB 40 person roster can apply to the PA for financial assistance. February and March aid was set at $5,000 per month and it goes to $15,000 per month on April 1. Financially, the players are fine. They will not "cave". This is more than the salaries of AAA players.

Hopefully, each side will take a few days and recognize that games are in their mutual interest. Setting a more difficult course would create real problems. While I'm in favor of an 8 team playoff structure myself, there was agreement for a 12 team playoffs. The players could take that back and then there would be a round of retrenchments. Not good. Again, hopefully the two sides look again at their battles and find a compromise.

I just went to mlb.com and cancelled my auto-renewal and removed my credit card from the site. No more money from big dog for a while. I'm sick of this crap. There's obviously no social contract here whatsoever. It's just a way for more people to get rich. I'm not playing along.

  On 3/1/2022 at 10:37 PM, USAFChief said:

I hope the owners do just that. Play ball. Open camps, and play with whoever shows up.

 

The union will cave within weeks. And we'd all be better off for it.

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I am now a dumber person for reading this. 

  On 3/2/2022 at 12:28 AM, a-wan said:

I am now a dumber person for reading this. 

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Welcome to the club. Give me a few more years and I'll be sub-Forrest Gump. That's all I'm going to say about that.

  On 3/2/2022 at 1:46 AM, Brock Beauchamp said:

This is such a garbage take, Chief, and you should be embarrassed for it. Have you looked at what the owners have done for the past 2+ years through Covid and these "negotiations"? They've been straight-up union-busters, nothing more. As the MLBPA caved through concession after concession, the owners did things like raise the CBT by less than inflation and then asked for expanded playoffs in return.

Yours is the worst of worst takes. If you want the sport to be better, crushing the union is not the way to get there. The players have their own issues, of which I've complained about ad nauseam, but right now the owners are the biggest problem in the sport and it's not close. They're so busy protesting and protecting their $80m payrolls and the lack of competition that they can't even see the fans that stopped caring ten years ago.

And now you want even more fans to stop caring so those multi-billionaires can make a few million more.

Huzzah and cheers for that.

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How is raising the CBT threshold good for the game.  It widens the gap in parity and there can be no argument to the contrary.  

In 2020, we could have had more games.  The last proposal was for 80 games as I recall but 80% of comp.  They elected for  60 games at 100%.  They had the audacity to go public with MLB promised prorated salaries.  The memo that was leaked clearly showed they were purposefully misleading the public. 

They are not partners and therefore not due a percentage of revenue.  Partners invest capital and there compensation varies based on the success of the business or this case individual team.

US Household income has increased almost identically to the adjusted rate of inflation.  Had MLB players income grown at the same rate they would be making 5% of what they make today.  Yes, 5%.  Yet, they are unwilling to play for the increases that have been proposed.  

What's wrong with an international Draft?  I see that as a more equitable approach that promotes parity.

The owner's last offer looked perfectly reasonable.  I might add that if there was no union we would have baseball and players would still be the most fortunate group of players on the planet.  They would still be making 100X that of the people paying their salaries. and top players literally make nearly 1,000X that of the average American income.  Yet, they are unwilling to work.

Finally, if you think the players are more concerned about the health of the game than owners you have lost your mind.  Even it's purely financially driven, their interest is far more long term.  Also do you really think athletes, with no business experience and for the most part no formal education are better equipped to determine what's better for this business than a group of 30 of the most accomplished business people in the country?  There are 3 Harvard MBAs and a couple other MBAs.   Several with degrees from Wharton and 28 of the 30 are as accomplished as it comes.  Anyone here who believes they are qualified to stand in judgment better have some serious credentials.

  On 3/2/2022 at 2:13 AM, Major League Ready said:

How is raising the CBT threshold good for the game.  It widens the gap in parity and there can be no argument to the contrary.  

In 2020, we could have had more games.  The last proposal was for 80 games as I recall but 80% of comp.  They elected for  60 games at 100%.  They had the audacity to go public with MLB promised prorated salaries.  The memo that was leaked clearly showed they were purposefully misleading the public. 

They are not partners and therefore not due a percentage of revenue.  Partners invest capital and there compensation varies based on the success of the business or this case individual team.

US Household income has increased almost identically to the adjusted rate of inflation.  Had MLB players income grown at the same rate they would be making 5% of what they make today.  Yes, 5%.  Yet, they are unwilling to play for the increases that have been proposed.  

What's wrong with an international Draft?  I see that as a more equitable approach that promotes parity.

The owner's last offer looked perfectly reasonable.  I might add that if there was no union we would have baseball and players would still be the most fortunate group of players on the planet.  They would still be making 100X that of the people paying their salaries. and top players literally make nearly 1,000X that of the average American income.  Yet, they are unwilling to work.

Finally, if you think the players are more concerned about the health of the game tan owners you have lost your mind.  Even it's purely financially driven, their interest is far more long term.  Also do you really think athletes, with no business experience and for the most part no formal education are better equipped to determine what's better for this business than a group of 30 of the most accomplished business people in the country?  There are 3 Harvard MBAs and a couple other MBAs.   Several with degrees from Wharton and 28 of the 30 are as accomplished as it comes.  Anyone here who believes they are qualified to stand in judgment better have some serious credentials.

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Yeah the union has done nothing for the player’s incomes. In 1972 Danny Thompson as a third year starting player made 13,500. Median household income was 11,200. Thanks to the union the players aren’t doing that much better than median household income now, if you move the decimal point over to the left one position and divide by 2 

Arguments against the work of the union in baseball are just silly. Dave Boswell made as much money painting houses as he did playing baseball. The goals of the PA could be more streamlined and focused. The past two CBA have totally shifted towards the owners. The PA just wants to maintain some balance. Either way, the owners win.

Baseball does NOT have typical ownership. Half of the owners inherited their team. MLB is a closed club. No person can just have enough money and buy a team (see Mark Cuban). Baseball still has anti-trust exemption status, which is a real travesty of justice, unless you really believe that MLB is THE American treasure.

It was either going to be lock out now or strike later in the season threatening playoffs. I will take the lockout now. They will play eventually.

Meanwhile I was was at a high school baseball last weekend. The close game was entertaining and hard fought. Baseball is a great game whether at the high school level or major league level.

I don’t know if the advice about getting out and watching other levels of baseball was sincere or not but I will be finding a game and getting my fill.

  On 3/2/2022 at 2:13 AM, Major League Ready said:

The owner's last offer looked perfectly reasonable.  I might add that if there was no union we would have baseball and players would still be the most fortunate group of players on the planet.  They would still be making 100X that of the people paying their salaries. and top players literally make nearly 1,000X that of the average American income.  Yet, they are unwilling to work.

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Here's where we fundamentally disagree. Baseball exists without any union - of course it does. But the infrastructure that promotes (and seeks compensation for) excellence, that creates an equitable workplace for professionals, that gives laborers a voice is all created and maintained by the union. The players make the union. The players are what make the game great. Who the hell ever would ever buy a ticket at Target Field to watch Jim Pohlad roam around centerfield?

That doesn't mean that any union is ever 100% in the right. But if you listen to the MLBPA conference (I just did), you'll hear thoughtful professionals explaining why they are defending their profession as well as a very composed explanation that they have been and are still willing to negotiate the changes that are necessary to keep the game relevant and competitive. I don't see this commitment to the urgency of the moment or the heart of the game from any of the owners at this point. 

The players make the game - they are not replaceable at that level. If the game is wildly profitable, they should share in that equitably.

Let's be clear here.  The owners don't care about you or me.  They don't really care about the "integrity" of the game, the fans or any of the other mumbo-jumbo their highly paid puppet spews at a press conference.  They care about money.  Period.  Manfred is nothing more than their mouthpiece.

Sorry at this point I'm not reading the article. I got some email request about my MLB subscriptions, maybe we all should just cancel what we have pending. Might send a message, meanwhile I am happily occupied with other endeavors.