On this date in 1995, MLB owners and players agreed to end the strike that began in August of 1994. There hasn't been an MLB labor stoppage since, despite a close call in 2002. Here are some links for Friday evening…
- The Yankees intend to lower payroll below $189MM by 2014, but GM Brian Cashman explained that the club will continue spending aggressively, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter link). "We’re still the Yankees,” he said. “We’re still going to outspend everybody else. That’s not going to change."
- The Nationals announced that they renewed the contracts of right-hander Drew Storen and outfielder Roger Bernadina. The team has the right to unilaterally assign the players a 2012 salary, since they aren’t yet eligible for salary arbitration.
- ESPN.com's Jayson Stark has a detailed breakdown of the recently-announced postseason schedule. Stark also answers some common questions about the new format and explains why he's in favor of it. "One game — with the entire season riding on it," Stark writes. "It's March Madness with bats and balls."
- MLB and the MLBPA aren’t considering expanding the postseason beyond ten teams at this point, Stark tweets. Michael Weiner of the MLBPA says the sides "never seriously discussed" that option.
It is not about who spends the most but who spends most wisely 😉
Not the biggest fan of the Yankees but love Cashman’s honesty — doesn’t mince words. “They are who we thought they were”
thats what i like to hear brian. be who you are embrace the hate and use our money bags to improve the team
No sugar coating because CC would eat that too.
Yankees are still going to be title contenders year in and year out. Truly top-tier organization from top to bottom.
Whenever Cashman says something, the opposite usually occurs. Therefore, it might follow that this could be the end of the days when the yankees outspend everyone else.
I really don’t like the one game playoff. I DO like that an extra team is added, but I feel like it should be a three game series. You could trim the amount of season games in order to do so. I also think that they should add another team. Either splitting it up into two conferences and having the top six teams in each conference in, or keeping the divisions and having a total of three division winners and three wild cards. I know it seems crazy, but teams have proven time and time again that if they just get a shot they can win it all. Sure, the season matters, but it boils down to what you do in the Playoffs. The Phillies won 102 games last year, where did they end up? The Cardinals made the Playoffs on the last day of the season, where did THEY end up? I think that there are teams that deserved a shot last year, and every season that don’t get it. If you had a total of twelve teams make the postseason that is still far less than what happens in the other sports, and it would make things much more interesting in my opinion.