With Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire Dec. 1, the league and the MLBPA held their first set of talks on a new deal last week. The two sides still have several months to work out an agreement, but considering how contentious their relationship has been over the past few years, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a work stoppage for the first time since the 1994-95 strike. However, commissioner Rob Manfred is optimistic it won’t come to that.
Speaking at a SporticoLive event this week, Manfred said the owners are “committed to the process” of preventing a stoppage, according to Barry M. Bloom of Sportico. Manfred then noted that he has worked in labor relations for most of his career and added: “The varying nature of labor relations is kind of ups and downs. You’re going to have various times of conflict when you don’t see eye to eye. The trick is getting past those areas of conflict and finding a way to make an agreement and find common ground.”
On the other hand, the union’s executive director, Tony Clark, admitted to Bloom that a work stoppage is “a possibility,” saying MLB could “shut the door and lock us out.”
Although a work stoppage may cause severe damage to the sport, there are several roadblocks that could prevent the league and its players from finding common ground by the time December arrives. Playoff expansion, the universal designated hitter, individual teams’ payrolls, revenue distribution and players’ service time are sure to be some of the main items on the table during negotiations. If the parties can’t settle their differences on those issues and other matters of importance, MLB could experience a shutdown in seven months.
While the league has plenty on its plate with the CBA soon to expire, it’s also trying to navigate through a global pandemic and a divided political climate. On the subject of COVID-19, Manfred said 70 percent of players, on-field staff and support personnel have been fully or partially vaccinated, the Associated Press reports. Once MLB hits the 85 percent threshold, it will loosen its restrictions.
Earlier this month, the Manfred-led league moved this summer’s All-Star Game and amateur draft from Atlanta to Colorado, which many inferred as a rejection of Georgia’s SB 202 voting law. However, Manfred stated that the league made the decision to help its players avoid political controversy.
“We were injected into a very politicized situation. I think we did the right thing,” Manfred said (via the AP). “We thought our players were going to be in an extraordinarily difficult situation given how politically charged it was. And we think that the decision we made will actually be player protective.”
This year’s All-Star and draft festivities will take place from July 11-13.
This comment thread is going to be a train wreck.
Surprised it isn’t closed yet.
Because just about everyone is right. They agreed to last CBA then complain about it.
It’s true: The owners leveraged an assymetrical negotiating situation into an assymetrical CBA, and they had every right to do that. But If I learned anything doing deals, it’s that you need to keep an eye on the long-term relationship. Don’t expect your counter party to be happy about getting hosed, at all cooperative while the agreement runs its course, or willing to let it happen again.
mlb1225, I hope they don’t close it, I’m having a blast reading all this!
Actually not as bad as I thought. Lots of reasonable takes and no matter blue or red everyone hates manfred!
I’m taking a wait and see position on the CBA.
This is when the fun begins.
What a joker.
Glad the two sides are talking. It is a start and hopefully they can avoid a work stoppage but I do have my doubts. At least they are trying. Also glad so many players have received their vaccines. It is the way out of this pandemic and back to something close to normal.
Rob Manfred is the Joker. The fans are the people of Gotham. Trevor Bauer is Batman.
And I’m the Riddler. Ahahahaha!
Really? I don’t remember Batman harassing people on Twitter lol.
Manfred stated that the league made the decision to help its players avoid political controversy.
Who is Manfred kidding?
Manfred.
Manfred is a boob
No, Man-fraud is!
I understand trying to keep politics out of baseball, way too many leagues have become political, and Manfred is right to try and prevent that. However, it was a bad call to hurt the state of Georgia just because a small group got upset over a perfectly fine law.
Georgia hurt itself. Actions have consequences. Plus we can’t all live in an alternate reality just because a bunch of crybabies can’t accept that they lost an election.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Why is it a problem to require ID to vote? The last I checked, you can’t vote unless you’re 18 and a US citizen. A form of ID is the only way to prove those things. Also, politics have nothing to do with sports. The Braves did not make this law.
What “problem” is this addressing? Do you advocate making laws that are literally in response to nothing?
You know full well that wasn’t the only thing going on in the Georgia voting law that was passed.
If we don’t take a stand now, what is next!? ID’s will be required to buy alcohol, driving your own car, or even flying on an airplane!
What problem? Voter fraud. Something that has been 100% proven to exist in this country. Even the media had to back down from their, “no evidence of fraud” claims. Whether or not IDs will alleviate that problem is another discussion, but just because you refuse to see a problem, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
What about the will of the people? Over 70 percent want an Id shown to vote.
But this is about Id. It’s about automatically sending out mail in ballots even if they are not requested.
The Dems want it, and they are trying to pretend it’s about something else.
Mail in Ballots are ripe with corruption. In a polling place, no one knows how you voted and no once can vote for you. That’s something the Dems do not want.
Ask yourself why? As yourself why you think this is about voter Id? Ask yourself why the Dems are lying about it.
Prove that mail-in voting is ripe with fraud. Numerous states have been voting by mail for years.
1984wasntamanual-
Answer this: How long have you been fighting against voter fraud?
Fact check on voter fraud please. Use MLA, citation at end of articles, no footnotes, uhh, a big Orange golfer is not a source. And 14 font, black arial. Thanks! Excelsior
> Why is it a problem to require ID to vote?
Some states require photo idenitification, which is sometimes costly, and for some people, otherwise unnecessary. Implicit in this requirement is that you are paying a de facto poll tax to vote, a concept which has a long and negative history in several countries, even where race is not an issue.
The bigger problem is places like Georgia frequently purge large chucks of the minority population from the rolls and remove polling stations from minority districts. Google it: These and other methods of voter suppression have been going on for decades.
If you think this is just leftist hype, up here in Canada, none of this stuff happens — ever. Voter suppression in America is not a debating point, voter suppression is an active party policy. There are several articles from the last decade where GOP officials say out loud that these measures will help them win. A GOP lawyer said it this year before the Supreme Court! It’s a fact, Google it.
It is not a problem to require an some type of ID to vote. You need a ID to drive a car, buy alcohol or a gun. And I am part black and none of the black people in my family have difficulty getting some type of identification. My elderly grandparents have ID’s, so that is actually racist to say minority’s are “special” and can’t get an ID. I live in Pennsylvania and was suprised you don’t need any type of ID to vote if you voted before. How are you going to know if the person is who they say they are?
That last thing I rely on is google hahaha!
Accept there was no voter fraud. Zero proof. Accept I did read of one in Pennsylvania by a republican voter. This wasn’t an issue before this year and because little d lost it became an issue. Awe so sad you can’t tweak things again to try to steal an election. Voting should do most to allow any American citizen chance to vote. Period
The bottom line is NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON in the United States is capable of a TRULY unbiased opinion on voting law & process. NOT ONE. If they say they are they are lying….mostly to themselves.
If the 2020 election had gone the other way, it would be Democrats making unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud & suppression. Remember “Russian collusion” in 2016 (and no I am NOT trying to reopen that debate)?
No matter what happens in any election, half the country is won’t be able to accept that they lost and will dig for any scrap of evidence of fraud they can find whether it’s true or not. Bias is a powerful thing, and in this country it’s all about what people WANT to believe. The actual facts are mostly irrelevant, unless of course they are convenient.
Terry I show my ID every time I vote. You’d know that if you voted. Stop lying to people. In fact, I moved just weeks before an election and could have voted in two districts with two IDs. I didn’t. But I still have to show it.
Your diatribe is absurd. Google is clearly is not your friend.
Colorado has tougher election laws than Georgia, but you know facts
Absolutely correct Anthony, CalcetinesBlancos & his ilk need to come down from their LSD trip.
@Anthony is incorrect.
The limited early voting period in Colorado is not meaningful in practice because most of the state — 94 percent in 2020 — votes by mail or via drop box. The state does require an ID when registering to vote for the first time, and for those voting in person. But Colorado allows for voters to use more than a dozen types of ID, such as student identification or Medicare and Medicaid cards. If they do not have an ID, they can cast a provisional ballot and officials can later verify their identity.
In contrast, Georgia law requires a photo ID to vote in person, and also some form of identification to cast a ballot by mail.
The vote-by-mail systems also differ widely in both states: In Colorado, every eligible voter receives a ballot in the mail, versus in Georgia where a voter must request it, and there are far more drop box locations in Colorado than in Georgia.
Under the new Peach State laws, a voter must provide a driver’s license number, a copy of a state identification card or a Social Security number each time they vote by mail. Colorado does not require ID for vote-by-mail after initial registration. The states also differ on voter registration, which is offered same day in Colorado but is subject to an early October deadline in Georgia.
It’s real simple, the new laws were concocted by one party and pushed through a state legislature by one party solely because their guy lost by ~12K votes a few months ago. It was absolutely done to suppress voters of one party.
You’re right, it’s about vote by mail. A process that is ripe with corruption.
They are even pushing that signatures are not necessary since so many people forget to sign it.
It’s literally about stuffing the ballot box. The Dems want it, Republicans don’t. I wonder why?
Facts
MLB loves it. See All-Star Game starters.
Debunked many times.
But there wasn’t corruption. None was shown. Not a single court held up this idea. None.
There was nothing wrong with the law. Securing the elections was needed after the record amount of fraud in the past one. The law isn’t “discrimination”, despite the misinformation spread by some. Society needs to stop bending to liberals.
cheeryvladdy,
Interesting that you don’t mention the 2016 presidential election or the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election. But please, go on lol.
Hey blancoboy, I’m just curious, do you keep your big, floppy clown shoes on once you get home or just while you’re out? Ahahahaha!
Why is that interesting? ID laws would help to make elections like those more secure as well. Unless you actually think Russia hacked the election, I’m not sure voter ID would fix that.
@cheeryvladdy
There remains zero proof of any widespread or substantial fraud of any kind in the recent election – let alone your claim of a “record amount”. Hard-core Trumpist, right-winger, and ex-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr has admitted to that FACT himself – as have many other prominent conservatives.
Claiming otherwise is a vicious, conspiracy-mongering LIE – and it is anti-American, anti-patriotic, and nihilistically destructive to your country, to do so. Your words are shameful – wherever you think you’re getting your information, you are willfully and enthusiastically spreading a LIE. Period.
1984wasntamanual-
ID laws would have NOT made those elections more just. The issues with US elections have nothing to do with anything like that.
Well, unless you believe Jeff Sessions lol.
Please name this fraud you are talking about. Legit cases that can backed by facts in a court room.
Fact?
The reason why there’s little proof, not zero as you state, because there is proof that people voted who were dead etc…is because courts can’t challenge state legislature. The problem people are having with what happened is at the 11th hour states like Pennsylvania changed the voting rules. Allowed mail in ballets come in after it normally would. Bottom line is 70 plus million people in the US no longer have faith in elections especially after the lies the dems spread year after year about Trump. Russia Russia Russia. What cracks me up is the very person you dems were trying to impeach over a Ukraine phone call, you hypocrites turned around and put a two time failed presidential candidate in that was guilty of the same crap! Hide the man in the basement, while the propaganda media spread a lot of false crap about Trump. That’s dictator behavior. You can find that type of election interference in North Korea except our own media was guilty for collusion all by itself. That’s election interference people. They changed the outcome by hidden Biden! Lol
You mean society should look and act like conservatives? Believe what you believe? Worship how you worship? Marry how you marry? Yeah no. Go to your church and do that. Society doesn’t need to.
Calcentines how many mail-in votes were there in 2016 and 2018 in-comparison to 2020. Interesting you didn’t bring that up. But please, go on…
You mean the crybabies who lost the election to Donald?
The law is not perfectly fine. It was perfectly unnecessary because there was no election fraud. However I agree that they should not have pulled the ASG out of GA as it hurts the wrong people who are not responsible for this stupid law. Also they did it after the law was passed, which is dumb since it accomplishes nothing. If you want to send a message threaten to pull out BEFORE the legislation is signed into law.
“There was no election fraud”
Nope. Taken straight from CNN.
CNN? Lol. Why do you keep mentioning CNN? I think you have an obsession with it since you won’t stop talking about it. Weirdo.
You say there was “record amount of fraud”. Prove it.
My proof is the 60+ court cases, recounts and audits that occured from Nov 3rd all the way up to the storming of the capital.
What’s your proof?
Now look into the court cases that were actually adjudicated and not thrown out on technicalities like “the plaintiffs are not the injured party” or “the case is moot because the election has passed.” There have been zero completed statewide audits, with AZ being the only statewide audit in progress. If you want to speak so strongly about a subject, please learn the difference between an audit and a recount. Though I suspect you’re too busy burning down Autozones to care.
Hah, most cases weren’t even adjudicated because the plaintiffs could not lie to a judge and thus had no case. Last I checked there were 3 recounts in GA and audits done on the ELECTRONIC ballots since people like you were crying about dominion and smartmatic ballot machines being manipulated by Venezuelan agents lol.
But I guess you were too busy sending death threats to the volunteer poll workers to care.
Yeah, crazy, instead of blaming Venezuela they should have totally blamed Russia…for 4 years.
Proof? Keep watching Arizona. Also, aren’t dems supposed to be mad about collusion? They impeached Trump over it? With zero proof? Yet our own American media colluded with Biden to hide him in the basement and spread false allegations for four years with zero accountability. Sad! To me that’s fraud. Also courts couldn’t take on state legislature. It wasn’t that they didn’t find any fraud. States changed there voting laws the last min to support a slew of mail in ballots and ballot harvesting. Fact
And who’s this “recount” being done by?? And what’s their process? Oh that’s right. They won’t tell you
You can say with 100% certainty that there were zero fraudulent ballots in an election
I can say with 100% certainty that there was no widespread election fraud. There is always some fraud in every election no matter how secure you make it. But it’s never anything significant enough to change the outcome.
How is requiring a valid ID to vote “not perfectly fine”? Anyone can get an ID. It’s only discrimination if the same opportunity is not given to everyone. Having to provide documentation that is available to everyone is NOT discriminatory.
People born outside of hospitals have trouble getting birth certificates. They have trouble getting IDs.
Older people who have lost their birth certificates have trouble getting IDs.
Getting a replacement birth certificate can require traveling to your county of birth. Both older people and lower income people have a harder time managing to travel due to health and expense.
There myriad reasons why getting an ID is a greater burden than others.
Even if it was the case that anyone could get an acceptable ID, in person voter fraud is statistically rarer than people getting struck by lightning. Voter ID laws are attacking a nonexistent problem.
So many other countries have voter id.
You can say with 100% certainty that there were zero fraudulent ballots in an election where mail-in ballots with zero chain of custody were sent to people on outdated voter rolls? Voter ID laws aren’t meant to specifically combat fraud– they moreso deal with inaccurate data entries from poll workers by ensuring that every vote is matched to a person, which was Indiana’s reasoning in 2007 (voter turnout increased drastically in 2008 as well…which doesn’t sound like VoTeR SuPrEsSiOn). However, Georgia’s law allows people to verify their identity with things like water bills and credit card statements, among others, making it incredibly accessible for everyone. You clearly didn’t read the bill or do any deeper dive into the text Lastly, if you didn’t like Trump’s election challenges, then you should be in favor of bills like this.
“Voter ID laws aren’t meant to specifically combat fraud– they moreso deal with inaccurate data entries from poll workers by ensuring that every vote is matched to a person…”
Uh, have you ever voted? Lol. I’m seriously asking.
Yikes, calm down! No need for temper tantrums and name calling lol. Maybe do a few screams into your pillow? Hahaha.
here in CA yes, you et a separate tracking ID for your ballot and you can track both the ballot if you never received it and have any with a matching ID nullified and you can track it once it is counted so you have a lot more chain of custody than you do if you are supposed to somehow show an ID to mail in a ballot somewhere – how do you know people don’t have fake IDs?
@Fletcher. Mail in ballots, zero chains of custody? You must have TONS of proof of voter fraud, right? Right?
No fraud? Then how did two of my dead relatives cast votes????
There is no way that Biden received that many votes. Biological men competing in women’s sports – come on. There is no way that many Americans are that dumb! The rest of the world alternates between sadness and laughter when while watching Biden and Harris destroy the country.
Why should people not have to show ID to vote. All the law did was require mail in ballots to provide a copy of the voters ID. Somehow that’s racist?
That’s not even close to all the law required. Go look it up. The law gives the Georgia legislature the power to overturn democratic election results that the legislature doesn’t like
Baseball was not injected into a political situation. The decision to have the ASG in Georgia was made long ago, the politics came later.
It makes it illegal to give food or water to people waiting in lines designed to be hours long (in certain neighborhoods)…AKA “a perfectly fine law.”
Corporations used to cater to you until very recently and now they don’t and it’s very scary, huh?
That means the demographic tipping point is here, doesn’t it? Yeah…
My understanding is that a poll worker can, in fact, bring you water. The law is meant to prevent someone wearing a “vote for my guy” shirt from handing things out to people waiting to vote. Also the ban is within 150 feet of the polling center. That’s not that far. Home to second is 127 feet.
You did not read the law. That is not what it says.
Section 21-2-414, relating to restrictions on campaign activities and public opinion polling
1870 within the vicinity of a polling place, cellular phone use prohibited, prohibition of candidates
1871 from entering certain polling places, and penalty, as follows:
1872 “(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any
1873 person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give,
1874 or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and
1875 drink, to an elector, nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any
1876 person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables
1877 or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast:
1878 (1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is
1879 established;
My favorite part is they moved the ASG to a state that already has voter ID laws on the books lmao.
You have to provide your ss# or DL#, just like Georgia, to qualify for mail ballots.
They essentially removed money from a minority community and gave it to a non minority community
Colorado has universal vote by mail
You still have to register to vote with your ss# or DL#. Colorado just doesnt send every resident a ballot…..
They have a database of legal citizens that produced records such as ss# or documents to get a DL like birth certificate.
Whether it’s universal or by request point is you still have to provide documentation, voter id, you’re a citizen and allowed to vote at some point in the process.
He already made it political with the all star game to start
The ‘small group’ were the players who were refusing to play the game in Georgia.
Okay so if they didn’t want to play the game then stay home. Let the alternates take their spots. If the manager from the Dodgers didn’t want to manage the NL team, then move it down the line to the next teams manager that was in line-in this case Snitker. Nobody is making these elected players play the game, if they want to sit out..fine that’s their right. Besides what do they care it’s not like their losing any money with the ASG being moved away to another state.
Part of the problem is that Rob Manfred and the MLB fan base don’t see eye to eye.
“We were injected into a very politicized situation…”
It’s quite the opposite. You injected yourself and your sport into it.
Completely
“However, Manfred stated that the league made the decision to help its players avoid political controversy.”
So, does that mean he’ll be approving next year’s ASG for a return to Atlanta?
Ha ha ha ha ha, good one.
Using Georgia as an example, does that mean MLB can cancel all games in cities where they don’t agree with the states policies & laws? It’ll be a short season.
He only can serve his masters.
Masters? The Masters is in GA, and they still held it.
Before that senile bozo in Seattle ran his mouth, I was way more optimistic that a strike wouldn’t happen.
The problem is the way its written. Teams can get away with that. Just like why cant i sign a free agent without losing a 1st round pick. Oh dam i have draft pick attached to me. Teams may be less likely to sign me. Who wins qualifying offer?
Stop ruining the game.
I would never
So Manfred pulls the AS game from Georgia soon after signing a deal with Tencent, a communist-linked Chinese telecommunications firm. The new deal allows for broadcast of MLB spring training, regular season, and the All-Star game in communist China through 2023. Manfred is a plague for America’s past time.
So speak up. Most Americans show with their actions that they are indifferent towards China. Are you one of them?
Indifferent? Are you totally clueless to how the CCP treats their people but yet you have Manfred crying foul and pulling the All Star game because the same thing he claims are happening with this new law. Of course he’s wrong about this new voting law. Are you just a hypocrite like Manfred?
I know Shagwell isn’t indifferent!
“And funny because I’m getting booed and people think I’m going to go home and think about, ‘Wow, I’m getting booed.’”
No Lindor, no one thinks you are going to go home and think about getting booed when you get home.
We all know you feel superior to everyone on the field now with your undeserved contract. Not to mention you are wearing a stupid mask on the field.
These masks are now a fashion statement. You look like a bowl of fruity members out there. We know you like attention Lindor. Now go earn your money!
As for the ASG, the Braves have all the advantage in the world now. They can stick it to the MLB and every crying victim by winning the WS this year.
Keep crying hope you liked PRESIDENT BIDEN’s speech tonight
Strike……break this union. Make them self insure for salary paid on the DL. Make them agree to buyouts if not outright contract ending releases. Enough paying guys who suck. If any of us are no longer able to perform our jobs, we are fired. Enact a floor or give a big raise to minimum guys. F these idiots who constantly vote to help the richest players amount them, while most guys end up making diddly squat.
Unions are good for workers, so you must be with the billionaire owners. I’ll pass on that
I’m not with the owners, but I do think unions of today are NOT the same as the ones from yesteryear. The goal then was to avoid being underpaid and working in safe conditions, now its a mess over service time, draft comps, QOs and becoming almost billionaires. I vividly remember the last strike in 94, and alot of fans didn’t return after that one, how much more damage will be done if they strike again, or if the owners lock the players out? MLB doesn’t have another Sosa-McGuire race to bring everyone back this time.
Unions are designed to give power to the otherwise powerless through solidarity. They were never designed to ensure multi millionaires could cry exploitation cuz they think that their perversely high salaries are an insult. I see no reason to hate owners or why agreeing with them on certain things is so terrible.
Everything liberals touch turn to crap. Just look at what MLB has become.
Liberals, lawyers, and politicians. The trifecta of disaster.
Feel like a work stoppage is inevitable, the relationship between players and owners has been strained the last few years
This post marked my first use of the “mute” button…
Why? Did someone have a different opinion?
Opinions are like a-holes, you only want to know anything about your own
What else is Manfred going to say? “Yeah, we’re probably gonna have a strike or lock out”
Manfred injected himself into a non political situation and made it one. Every player in the league doesn’t believe in one political party. Manfred is a POS.
Well, comments on this will be closed very soon.
No they won’t. They already fleshed out their plan for posts like this a couple weeks ago.
When Manfred decides to explain how Colorado’s voting laws are better than Georgia’s, then I’ll listen. But since he has no spine, it will be avoided.
Mail in ballots with no ID works great. The MLB ASG election of starters is a perfect example.
Ha, I remember going to the games as a kid, punching out those ballots during the entire game and dropping a huge stack in the box on the way out of the stadium. They probably got put in the trash can for all I know!
This is my favorite part of the sheer hypocrisy of the decision! Colorado’s voting laws are arguably more strict — which is not necessarily a bad thing — and in the name of social justice he moved the ASG to one of the whitest major cities in America. It’s like a poorly written sitcom.
He should fire himself. Fire Manfred!
The varying nature of labor relations is kind of ups and downs. You’re going to have various times of conflict when you don’t see eye to eye. The trick is getting past those areas of conflict and finding a way to make an agreement and find common ground.”
This is groundbreaking. Never in a labor negotiations has this been the case. Then again you don’t have workers making millions for 6 months a year.
Has Manfred made even 1 good decision since assuming control? Seriously even 1?
No.
I don’t know US election laws well enough to comment on the ins and outs so I won’t.
But moving the AS Game is an empty gesture to look woke. You still have an MLB team there and moved to a state that is predominately white.
The only thing this actually accomplished was alienating and punishing the good people of GA.
Since when is knowing anything about a topic a prerequisite for playing internet expert on it?
I’ll just say this one thing: It was a stupid decision by Manfred.
He moved the game out of Georgia because of a law put forth by a Republican legislature, but by pulling the game out of Atlanta, he has taken away a TON of revenue in which the LIBERAL city of Atlanta could’ve greatly used. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, that is such a dumb decision if those are his priorities.
The fact that he made a controversy out of this is sooo stupid, and where he chose to move the game to, I honestly find nonsensical.
He’s lucky the Dodgers and Padres are driving ratings up right now, because he is unbearably stupid.
This is the right take.
Except the Braves aren’t actually in the city of Atlanta but the highly conservative bastion that is Cobb county. I’m not sure the actual city of Atlanta profits at all from the Braves anymore.
Lots of HATE flowing! Truth is relative to your needs, at least in our country today! Shout out long enough, tell the same lie long enough, get the media on your side. Down hill from there!
There will be a baseball strike next year an IMHO it will be a beauty!
Owners are greedy……
Players are greed……..
The commish is a butt head, without a clue what to do, that is the reason he throws all this crap on the wall seeing if any sticks.
I LOVED baseball as it was be for Manfred started SAVING IT!!!!!!!!!!
MLB was not “injected” into a politicized situation. Manfred and company decided to do it themselves. Media should have checked him on that but didn’t.
Didn’t Manfred announce expansion teams will have to pay $2.2-billion? Setting the bar a little high but then again this Commissioner is about the money over the product.
I came here to say the same thing. The idea that MLB didn’t inject themselves into politics with this move is just ridiculous, Manfred created this situation with his decision.
You are going to make half of the country angry with you no matter what political decision you make. The NFL and NBA have already had tons of negative feedback for their political involvement. I don’t understand why the heck Manfred (or anyone) would think political involvement is a smart decision for the sport as a business or the sport as a source of entertainment. Just stay out of it and focus on not screwing the game up anymore than you already have!
Stan, absolutely. And it did not have to be this way. The decision for the All Star game to be played in ATL happened looooong ago. All MLB had to do was sit tight, say nothing and not get involved. They got involved by-choice. Manfred is a liar and judging by the expansion comments he might be a thief also.
If media put pressure on MLB to leave, all they needed to say:
“We are not going to punish the great people of Atlanta, Georgia by pulling the All Star game over politics. Baseball is a game that brings people from all over the world with different backgrounds together. We will rise above the division and display the very best talent this great sport had to offer.”
Instead of showing backbone, Manfred bowed to his “friends” showing his own privilege as he answers to them, not the fans.
so if there is a work stoppage does that affect the minors since they aren’t ruled by the CBA? I would hate to see developing guys lose another whole year after losing one last year, it would really set the whole sport back
I was wondering the same thing. Because if these bozos go on strike or lockout, I’ll be deleting my mlb.tv and switching to minors, only, maybe even as far down as college or little league.
Think back to how Manfred handled the Astros cheating scandal. There were teams already alerting MLB to the Astros’ situation, but Manfred chose not to address it. He only moved on it once a player went public with it. Had the player not gone public, he would have done nothing, and we probably never would have known about it.
That handling alone should have gotten him sacked.
I totally agree.
And no players were punished.
Best ways to fix baseball immediately:
1. Fire Manfred
2. Fire Angel Hernandez
3. Force Joe West into retirement
4. Fire CB Bucknor
5. Fire Laz Diaz
6. Fire Fieldin Culbreth, and ban his parents from the planet for giving him that name
7. Force the Pirates to sell to new ownership
8. Tell Oakland to crap or get off the pot.
9. Tell Tampa ownership to see No. 8
Agreed…and especially about 7-9. Pittsburgh couldn’t make it more obvious that they’re not trying to win even if they tried…and Oakland and Tampa Bay are holding up expansion.
When you have umps like west purposely being vindictive to players like west did to mark burele and others. Angel hernandez who clearly is not competent to do the basic functions of his job. What does that say for integrity of the game. Paulie you are so right on each topic.
After low revenue and owners crying poor, I’m cautiously optimistic they can avoid a work stoppage.
Just as everyone is getting back to work, MLB will have a work stoppage. You can’t make this up.
So MLBTR is still censoring people even after their original comments have been posted. Unfu*****beliveable!!’
How so ??
@dusty
There were at least 20 more posts on here from earlier -granted some were pretty snarky-that have been deleted. For proof, comments shows 136 as of 9:18 EDT, actual comments 110. You can’t stop these guys, free speech, Forgettaaboutit!
The biggest blocks in the road to a new CBA is the fact that both Manfred and Clark are morons and each side knows it
They deserve each other. Neither of them give a rat’s behind about baseball.
I think the Braves gave a big middle finger to MLB by announcing they’re going to full capacity. I love it.
@derek. Thanks for sharing that. I also love it. Get some of that money flowing back into the Georgia community that MLB and MLBPA stole. It’s way past time to go back to living anyways.
The CBA will not be renewed until next April or May 2022 so expect a shortened season next year. When it’s billionaires fighting millionaires, the billionaires are going for the jugular and it won’t be a win-win negotiation by any stretch of anyone’s imagination.
F Manfred, worst commissioner in sports
Yep, and that’s not because the others are all just really great
MEMO TO ROB MANFRED
The game of baseball consists of three things:
The Players
The Owners
The Fans
I am glad you have officially ranked them in importance when it came to pulling the all star game from Atlanta.. You cited that it was in the players best interest. The fans interest ,of course, came in last. You are the curator of this decision. It will be your tragic legacy.
I’m so proud that we as commenters set our parroting of hyper-partisan sound byte talking points aside and had a reasoned, well-researched political discussion respecting the fact that the world is complex enough that two reasonable people might see the same thing and come to different conclusions. We really came together and made a lot of progress and all feel more enlightened than we did before reading through these comments.
Owners can not afford to be stupid any longer. A lockout looks inevitable…. No baseball at all in 2022. as far as moving the ASG , knee jerk reaction, that is doing no one any good. I did not know you could even vote without an ID. Also very few countries in the world allow mail in balloting even with COVID. The problem with the US is they never look outside their own borders. They assume what ever the rest of the world is doing does not matter.
Rob Manfred did not make the decision to move the ASG. He doesn’t make those kinds of decisions on his own. The owners did it and it had nothing to do with political ideology. It had everything to do with the bottom line. They are trying to grow the game and they don’t want to alienate fans. They are trying to attract fans outside the old white guy demographic because that bloc is shrinking. It’s simple math.
The league has shown over and over again it has no idea what the distinction is between making a product that is for anyone, and trying to make a product that is for everyone. Trying to pander to this demographic or that demographic is never a path to success… it’s how you accelerate the alienation you were ostensibly trying to avoid.
Manfred is a d Why do u turn off 50 percent of your fans for no good reason