Major League Baseball and the MLBPA held their first round of collective bargaining talks on Tuesday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports. The meeting took place via video conference and featured “dozens of people,” including members of player leadership, according to Passan. It was the first time MLB and the union have negotiated since the players rejected the league’s proposal for a delayed 154-game regular season on Feb. 1.
The current CBA expires on Dec. 1, and if the two sides don’t reach a deal by then, the sport could experience its first work stoppage since the 1994-95 strike. The relationship between the league and the players has taken an especially contentious turn over the past couple years, which could make it difficult to achieve labor peace by the start of December. At the same time, both sides understand that failure to reach an agreement could cause serious damage to the $10 billion-per-year industry, Passan writes.
As negotiations continue, the union will turn some of its focus toward “spending and competitive integrity,” per Passan. Along with pushing for teams to spend more, the players would like to earn more money earlier in their careers – which could mean changes to the current service-time setup. Under today’s rules, a player must have six years of big league service time to reach free agency. With that in mind, many clubs have kept talented prospects in the minors for seemingly longer than necessary in order to gain a seventh year of control.
On the ownership side, there continues to be a desire to increase the number of playoff teams per season. More than half of the league’s teams (16 of 30) made the playoffs during the shortened 2020 campaign, but the field reverted to 10 this year after the union turned down an expanded postseason as part of the league’s 154-game proposal.
A prayer. They don’t have one.
The longer the lockout lasts this offseason, baseball will continue drifting away from today’s fan.
Baseball is the least “woke” sport, and that will likely be one of the priorities to continue capturing the diverse, millennial fans. We need to make sure every single group is better represented on the field and in the front offices. Kim Ng being the first female GM is just the start, and it’s not good enough.
With tech titans taking over the world, soon we will ask why we even need to pay players a quarter of a billion dollars to play a game?
Let’s take Billy Beane’s Moneyball one step further and let sabermetrics and algorithms fully take over.
Why not just create a bunch of computer formulas and blockchain equations to change over to micro-games that last 30 minutes tops to help with the short attention spans and the desire for instant gratification? The youth don’t want to wait three hours to post something on TikTok and Snapchat. We need to make games FASTER so we can share our opinions sooner.
The winner of each micro-game can get part of a Bitcoin, or Doggycoin, or whatever the hip new crypto happens to be.
No need for the Bryce Harper’s of the world with contracts lasting over a decade. Everything will be just numbers once we let sabermetrics and algorithms fully take over.
“Batting cleanup in the next simulation for the Philadelphia Phillies… Equation #X7B5MMQ7R.”
No need to “fight” over the soul of the game, because players honestly don’t care about the average fan as it is. Until there is a guaranteed profit-sharing plan or a Universal Basic Income, soon the millionaire players and the billionaire owners will soon become obsolete.
Virtual reality for all.
Damn
Damn is right! Ahahahahaha!
I stopped reading after woke. Lol
Really don’t get your who gripe about sabermetrics. Front offices have been using them for probably over a half century now. Heck, advanced analytical and statistical analysis is something that started back in the 1940’s when Branch Rickey hired Allan Roth, a statistican. Liking analytics=/=not liking baseball. I don’t understand why some people just can’t be okay with people wanting to use them, instead, like Egon here, making snyde and passive-agressive remarks about them.
I don’t dislike sabermetrics,great tool it just seems that is the only way the game is managed. I like to see the guy who is hot in the lineup. Managers go with there gut.think about this…if Lou Brown used sabermetrics solely like today he would not have put in Vaughn. Thats what created excitement in baseball moments like that. Not an excel spreadsheet.
Since all of us are “learning to code” with half of all jobs being gone by 2035, EVERYBODY would be able to program their own “baseball player”! Teams could then “sign” the best “players” by offering crypto to whoever programs them.
Imagine competing against other programmers and winning the blockchain microgame simulation World Series! It will be renamed to something more inviting and socially acceptable, but ANYBODY could win! Naturally, we wouldn’t want it to be overly competitive, so participation trophies would be given to everybody that enters. Priority would also be given to underrepresented groups of society — BIPOC, LGBQT teams, etc. DEFINITELY not Republicans or right-wing individuals; they would be forced into poverty since they don’t value education and wouldn’t be able to code anyway.
Imagine if your player (VNWD7WERNFWE898 — or whatever ID is assigned you) wins the 2040 World Series, which will be Event B72XY5!
Strat-O-Matic Baseball was trademarked in 1961…
I think you mean “learning to cope”
At first Egon annoyed me, but once I realized he was a satirical character with no actual goal or principle, he has became my favorite commenter.
Best. Game. Ever. With the dice and cards, of course. Not the online version.
Go to MLB site, or look at sme of the huge banners many teams have and tell me MLB isn’t attempting to get at least as woke as NBA and the NFL has. Owners griping about losing money as it is, yet not seeing how lousy viewership has been since those other 2 went woke..
MLB is doing it to themselves they continue this nonsense path. It needs to actually wake up instead of doing some suicidal political nonsense half the country could care less about.
lmao at calling the NFL ‘woke’. You haven’t a clue, johnsilver. You just like to complain and whine.
Pot, meet kettle.
A lot of reasons why the game will disappear soon. Betrayal of the people that love it to make it appeal to the people that don’t.
carlos15
A lot of reasons why the game will disappear soon
===================================================
Ah yes, the catastrophic warning of doom. It was probably about 50 years ago that I first read that soccer was going to replace baseball.
Egon, I respectfully disagree with your points in both, but particularly as it relates to prioritizing representation in baseball. It’s already there at the player / manager level and I advocate for the most qualified person to get a particular job; and, on-field, people want to see good baseball, first and foremost. I also believe that many overestimate the value of “wokeness” and interpret its tolerance by a large majority as its active support.
It’s also a very ubiquitous, ambiguous term that has so many applications right now that clarifying that in terms to apply to players / teams is difficult.
Why does everyone want something to be woke? By the way MLB is not the least woke sport Hockey is. As for a basic guaranteed income ( including giving to slackers who choose not to work), someone has to pay for it. The wealthy can afford it ( unless they move to a foreign country ( ie: The Brain Drain)). The rest of us who are not in the top 1% of income ( and can least afford it) end up paying for it.
No one really cares about being woke. You get woke in college, by a professor, because you are looking to belong to something bigger than yourself. The wokeness disappears as soon as you get a job and start paying bills.
And no one cares if they tax the rich, and that’s the problem. If we don’t care about the deficit, then there is nothing to care about. If we do care about the deficit, then we need to tax everyone. Since our current democratic president is telling us that people making $400,000 a year don’t have to worry about higher taxes, then nothing will get done anyway.
And the wealthy can leave the city and state because of tax issues, no one is leaving the US.
@JoeBrady, I read your post here and below. I enjoy reading your posts as they are always authored cogently, objectively, and with sound logic, from my perspective.
@joebrady
Yeeeaaaa, I hate to disagree w/the Clipper but frankly you sound as if you’re off your meds, or need MUCH stronger ones. “If we don’t care about the deficit, then there is nothing to care about.” I have nothing more to add, good luck & get well soon.
Maybe I should add some context to my remarks. “I” care quite a lot about the deficit and would like to see a modest annual surplus budget, until we get national debt down to 70%.
Afterwards, we should have a l/t balanced approach, allowing for small surpluses when we experience growth, and small deficits when we are in recession.
However, neither side is even remotely close to caring about a balanced budget. If that is going to be the case, we owe it to ourselves and our families to grab as mush of the government largess as possible. Someday, our kids will have to pay off our debt. So I don’t worry about the deficit and I focus on saving enough so that my kids obligations can be funded by me.
As should I – there are many different ways to accomplish that goal, upon which we may not agree all the time. But his points are well thought out, his opinions rooted in fact, and his arguments (whether I agree or not) are based on objective topics – see above. It’s not something like we commonly see pointed on here, which I appreciate.
Plus, Gotham, I didn’t say I agreed with every single point, but it doesn’t change my opinion about JoeBrady and his authorship. I’ve read enough of his comments to read deeper into what he means as well, so I don’t take what he’s writing quite so precisely on its face as you did here. It’s just my opinion though, brother.
@Brady&Clipper
Gentlemen I respect you both, just struck me as a little off, probably should’ve just let it go. Just frustrated I guess over yet ANOTHER Yankee loss. Have a great day!
As a RS fanatic, I’d like to take this
But given that Richards couldn’t even throw the ball to 1st, let alone to home plate, I will respectfully decline comment. Richards walked 6 guys in 4.2 innings. he had at least three 2-0 counts in which the batter swung. And at least 4 occasions where the batter swung at the first pitch. With just a little patience, TO could’ve worked out 10 walks.
OTOH, one of my coworkers was at the game last night, He showed me a picture of the scoreboard where 7 of the Yankee batters had an average of .200 or lower.
Of course, it is things like this that make BB America’s Pastime..
Excited to see what social justice causes and knee-bending come out of this from Manfred. He’s full of integrity and chutzpah, a real leader.
Say what you want but Manfred has been taking the MLBPA behind the woodshed in CBAs for awhile now.
@Joe – Manfred isn’t suppose to “be on a side ” tho , quite the opposite but your point still rings true
Of course he is on a side. The owners pay his salary. He is a labor lawyer. Tony Clark is over his head
Cap – Manfred’s job description is literally to represent the owner’s goals. He’s 100% on their side.
Really don’t think the owners wanted the all star game moved.
You’re the type of person the site had in mind when they created the mute button, filled with vitriol and hateful rhetoric.
Then use it & save us your crybaby rants. Ahahahaha!
Ironic considering @rxbrgr is crying and whining about social justice/progress.
If you can read, I can’t find anything I wrote showing opposition to Manfred, MLB or social justice/progress.
Hateful where? If you have any counterpoints, make them.
I still love that all the racist fans in Boston (the most racist city in baseball, according to multiple former AND current players) get to see the huge BLM banner every day they go to a game.
And a majority of Bostonians voted for the guy who said you can’t eat at Dunkin without an Indian accent hmmm
And here…
we…
go
I may be in the minority opinion but I think they will work out a new CBA without getting close to a lockout. These situations work themselves out. In the modern age of social media, a work stoppage would be disastrous for the sport. 1994 would look like nothing.
Me too. The owners aren’t going to let 2 complete years of revenue go down the drain in 3 seasons while only making partial revenue this season. Players also aren’t going to be very willing to forgo their 2022 salaries after sacrificing a good portion of their 2020 salaries.
I do not share your optimism but I do hope you are right.
I think the hope we’re ALL clinging to is that both sides will realize what a disaster a work stoppage would be…
Both sides need to open their eyes and realize they are now the 3rd league in America. Owners need a salary cap. And the players need to have their rights after a certain amount of time based on draft/signing day. Not day one jn Major Leagues.
There is zero chance of a salary cap. Players would never agree to it. But the players also need to recognize they are not getting a raw deal in free agency like they claim to have been.
*2nd
NBA ratings are falling faster than a high rise jumper. MLB Extra Inning viewership is up significantly. I do not agree with your assessment.
I hope your 100% right. But sadly Manfred is handling this
If you tell Manfred that you’re going to be forgoing essentially 2 years of revenue in the past 3, with the year in between still losing money because many stadiums are only doing partial capacity, then he’ll change his tone.
Could be changes here.. Allow home teams temporarily to keep 100% ticket revenue. then see soon several more states open up 50%+ maximum capacity, don’t have to name the states, everyone can figure those out on their own..
rangers already allowing in 100%, should that many wish to purchase tickets. Several other governors could over rule local mayors and allow in 50% plus if they wish. 50% would be a nice amount in several places.. suburbs of Atlanta, Tampa-St-Pete, Houston, Phoenix.
If nothing else it would put pressure on few states allowing in only 5-10% capacity.
Well, at least they are talking.
They haven’t yet resorted to throwing toys at each other and bawling, which, for Manfred and Clark is a pretty remarkable feat.
Oh boy! Let’s see what stupid new rules we can come up with. And let’s agree to be the most ‘woke’ sport in the US.
I’m telling you, wild boars roaming the outfield. It’s gonna be big.
Yoenis Cespedes is NOT a fan.
I believe this is the second recent time I’ve laughed uncomfortably hard at a comment of yours!!!
Jesus, do you people get paid every time you complain about things being ‘woke’? If it offends you crybabys so much, just stop watching.
Do you get paid to complain about people complaining about things being ‘woke’?
If it offends you so much, just stop reading the comments. Crybaby.
Jonny5 – 1
rct – 0
The woke movement is nothing more than a bunch of crybabies. And I haven’t watched one pitch this season.
You’re very special and we all admire you.
rct the last thing you want is for people to make good on no longer supporting baseball.
Millionaires fighting against billionaires on how to carve up Joe the Cab Driver’s paycheck….gotta love America. But it is what it is, and hopefully they can come to some sort of labor peace. I love watching “Law and Order” reruns, but only in the winter.
This sounds like the definition of congress debating a tax increase.
Insert “Law And Order” sounder here
bobtillman
Millionaires fighting against billionaires on how to carve up Joe the Cab Driver’s paycheck….gotta love America.
=======================================================================
The thing that makes America great is everyone fighting for someone else’s money.
Without cable operators looking to cut out regular TV, half the shows we see today wouldn’t exist. Most great innovations come about because millionaires and billionaires want your money.
No one doubts it; fire and the wheel were probably both invented to gain advantage over one’s neighbor. It’s the human condition.
As noted Orioles fan H.L. Menken once said, “Under Capitalism, man exploits man. Under Communism, the reverse is true”.
Screw the All-Star game, I wanna see CBA negotiations on FOX during the AS week.
I’m for that. Can someone take out Scott Boras? Have him wear an Acuna jersey, and let Jose Urena pitch to him.
Could you imagine if it were like a wrestling match?? Manfred vs. Clark and then boom the DX theme hits. The stadium goes wild and 3 of player reps run to the ring with steel chairs to beat on Manfred…
It wouldn’t work. In the real world, 62 year old Harvard graduates general beat the crap out of uneducated former athletes.
Love Clark the player, but this is a complete mismatch.
@JoeBrady
Not always true about Harvard graduates vs. uneducated athletes. When it comes to many of those Harvard graduates that are from the Lucky Sperm Club benefitting from a family name and generational wealth, it’s often a level playing field with uneducated athletes.
Of course, Manfred isn’t one of those Harvard graduates, and yes it is pretty much a mismatch. Clark was a nice player, but if he wanted to get into this type of post-playing career, he should have completed his college education. Not completing it back then has been burning him now.
Honestly, even if Clark completed his college degree, it wouldn’t make any difference. The owners have hired the best and brightest.
“A whole new ball game. You can’t learn about it in school, and you can’t have a late start.”
Is that a quote from Carlito’s Way?
LOL @bravesninersnation. I said Jose Urena. He’s Joey U from the DR; not Benny from the Bronx.
Of course. Great movie. Most mob movies seem to concentrate, I guess on a lot of places, but very few reference the Pleasant Avenue crew. So you have the historical angle. And you have the performance of a lifetime in Sean Penn. When my spouse told me he was in the movie, I was like ‘no way’. Even when she pointed out that he was the lawyer, I had to watch it again, to be convinced.
Best idea ever! I honestly would pay money to see this negotiation go down! Lol!!
It’s more of a pay-per-view kind of event
Players want teams spend more? Insert the Salary Cap system, they will spend.
*floor. and add in a formal buyout system.
I meant exactly that.))
Waiting for “Update: The 2022 season has been delayed” in a few hours
This is gonna be a slobber knocker of a match. Actually it’s going to be the first 8 star match from Dave Meltzer.
WWE is still racist.
bleacherreport.com/articles/1075655-wwes-15-most-n…
What ever is best for business.
MLB owners, who support the GOP to roughly a 3:1 ratio, will make Mitch McConnell look like Mr. Rogers.
Prediction here is that the owners are more than willing to burn down the house than give the hired help a penny more.
This whole negotiation is doomed. Players have a valid argument for major changes in the free agent / salary cap rules. But i have zero faith in Manfred’s ability to accurately evaluate the players situation. This guy will prob lead this into a multi season lockout. While not caring one bit about the fans as is always with him
I wish they’d just al agree to a cap&floor system and the DH, then move on with the other stuff closing up.
Salary cap and floor? Believe in santa claus also?? Let’s say it was proposed and make it simple, Ok? 100m floor, 200m max? How many constantly poor mouthing teams would kick and scream at that “lowly” amount? Saying they can’t survive, unless given even MORE handouts by other teams than they already are!
It’s bad enough most of these complaining teams get freebie, HIGH draft picks extra year for nothing, refuse to spend and in many cases BEFORE the pandemic, just didn’t draw well at all..
Want to REALLY hear them scream? Tell them they have to spend! I imagine the MLBPA is all for it, as well as the owners who have been supporting this lot for years.
Most teams spend. Small market teams spend less. The thing that makes it seem otherwise is the fact that, because they are poor, they can only compete half the time. And the half of the time they cannot compete, they spend less because the team is bad.
BA is at $57M (Cots) but have been as high as $164M.
CL is at $50M, but have been as high as $134M.
DET is at $81M, but as high as $200M.
SEA is at $73M with a high of $157M.
The only perpetually cheap teams are TB (and they always win), Miami, and PT to a lesser extent. It is usually less a matter of being cheap, and more a matter of being bad.
I’m on the players side on this one. Players need to earn more money earlier in their career and teams that don’t spend need to spend more.
The players association should refuse to negotiate anything unless Manfred resigns. There’s no reason for that incompetent buffoon to stay on as commissioner
so the owners can elect another figurehead? you do realize he is just an extention of them, right? anyone else they put in wolnt likely be much better except maybe at PR.
You may be right but I’ve seen more than enough of Manfred at this point. Selig was often criticized but his tenure was nowhere near as bad. The league needs someone new running the show
Public perception is huge for both sides. Manfred called the WS trophy “ just a piece of metal”. Players have the publics side on this as long as Manfred is handling things. And the owners have to realize this i would think. Plus baseball has been dying a slow death. Parity works wonders for the NFL and NHL. But the NBA and MLB rely heavily on certain teams
Yes, because of course that will hurt the wealthy owners, most if not all who have many other sources of income, SO much more than the players, most of whom have a relatively small window in which to make money…
Yes, because of course that will hurt the wealthy players, most if not all who have many other sources of income, SO much more than the fans, most of whom have relatively small options in which to make money that fund the players and the sport.
Ronk325
The players association should refuse to negotiate anything unless Manfred resigns. There’s no reason for that incompetent buffoon to stay on as commissioner
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ROTFLMAO!!!
Manfred just stole their lunch, and yet he is the incompetent one? This was one of the worst beatdowns I’ve ever seen.
I don’t know what you mean by that. Also are you one of the few people who actually like Manfred?
I am agnostic on Manfred as it pertains to his overall duties. Some of the stuff has worked out (trips to the mound, the 3-batter rule, 7-inning DHs, expanded playoffs and DH last year). Even things I didn’t personally like, like starting off a guy on 2nd, has a fairly split crowd.
IRT the CBA, he obviously gave them a huge beating. The idea that a union wants their chief nemesis to resign, is never going to happen.
DH might be a split crowd. Mound visits rule is terrible, so is the minimum 3-batter rule. Playoffs should remain as is unless they add teams.
IMHO, limiting mound visits was one of the best rule changes ever. Sanchez use to visit the mound every inning. And when he visited the mound, the entire infield had to join them. With the tying run on 2nd and no one out, yeah, maybe go over the signs. Otherwise, you shouldn’t have to visit the pitcher more than 5 times in 9 innings.
Hold on to your butts!!!!
I just hope that whatever the final agreement, it does not allow the players union to block rule changes.
You can’t possibly be serious…
I sure hope this is satire.
I kind of lean toward the idea of the players and owners splitting all incoming money 50-50 and letting the players decide amongst themselves who get what percentage as a salary.
So basically Manfred and Clark had a staring contest for a few hours…
Manfred and Clark deserve each other.
I don’t have much confidence in either of these guys.
Manfred is a clown and Tony Clark isn’t fit for the job. We already know this will be brutal to watch play out. Sadly us the fans won’t have baseball next year if I had to guess
Get the service time stuff fixed. The system is whack it’s not fair that a team not only gets 6 plus years of control over a player but chooses when to promote the player and start their clock. It’s simply not fair. For 10 billion a year you can treat people fairly. It won’t mean more money is spent it will mean teams will pay these old guys less. It will add up for everyone it needs to be fixed.
decreasing time to free agency will only cause smaller market teams to have to be more creative or get shafted more. less control only happens if players concede something big (gosh knows what would measure up for the owners though)
28 teams in the playoffs?
yeah I was going to say “expanded playoffs plus …” but the plus would be quite big. honestly I dont know what the owners want that much that would really match up. one year less of tean control completely changes the game.
I like the 6 years of control. I think earlier arbitration so younger guys get paid sooner. super 2 the norm? something
alright, time to overreact! I’d bet against a lockout, but apparently I’m crazy for believing both sides know that would be disastrous for the game.
wow didnt expect all the politics in this thread but okay. y’all do y’all I guess.
A key will be the 2 sides actually negotiating and not trying to gain public opinion points by leaking to the public to make the other side look bad. History has shown with these 2 ( Clark-Manfred) that it turns into a peeing match real fast ( Not sure I can use the term I wanted. )
Best thing for the sport would be both these guys being replaced and let the new teams start afresh.
A work stoppage now would kill the sport for a decade or more .
i think you can use said word. and good points id say. the dirty laundry has already hurt the game enough.
How about “urination confrontation?”
I’m going to steal that phrase. Bravo!
GLM
Greedy Lives Matter
Have no fear, Maxine Watters has been hired as the arbiter….
But seriously folks, I think you’ll see HUGE changes with the new CBA. And no, I don’t mean the universal DH, or starting a runner at 2B; neither of the parties care one hoot about those things. Drastic changes in the Revenue Sharing formula, structural changes to service time/ free agency. distribution of gambling revenue; those will be the three biggies.
If baseball has any long-term future, the changes to revenue distribution have to be drastic, probably more than the revenue-sharing formula can accommodate.
Just some ideas… the devil is in the details of course and any system has the potential for abuse and manipulation, so all these things would have to be balanced properly and regulated, but… it’s hard to come up with a worse system than what we have right now.
– “Super 5” system for FA which grants free agency for the top X percent service time players with 5+ years. This prevents teams from being able to game ST manipulation down to the day six years in advance. They could aim for being under the anticipated “Super 5” threshold but guaranteeing themselves that outcome that would involve going without an elite player for a much longer amount of time, enough to mitigate the ST manipulation if not eliminate it entirely.
– “Franchise tag” which further negates the issue by allowing teams to just buy a 7th year if they want to pay out the rear end for it. The number would need to be quite a bit higher than the QO but could be annually calculated in much the same way.
– Cap/Floor system that allows for the cyclical nature of pro sports and the relatively long development time unique to baseball, mechanisms to allow reasonable, temporary overruns for splurging for a window of contention. Just spitballing a concept would be allowing a contending team that wants to go over the cap to buy some of a rebuilding team’s floor, packaged in a trade for prospects or whatever. It would have to be properly regulated, of course, but conceptually
– Reforming the 0.000-6.000 journey, with a fixed formula that just escalates as you hit certain thresholds. Then, swap arbitration for a restricted free agency for years 4-6, where a team still has control but other teams can make offers. If the player’s team doesn’t match the offer they can choose to jump ship at that point. For many of the league’s better players it would drive up their value significantly and allow them to make their “market” price earlier in their careers. For middle-tier players, they’re much less likely to get non-tendered or end up in DFA purgatory if 1) teams aren’t worried about getting smoked with an overpriced arb payout and 2) the floor creates a league-wide demand for middle-tier players.
Players should give the team 4 seasons, then free agency. Too many players are 30+ when they hit FA and there value is diminished by their age.
Without having read the whole thing, I kind of like the idea of a Franchise Tag on players with less than 6, but more than 5 years of service. It’ll give the teams the same amount of service, but with some upside for the players should they prefer whatever a franchise tag looks like.
DodgerOK
Players should give the team 4 seasons, then free agency. Too many players are 30+ when they hit FA and there value is diminished by their age.
============================================================================
I was thinking of something similar. Give the owners their 6 years, but have control end at age 27-28 regardless of service time. Or a combination of the two so that a late bloomer who hits the pros at age 26, still owes the owner ‘x’ number of years, but can still hit free agency before age 32.
six years of control isn’t a problem in my view. earlier arbitration gets players paid sooner but maintaining team control for smaller market teams. super 2 the new norm, maybe?
They’ll work this out. It’ll take until January and be a ridiculous storyline that we all get sick of, but they’ll work it out. And we already know the changes.
1. Six years to FA will turn to five years.
2. Service time will be based off when they were drafted/signed, not promoted. This will get rid of manipulation of service time.
3. Universal DH will be instated with the “double hook” rule, which means teams will have the DH until the SP leaves the game. This will create more DH jobs for players, get rid of the opener strategy, and force teams to focus on SP going longer. Less pitching changes means shorter games.
4. The playoffs will expand from 10 teams to 16 teams.
5. The schedule will drop back to 154 games.
6. The draft will turn into a lottery, similar to NBA, to discourage teams from tanking.
7. There will be a salary floor, but it’ll will be so low that it really won’t change the plans of any team. Meanwhile the luxury cap will continue to increase.
8. Pace of play rules will be installed, meaning 20 second pitch clock.
9. Active roster size will increase to 27 players.
10. Base sizes will increase to encourage more stealing, and protect players from collisions.
That wouldn’t be bad, although I think the DH rule should allow the DH to stay in case the starter suffers an injury in the first 5 innings and is removed from the game during the middle of an inning as a result of that injury.
@ Angelic Visitations-You just stole all my ideas.
I think the slamdunk is 154 games and expanded playoffs. Absolutely no one will miss losing 8 games from the schedule in early April. Clark doesn’t bring much to the table, but expanded playoffs is the biggest hammer the players have ever had.
I don’t think the owners will blink at a payroll floor, assuming that there is still the soft cap up top.
The DH concept is really interesting. I haven’t seen that before.
More base stealing means more risk of potential contact/collisions. Players are more protected when they do nothing.
I gonna hold on to the hope players get what they want and owners get what they need. I don’t want to hear all out war from either side.
I’m a dreamer.
You’re not the only one.
The players union is just now waking up to the fact that they have been hosed by the owners due to their (union’s) lack of analytical savvy. The owners have set up a system whereby players are chronically underpaid during their prime years and passed over (or, at least not compensated to the extent they had been in the past) due to anticipated aging curve decline during their free agency years. The problem for the players is going to be that in order to claw back some the percentage of revenue that they have lost in the past few years (via a change in service time rules or whatever), they are going to have to give something up (since that is how negotiations work). Union leadership actions over the past two CBA cycles was borderline negligent.
Yes, but it is not just the unions fault. As soon as the CBA came out, it took me 5 seconds to calculate that the cap was going 2% while revenues were rising probably 6%. And with the loss of draft picks and int’l money, it was a lot more restrictive than 2%.
If the players couldn’t do that simple calculation in the head, and their agents and lawyers didn’t realize it, I have no particular sympathy for them.
If the league wants playoff expansion, players should push for league expansion by at least two teams with a negotiation of a cut/percentage of the buy-in from two new organizations. In good faith, allocate a percentage to the minor leagues.
Have the service time start from day of signing post-draft or international free agency. 10 years for international signings and high school draftees, 8 for Junior College, 7 for University players. Then if the player is ready to roll in the bigs they will be called up immediately.
Expand rosters to 28 and from 40 to 42-man rosters. In honour of Jackie.
Televise the arbitration hearings. People will watch it.
Reject all rule changes and send a message to Manfred and his close confidants.