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This offseason Major League Baseball decided to make rather sweeping rule changes. While we’ll see new base sizes, a pitch clock, and limited shifting, it’s the rule 2020 brought us that may continue to shake things up the most. Rob Manfred decided a runner will forever start on second during extra-innings for the regular season, and it’s a bit curious how much that could hurt the Minnesota Twins. Image courtesy of Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports Back in 2020, after a late start to the season following Covid-19, Major League Baseball decided to make doubleheaders seven-inning games and attempt to limit their length by placing a “ghost runner” on second base during extra innings. The pairing had some validity as rosters were tighter and a risk of availability constantly plagued teams. Now, as we have adapted to the changes on a human and worldly level, it appears that Major League Baseball will at least keep a different set of rules for longer baseball games. The problem is that not all teams will benefit equally. Yes, every single organization will be playing with the same parameters, but the outcomes can’t be created equal. Baseball’s new extra-inning rule is largely similar to the shootout in hockey. Seen by National Hockey League purists as eyewash, the shootout is more for a casual fan looking for an extra bit of excitement. It certainly waters down the outcome, however, as the game is all of a sudden determined through different parameters. Hockey does a decent job addressing this by awarding the losing team with a single point for making it to overtime. Baseball’s problem is that the standings simply aren’t set up to reflect an outcome of anything less than a win or loss. It would be overly drastic for the league to adopt a points system, but the sport has also watered down the value of a win once getting to extra innings. If there is something that has always set baseball apart, it is that the sport is played without a clock. The only thing guaranteed in baseball is that you have 27 outs to be better than the other team. In extra-innings, each side traded opportunities with three outs at a time. Now though, it becomes who can immediately capitalize off of a manufactured scenario. Last season Rocco Baldelli’s club played 15 extra-inning games In them, they went 5-10 with just a -3 run differential. The year prior, in 2021, Minnesota played 23 extra-inning games and posted a +2 run differential. During the first season of a runner being placed on second base, Minnesota was 3-1 with a +1 run differential. As a whole, the volatility of outcomes appears to be drastic. It is not a benefit to routinely play extra-inning games. With a 26-man roster and only 40 players to choose from at any given time, racking up lengthy results isn’t a sustainable path to health. What is problematic is that results are determined differently once getting to those extra-inning games, and not every team will have the same amount of instances to compare. Carrying a strong nine-inning record, but dropping games in which you have a runner start on second to open an inning seems counterproductive in evaluating the overall talent of a club. On the flip side, a team finding ways to consistently produce when given the advantage of a placed runner could make up for a lacking performance in standard length games. Having a “ghost runner” certainly isn’t a rule change as substantial as having robot umpires would be, but it may be the one with the greatest impact on the win column. Playing the game differently in the regular season as opposed to the postseason is something both the NHL and NFL have done for a long time. In both of those cases though, the league’s evaluate said outcomes differently. Baseball isn’t going to have ties, and you aren’t receiving half a win for an extra-inning loss. When a strong extra-inning team squeaks into the postseason by a win or two against a team that didn’t go past nine innings very often, this discussion could get that much more interesting. View full article

By now, if you’ve done any digging into the meaning behind the buzzword that “analytics” has become, you’ve become aware of Wins Above Replacement, or WAR. Today, Major League Baseball decided to take things a step further, and create a war between Baseball Reference and Fangraphs. Image courtesy of © Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports Thankfully this offseason we don’t have Major League Baseball owners delaying the start of 2023 through a lockout, but if you can think back to 2021 when that was the reality, an interesting proposal was made. Reporting from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal highlighted a desire for the league to do away with the current arbitration system. The plan was to instead calculate bonuses and increases for player salaries based on accumulated WAR from any given season. As things stand currently, teams have control over players for six years. They don’t become arbitration eligible immediately, and therefore are only offered salary increases based on the assessed league minimum. This is why players pushed so hard for increased pay, given so many are not rewarded with substantial draft bonuses. A player may work their way through the minor leagues making less than minimum wage, and then never see a true payday until years into their big league career (that’s if they make it that far). The problem with using Fangraphs’ WAR valuation to determine paychecks is that baseball owners are then placing importance on an outside entity to control the livelihood of their workforce. It seems counterproductive to players, as they would no longer be able to argue in favor of themselves based on other production, and WAR is biased in terms of creating value for relievers or starting pitchers in conjunction with those that play every day. In The Athletic’s report it said, “Agreeing to a system that keeps the best players under team control, and at a set scale of pay, for potentially a longer period of time than six years — the current time it takes to get free agency — could lessen those players’ earnings in the long run. And, if the top-earning players in the sport don’t have a way to grow their salaries, then other players’ salaries also might not grow over time.” While that didn’t ultimately come to pass in the newly agreed to CBA, Major League Baseball has now introduced a new statistic. Enter aWAR. Currently there is bWAR, which alludes to Baseball Reference’s calculation, and fWAR, which alludes to Fangraphs. aWAR, as described by MLB, is a straightforward average of the two numbers. It is literally defined as “average of fWAR and bWAR.” The immediate problem here is the nuance. Neither calculation is the same because both companies weigh certain aspects of performance differently. A player could be seen better by one or the other, and therefore have that as a negotiating tactic to their advantage. With this being sent out in a memo as an official statistic, MLB has effectively sought to implement their WAR proposal within the constraints of arbitration. As players look to file at a higher number than their team may view them worthy, the argument on the team’s side can be made officially around the concepts of an accepted aWAR statistic. Of course team’s could’ve done this on their own previously, but it would’ve been a hypothetical suggestion with no one having to adhere to the aWAR principal. It will be interesting to see how writers utilize this new statistic, and how much we hear about during the upcoming arbitration cycle. It’s certainly not nothing that the league introduced this statistic in advance of those discussions for teams and players in 2023, and that can’t be something seen as favorable for the MLBPA. There doesn’t seem to be a reason that aWAR would be advertised on either Baseball Reference or Fangraphs sites as it would counteract the reason to have their own statistic featured prominently, and would provoke a reason to consult the other entity. Either way, this seems like the league saying one of those things they do but shouldn’t say out loud. Let’s see how this goes. What do you think? View full article

Right now Major League Baseball may be as low as it’s ever been. Back during the 1994 and 1995 strike I was just five years old, way too young to be bothered by what was taking place. At this point in my life, it’s anything but. After Rob Manfred’s address yesterday I could produce nothing more than apathy. The Minnesota Twins have long been my favorite team. Major League Baseball has been among my most invested interests for the majority of my life. Because of just thirty owners and their puppet, Opening Day is cancelled with no end in sight. As Manfred stepped up to the podium, made that announcement while laughing, and then suggesting it was a both sides issue (hint: it’s not) emptiness set in. Manfred has done very little to distance himself from the notion that he’s an awful commissioner. Obviously, he’s in a position to represent the interests of the owners, but each opportunity for him to provide a galvanizing rallying cry or momentum, he chomps on his own foot. Manfred comes across like a sleazy businessman with little desire to actually enjoy the sport he oversees. There isn’t a jovial attitude and there’s certainly nothing redeeming about him in connecting with the fans. For months those connected to the league have attempted spewing a stance that players are needed to move things forward. Despite delays, lack of negotiating, and bad faith bargaining, it’s consistently been a blame game from the league with the only intention being the greatest win. Instead, we the fans, now all lose. Opening Day is supposed to be a highlight of Spring. We get through the final days of winter with baseball action in Arizona or Florida. It’s the eight month calendar that creates drama on a daily basis through the lens of a wonderful sport. Not only do we not have that calendar to look forward to at this point, but we also have no clue when Rob Manfred and the league will work towards getting things back on track. I’ll rebound from this; it’s necessary for the union to remain steadfast for change. Baseball will return, maybe in June, or maybe next year, but it will return. I’ll continue to write and enjoy the sport from afar. Right now though, it all feels a bit empty and hollow with one man and one group so carelessly and ruthlessly denying us normalcy on the diamond. Most times it’s hard not to be romantic about baseball, but right now is not most times. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

This week could be argued as the most significant of the entire Major League Baseball offseason. It’s the first in which the owners and union have committed to interacting every day. Unfortunately, it’s produced a whole lot of nothing. A contingent for both the owners and players arrived at Roger Dean Stadium in Florida on Monday. The respective sides have spent time meeting both separately and together. A handful of notes have been cycled through the days that have come and gone. Most notably, we’ve seen the players continuing to move ever so slightly on their already negotiated proposals. The league has done little to counter and close the gap, but there has been no movement on the suggestion that February 28 is a hard deadline for Opening Day to go as planned. The league has suggested that any games missed will not result in rescheduling and that players will simply lose pay with the schedule picking up where it left off. Before spending 42 days with no action, Rob Manfred penned a letter to fans saying the lockout he instituted was designed to jumpstart negotiations and was done with the utmost desire to protect the integrity of the schedule. As we sit not, that letter doesn’t look good (to be fair, it didn’t then either). After being let go from MLB Network due to minor criticisms of Major League Baseball’s Commissioner, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has continued to produce excellent writing. This week he took the kid gloves off, put out a framework for a deal, and called the league out for the lunacy that is taking place. Further tilting the scales towards the already known realities, financials for the Atlanta Braves ownership group were released today. Despite Rob Manfred suggesting owning a team is not all that profitable and the stock market producing better returns, every bit of data continues to laugh at that idea. There’s no denying the owners will come out ahead in any CBA, and they probably should, but clawing for every dollar in an effort to win over the players have only the consumers losing. Although the next two days are non-business days, it would benefit both sides to continue with their discussions. Monday’s deadline looms large, and while the only real leverage the players have is lost games, fans watch as a season hangs in the balance. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Last week’s CBA update was largely contingent on what happened the day after it was published. Major League Baseball made an offer on Saturday, February 12, that Rob Manfred called “good.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The owners proposal at the end of last week was largely unchanged from where they’ve been thus far. Minimal movement was proposed on both the minimum salary front and the competitive balance tax. Regarding the minimum salary, players are looking for a $775k minimum. Owners moved just $15k to $615k in their most recent offer. They also proposed a $630k minimum that would remain flat for players pre-arbitration. Teams can still pay more if they choose, but this is an odd inclusion as many players never reach a second year. On the competitive balance tax front, the owners moved less than $4 million in any given season. This is a highly contentious issue for the players because owners use the luxury tax as a soft salary cap. Very few teams spend over it and even more spend right up next to it. The luxury tax has not kept up with the revenue increase, and players continue to see less return on their production to the owners bottom line. That led us to Thursday when the union made their next counter-proposal. It was just five days after the league’s latest offer and substantially quicker than the 42 days and 30 days the owners took between proposals. In the latest proposal from the union, they dropped the amount of super-2 players getting arbitration from 100% to 80%. In doing so, however, they asked for that pool of funds to be increased. While having fewer players to pay, the stance is that it makes sense for there to be more money to go around. A couple of developments have circulated since yesterday’s 19-minute meeting. First, an unfair labor practice charge was filed against MLB by someone. The union or any player did not file it, likely a fan. It won’t go anywhere. The league also presented a calendar, or timeline, as to when the CBA needs to be agreed to for the season to start on time. It’s unclear whether the union agrees with the timeline, but February 28 is the day to remember here. The players are beginning to use some of their leverage and have told the league not to expect expanded playoffs this season if the year doesn’t start on time. Players are unpaid for Spring Training and the Postseason, while owners make the most money after the regular season concludes. Both sides are expected to meet in New York near-daily next week. Owners and players are flying in with the goal of hammering out an agreement. We’ll see what the substance of the talks looks like as the days go by. MLB did release a statement announcing the postponement of Spring Training. It was always inevitable but is now official. With the postponement of Spring Training, the Minnesota Gophers announced the cancellation of their exhibition against the Twins on February 25. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

It’s not necessarily what has happened this week that makes it the most pivotal for CBA negotiations, but it is what’s to come. Rob Manfred hosted a joke of a press conference but revealed the owners would make another proposal on Saturday. From there, we’ll know how close we are to having baseball. The owners spent the week in sunny Orlando, Florida, meeting over the course of a few days. After failing to offer a proposal to the union and requesting the help of a federal mediator last week, it seems they have hammered out the framework of a new deal. It was never anything more than a hollow PR ploy when Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball asked for the assistance of a federal mediator. The owners went back on their decision to make a proposal to the union, and it’s also been their side that has failed to do much in the form of negotiating at all. Labor secretary Marty Walsh did have recent conversations with both sides, however, and hopefully, the plan here is less about Manfred and the owners trying to “win” than it is working towards a mutually beneficial resolution. Like the owners, the players met in Arizona with Tony Clark and Dan Halem this week. Gerrit Cole tweeted out a similar sentiment to the ones we have seen on social media in recent weeks. The players are unified in their goals, and while they’ll bend and make certain concessions, it’s apparent they are focused on establishing the future of the game. During Manfred’s press conference Thursday, the most preposterous statement was one that indicated owning a Major League Baseball team isn’t all that profitable. It’s a bald-faced lie, but one that Manfred has a platform to spew, and with hopes it’s believed by many. He concluded by suggesting that the owners would put forth a new proposal on Saturday and that “it’s a good one.” We’ll have to wait for that to be determined. In the interim, we have some new agreed-upon rules for the future. The universal DH is now here to stay. That means Joe Ryan is the last Twins pitcher to ever take an at-bat, and Kenta Maeda is the last to record a hit. We also have a draft pick lottery system and, maybe most importantly, the removal of draft pick compensation tied to players that turn down the qualifying offer. Understandably it’s the designated hitter change that has received headlines, but it’s the elimination of draft pick compensation that Minnesota should be most excited about. Not having to worry about losing an important pick to sign a top free agent should bring the playing field to a more level place. Again, this week was all about the talk, and everything hinges on what we find out Saturday. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Tear another week off the calendar, and we might be further from baseball than we were a week ago. Major League Baseball and the Players Union met earlier this week. Talks got heated, the meeting lasted about 90 minutes, and things have gone off the rails since. If you recalled from the update last week, it’s the Union that has made significant concessions. They also bent more this week after dropping their free agency timeline and revenue sharing requests. The discussions surrounding service time manipulation were shelved, and the pre-arbitration bonus pool also saw a $5 million decrease. Washington Post writer Chelsea Janes shared that the Union has started distributing funds to players. Those funds have been held over time to pay players through a work stoppage. While some of baseball’s best are compensated handsomely, many are at the league minimum. Also of note here, if and when games are ultimately lost, stadium workers for Spring Training and in regular-season homes will be unfairly impacted. Baseball Prospectus Editor in Chief Craig Goldstein brought up a relevant point on Tuesday. With new TV money being shelled out to organizations, there’s no team in the sport that won’t come into 2022 handsomely. Despite economic impacts from the Covid shortened 2020 season, the reality has always been that revenues were decreased, but no one went in the red. Owners are making money at a rate higher than anything the stock market can produce, and the players are looking to simply be in line with the inflation rate. On Wednesday, Jon Heyman, who works for MLB Network (obviously owned by Major League Baseball), suggested the league would restart talks at the end of the week or early next week. Something like 24 hours later, Jeff Passan dropped the bomb that Major League Baseball requested the help of a federal mediator. This comes on the heels of MLB, as reported by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, telling the Union it won’t make a counter proposal after previously saying they would. There’s a lot to unpack in the past 24 hours, but it boils down to this. The move for federal mediation is nothing more than a public relations move to make it appear as though the owners are struggling to negotiate with the Union. With the league deciding it won’t offer a counter-proposal, the owners have effectively said they want the players to negotiate against their most recent proposal, and the league is stepping away from the bargaining table. It’s hard to look at the state of things and suggest that MLB has negotiated in good faith during any point of this process. They took over 40 days to resume talks following the lockout, have made next to no concessions, and are looking to win a game of public relations chess rather than actively working towards resumption. Pitchers and catchers are supposed to report in two weeks. That’s not going to happen. Spring Training will be delayed; there’s no denying it at this point. It’s looking likely that Major League Baseball will lose games this season. This is the worst possible outcome on the heels of a pandemic-influenced season just two years ago. Rob Manfred’s leadership is in question, and as baseball fans, we all lose. Growing the sport isn’t going to be accomplished through rule changes, and this is the scenario that tears it down the most. Here are a few players to drop the mic on this. The Union has also now formally rejected the proposal for federal mediation. In this circumstance it does little to help the discussions and Major League Baseball actively bargaining would be a better step forward. View full article

Major League Baseball locked out its players on December 2nd. Since then, we have had virtually no baseball news and very little progress regarding the resumption of activity. Before that, though, there was madness. Eventually, we’ll get that madness again, but is it enough? If you’ve followed Major League Baseball for any period, you’re well aware that things get done within the funnel of time constraints. The trade deadline is when players get moved, like the day of, not weeks before. Free-agent signings happen during the Winter Meetings or as Spring Training begins. Even with this lockout, the owners went 40-plus days while offering nothing, and the only reason wheels are creaking is because games (exhibition at this point, but still) are threatened to be lost. That’s why the point at which teams raced to spend dollars and acquire talent before December 1st was amazing. Baseball fans were treated to utter madness. Clubs spent over $1 billion in contracts, and big-name stars were headed all over the baseball landscape. It was a breakneck pace, and the only question was whether Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal, or Jeff Passan would send the tweets out first. In something truly unparalleled for baseball fans, there was a free agent frenzy. If there’s a silver lining to this current lockout, it’s that we should get it again. Another acquisition frenzy has to be coming, and it will be time influenced once again. Whether regular-season games are lost or not, the reality is pitchers and catchers were originally intended to report within two weeks. We’re about two months from Opening Day, and ramp-up time is needed on top of relocation and adjustment periods. Add in the fact that there are hundreds of players still waiting to see which team they’ll get deals from in 2022, and it’s going to be crazy. For Minnesota specifically, the rotation remains bare, a shortstop is not currently on the roster, and there’s something like $50 million to be handed out. Assuming the Twins go the trade route, they’ll need to make those intentions known quickly and follow up on any conversations they were having pre-lockout. The 40-man roster has room to improve, and the 26-man isn’t constructed in a manner that would be competitive per the suggestion from the front office. So yes, again, time and the calendar suggest this will happen. The question is will it matter? You, the reader here at Twins Daily, will probably care. You’re invested enough to be reading about your favorite team, and interest remains during the offseason or through a lockout. For the casual fan, the league might have lost. Rather than capitalizing on the opportunity and momentum from early December, they’ll now be competing with an NBA season at its peak, an NHL season coming full circle, and trying to distance from an NFL postseason that has truly stolen the show. While the offseason certainly isn’t for everyone, a complete shutdown as instituted by Rob Manfred isn’t going to make the league any more relevant. I don’t know how baseball will handle free agency in the future, but it’s clear that turning it into an event like its competition makes things exciting. We experienced that in December and will again soon, but in terms of growing the sport and wanting those on the fringes to come back, this probably isn’t going to move the needle. View full article

Another week of progress, and we’re ending January on a better note than we entered it. Major League Baseball met twice with the union this week, and while the results may not have been substantial, at least they’re going through the motions. After meeting for less than 10 minutes before locking out the players back in December and then spending more than 40 days before issuing a proposal, it’s noteworthy that the league engaged the union on consecutive days this week. The meeting results aren’t exactly heartwarming, but there’s a blueprint towards a path forward. The most drastic change in negotiations the past week came from the players' side. Wanting to reach free agency sooner, they desired to shorten team control. During Monday’s meeting with the league, the union removed their request for an age-based free agency system. This signaled a substantial concession on their side and should be used as a powerful bargaining chip when discussing the idea of give and take during future topics. Unfortunately, per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem said the league was “willing to lose games over outstanding issues” in the same meeting. Britt Ghiroli, who was previously featured here at Twins Daily in a “Women in Baseball” piece, wrote a great article on the state of the lockout. A takeaway for me was this comment, “Whether this painfully slow sparring between baseball and its players is necessary isn’t the question. It’s why those with the longest-term investment in the game are seemingly unconcerned with prioritizing the quality of the product, treating fans like a steady constant instead of something that the sport has to sustain, grow and develop to stay viable.” Former General Manager Jim Bowden made a point to contend that the players' concession was a large one, and the league needed to follow suit. Unfortunately, when the two sides met a second day, Major League Baseball did little to uphold their side on Tuesday. Jeff Passan outlined the changes, and while the league agreed on salary raises and pre-arbitration bonus pools, the extent they’re willing to go was laughable at best. In a piece from The Score’s Travis Sawchik, we see how far baseball lags regarding the minimum salary. The bump of $15k is so negligible that it fails to keep up with the inflation rate from the time it was last adjusted. The focal economics point from the union side has been in helping young players get paid. The reality is that very few major leaguers make significant sums of money, and a career can be incredibly short. Searching for an avenue that immediately and adequately compensates talent is important. As of right now, it’s not something the league is too concerned about. From an ownership standpoint, slight raises to the minimum should be considered inconsequential, but remaining tight on the issue is as shortsighted as the unwillingness to compensate minor leaguers fairly. One quote from Monday’s meetings grabbed headlines and came from Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort. His franchise has largely been a dumpster fire of financial peril for quite some time. He poured gasoline on the situation, complaining some owners have trouble affording their teams and the additional costs Covid-19 has created. In short, a billionaire wants us to feel sorry for the lack of egregious revenues regarding something only one-percenters will ever experience. As you can expect, it wasn’t received positively. Let’s dig in for another week of this charade. Pitchers and catchers are supposed to report for Spring Training just over two weeks from now. View full article

42 days had passed since Major League Baseball had met with the players union. Following his decision to lock out the players, Rob Manfred and the owners waited that amount of time to offer their proposal. Yesterday the event came and went. There was never expected to be a deal struck yesterday, but it is unfortunate to see the parameters of Major League Baseball’s proposal. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan outlined, the highlights were a slight raise in the minimum salary, draft pick incentivization to teams that don’t manipulate service time, and tweaks to a proposed draft lottery. The universal designated hitter remained part of the current language and there was also the proposal of an expanded Postseason going to 14 teams from the current 12. Lots of good nuggets were thrown out on Twitter yesterday and each of them is worthy of being addressed. Let’s get into those: On minimum salary - That's a decent start, but a substantial amount of Major Leaguers make the league minimum. After being underpaid as minor leaguers a $30,000 jump might not be seen as much of a needle mover. On the Luxury Tax- This is arguably the most notable area of contention for players. While Major League Baseball does not have a salary cap, many organizations act as though there is one. Few ever venture into the Luxury Tax, and plenty more come right up next to it while avoiding additional spending. The owners willing to move just $4 million while the players are hoping for $35 million is an inconsequential concession. The little bit of movement also suggests that owners don't want spending power for their teams to go up as they'd then be expected to allocate those funds. Obviously this was met with frustration by the players. Apparently the owners viewed this proposal as far from complete, and despite the lack of urgency, will tackle only certain issues at a time. On service time manipulation- From the moment I saw this included I wondered how it would be applied. Service time manipulation has been beyond evident at times and yet players still are told to deal with it. As Eugene notes in the tweet above, tying service time manipulation to outcomes driven from outside sources, the issue is no longer being handled by the parties involved. It'd be great for teams to promote players when they are ready, but the most beneficial thing to an organization is how long they can control a player at less than market value. On free agency- Keeping a player away from free agency remains of the utmost importance to owners. While being paid through arbitration the wages are significantly diminished and contracts are handled on a yearly basis. The idea of small or mid-market teams stems from owners wanting a fanbase to believe they are not able to spend with larger geographical locations. There are certainly more desirable places to play, but players don't leave teams for those reasons as much as they go to where the payday will come. Most small and mid-market teams look to flip their stars before paying them, and that's a much greater issue regarding competitive balance than any decision a player will make on their own. Again, there was never a belief that yesterday would mark a deal getting done, but the state of negotiations as they stand now isn't a promising one. The owners took over a month to propose a deal with many non-starters for players and have took the stance that they were only focused on parts of the puzzle. At the end of the day Spring Training is looking more and more in question. Players skipping games is really the only want owners feel it in their pocketbooks, and we're rolling towards that reality. As the calendar turns day by day, the greatest indicator of progress will be how quickly counter-proposals are set forth. If we're continuing to do this weeks at a time, baseball by May might be a longshot. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook, or email View full article

This space has been on pause the past few weeks because baseball has done absolutely nothing. This week that changed a bit, but I’m not sure it was for the better. We’re farther away from MLB’s return, and now worse off for it. Earlier this week one of the best reporters in the game, Ken Rosenthal, was let go from MLB Network. This stems from his criticism (and that should be used lightly) of overlord Rob Manfred. Major League Baseball’s commissioner is a steward of the owners, and while he actively seeks to line their pockets, he doesn’t need anyone on his airwaves sowing doubt about his leadership. Rosenthal is still employed by The Athletic (who was just recently acquired by the New York Times) and Fox. Seeing players rally in support of Rosenthal was a great thing as well. On Wednesday a piece was penned by ESPN’s Jeff Passan in relation to the state of baseball’s CBA issues. Some of the highlights, or maybe lowlights, don’t paint a pretty picture at all. We’re closer to Spring Training and yet the sides have not had a single meeting to suggest any sort of progress. A source was frank to Passan in simply stating, “What the (expletive) are we doing?” Passan talks about the decreasing optimism among those in the know that there will be a full season. The last discussion lasted just seven minutes, and we saw these two sides struggle mightily when it came to generating an agreement for 2020. Ultimately Manfred implemented a 60-game season, but that was due to the outlined agreements within the CBA rather than a compromise between both parties. As has been the case from the beginning most within the sport don’t see the sides coming together until later this month. With Spring Training being just weeks away at that point, you can all but guarantee time will be missed there. The problem, as Passan outlines, is that the issues surrounding the CBA are far more contentious than those discussed during the Covid-shortened 2020, and will need a much longer runway. There’s a way to work through them, but if Manfred’s letter to fans after locking out the players was any indication, he doesn’t appear willing to do so in good faith. This excerpt from Passan’s piece couldn’t be more spot on: While the players continue to be frustrated with ownership as spending dips and the Competitive Balance Tax is used as a soft cap, ownership wants no part of granting players free agency sooner or relinquishing control over cost effectiveness. A source told Passan, "The only thing that's gonna move either side is mutual assured destruction." The piece goes into an avenue where a CBA could take both sides, and while each needs to make concessions, the reality is that there’s a ton to work through. A deal not being close by February 1 would almost assuredly cancel Spring Training games. A handful of free agents still need to be signed, and a sport with many foreign players needs runway for Visas and travel arrangements to be made. Should things not be agreed to by May 1, we’re going to see the first substantial work stopped since the 1994-95 calendar. It’s on both sides to fix this, but make no mistake, this will be Rob Manfred’s legacy. Do you think we see Spring Training start on time? How about whether regular season games are missed? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook, or email View full article

It’s been a slow couple of weeks with Major League Baseball effectively shut down. A few minor league transactions have trickled in, and a handful of stories regarding guys signing overseas have accumulated, but the lockout has drawn things to a halt. Recent reports don’t suggest a reprieve soon. Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reported that while a handful of topics are to be discussed regarding a new CBA, core economic won’t be on the agenda until January. Since the lockout occurred on December 2nd, Major League Baseball appears comfortable taking their time; there have been no formal proposals. As discussed in this space previously, the league itself loses nothing until games and revenue go away. A small group reportedly met for an in-person meeting on Thursday. Still, the context of that meeting is unknown, and wasn’t expected to include anything financially driven. Right now, there’s uncertainty as to which side will make the next move. Rob Manfred suggested, before the lockout, that the league had made a proposal, and the union had it on their plate to hammer out an agreement. That feeling wasn’t reciprocated from the union side, and now we have a stalemate. Looking at the offseason calendar, that’s where we can find the best indication of how things are progressing. Neither side has much desire to meet or move on any critical issues. It’s not just economics that needs to be hammered out, but they undoubtedly are among the chief concerns. Baseball’s next event was a trade of arbitration figures on January 14. It’s in February that teams report to Spring Training. Both sides seem content waiting through the turn of the year until making any more advancements. That’s a fine stance, and one the union likely needs to create leverage as their greatest asset is the on-field product, but that also leaves a significant amount of work to be done in just a month. How this all gets hammered out, especially with two sides doing virtually nothing to take steps forward presently, will be something to behold. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook, or email View full article

It’s been eight days since our last update, which not coincidentally came at the commencement of Major League Baseball deciding to lock out its players. After a flurry of moves in the leadup, we’ve now experienced the darkness of a league conducting no business. We’re now over a week into the lockout, and there hasn’t been a slew of developments. What is maybe most notable is that the league isn’t trying either. That’s not exactly shocking, given the owners have nothing to lose until games are lost, and with so much time before that reality, their incentive to negotiate likely is at an all-time low. Although talks about working through a new CBA have not yet taken place, there have been a couple of notes surrounding the sport. Let’s get into those. Rule Changes Disappear Over the past few years, we’ve heard plenty from Rob Manfred regarding the pace of play. Baseball is consistently suggested as a dying sport, and the need to create action has been one of Manfred’s chief concerns. Everything from pitch clocks to banning the shift has been suggested, and most of it appeared to be a matter of when not if. As of right now, all of that is off the table. According to The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, Manfred publicly stated that Major League Baseball has not made “any specific rule-change proposals” to the players. Whether that changes in future rounds of negotiations remains to be seen. It is odd that a year in which rules were implemented across many different leagues with an aim at the highest level, none are currently planned to see the light of day. Apparently, the belief by Manfred is that rule changes would be a point of contention to players and, therefore, something the league is trying to avoid. It’s a weird stance, given that any rule changes would need to be collectively bargained. Not allowing the players to discuss them in a formal setting is counter-productive to them ever being applied. A Laid Out Plan Of course, this is just one man’s opinion, but Ken Rosenthal is among the best in the business. He penned a piece for The Athletic that outlines what a new CBA could (or, by his estimation, should) look like. Everything from the luxury tax to free agency is discussed. Rosenthal does an excellent job expanding on each topic and viewing the outcome through the lens of both parties. Without giving up too much of the meat and potatoes, I appreciate his conclusion that expanded playoffs would be less than ideal. However, that’s something the owners want, and he notes it would be beneficial for the players to bend on that point. If nothing else, the concluding point that “reasonable people working off an existing framework should not find it so difficult to reach an agreement” hits right in the sweet spot. That’s it for this week; not much. Pretty expected, though, considering the lack of effort put in from both sides to this point. Let’s hope for some positive developments in the week ahead. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook, or email View full article