I think you are being optimistic. I think we're months away from a deal. Hopefully you are right. My gut tells me that they are so far apart, that it's likely a lawsuit is filed, similar to 1994. Which means some federal judge could decide the general contours of the next CBA. I decided to check out the college baseball schedules just to get my fix. Will plan to hit some games over spring break.
You absolutely could be right. My thinking is that both sides think they can get away with missing April and May. The real damage comes if they miss summer games, and obviously if they kill the whole season, everyone's going to lose out in the long-term. So my best guess would be a deal in mid-March to late April, with a goal of starting a season around Memorial Weekend at the latest. But you're right - they are speaking past each other right now and don't even seem to be in the same ballpark. Their proposals to each other just shuffle things around but don't get them any closer.
The thing that has changed is that even the large market clubs are in unanimous agreement on capping spending through some mechanism. The CBT being the current method obviously. If you just look at it from their side, if they break the players on the CBT and it saves the owners $50 million a year in spending (not that much!) then it two years they've made back the $100 million they are projected to lose from the players threat on expanded playoffs.
Spoiler JUPITER, Fla. — During conversations with player leadership in Florida this week, Major League Baseball has asked for a shortened period of time to implement on-field changes it desires, specifically mentioning a pitch clock, people briefed on the conversations told The Athletic. Under the old agreement, the commissioner had the power — granted by the players in the collective bargaining agreement — to implement on-field changes one year after formally proposing them. Manfred wants to move faster. Players reacted negatively to the league’s idea of a shorter period to implementation, sources said. The discussion of on-field changes during bargaining is notable unto itself. In December, commissioner Rob Manfred had indicated that on-field changes could fall by the wayside in these negotiations. “Frankly,” the commissioner said then, “based on the discussions at the table, we saw it as another contentious issue and tried to put it to one side in an effort to get to an agreement – on the theory that we could deal with it mid-term of the next agreement.” Some progress in another area started to peek through on Friday, though. For four straight days, collective bargaining in baseball appeared to be collapsing in on itself like a dying star. Movement was incremental at best, a slow dance to nowhere as a standard-schedule regular season seemed to be slipping away. Friday brought a change. Not a change that means a deal is imminent, or that a deal even could realistically get done in advance of Monday, the deadline the commissioner’s office has imposed for an on-time start to the regular season. But there was nonetheless progress in one area: amateur draft order, and the expected creation of a draft lottery. Earlier in the week, the sides took a step toward each other on the topic when MLB included one additional draft pick in the lottery system it was proposing, going from three to four. The players, in turn, removed one pick from their proposal, going from eight to seven. But the sides were apart on other elements of the draft, as well. The players want restrictions on teams’ ability to keep picking in the lottery and upper portion of the draft as an additional measure to dissuade tanking. The owners came back on Friday with a framework that the players accepted, sources said. But details are still to be ironed out. The owners’ proposal Friday stayed at four draft picks to be included in the lottery, sources said. It wasn’t immediately clear how many picks the players were most recently asking for. Their proposal on Thursday still called for seven. Importantly for the players, at least some other restrictions on the draft are in place. In a wrinkle Friday, MLB attempted to tie the draft proposal to the players’ acceptance of a 14-team expanded postseason, which players didn’t like. The expanded postseason is worth an estimated $100 million annually. Nonetheless, the sides are to continue discussing draft order on Saturday.
**** all this, no offense to you, at all. Negotiating in the media, in public, is complete bullsh!t, and is no way to get an actual agreement done. oh, and **** Evan Drellich.
Scrubs sitting in the dugout get paid half a mill already? What’s the problem? I can live on that easily. They want more? Lol
This sport is so out of touch with reality and the common fan. John Kruk can speak volumes to this. It's time to revamp the entire system. Kill off baseball's anti-trust exemption and hard-cap everything. It's not so bad. Look at the NBA and NBAPA...they are rolling in the dough...from top tier players all the way down to scrubs. Haysoos de kristo, they are playing a game. Enjoy that for what it is. The spoiled millionaires and billionaires are ruining something enjoyable for all of the fans. Just selfishness all around. F U MLB. I'll be watching the XFL, USFL or whatever football league tries to succeed.
Billionaires sitting on their ass make millions already? What’s the problem? I can live on that easily. They want more? Lol
Seems like the media narrative has shifted decidedly to anti-owner. Both sides are certainly to blame for the quagmire, but we'll see if the anti-owner/anti-manfred sentiment forces any concessions.
The lack of perspective on where baseball sits on the cultural landscape and the costs of a work stoppage are remarkable. I guess some people like to learn the hard way.
Why would MLBPA oppose expanded playoffs? It seems like it creates more buyers when more teams are in the mix for the playoffs. If you add 2 teams, you're only talking about 4-6 extra games total.
I agree with you that for the players it makes little sense to fight that. From a fan perspective 14 playoff teams, 7 from each league is non-sense. It will become like the NBA where below 0.500 teams makes the playoffs. MLB playoffs already result in way too much chaos where the best teams don't always win or advance. If anything enforces the general sports fan narrative that a 162 game regular is too long and like anything before the ASB doesn't matter.
I don’t love it but I don’t hate it. I think 12 teams means top 2 in each league get a bye and the 3rd place division winner picks their wild card opponent. Which I think would be pretty cool/fun and could lead to bad blood. Also- all 3 games on the higher seeds field I believe was the rumor.
