Folks the reality is that the players could care less about the state of baseball in say years. There are massive issues in the game and if they aren’t addressed the fact is everyone in that sport will be making less. Pace of play, better equality and competitive teams, stars leaving small franchises and more parity in the playoffs are all things that will keep more teams involved and thus more fans engaged while also getting kids to become and stay fans. Instead of addressing these fundamental issues though the players just want to apply a bandaid of more money in short term at all costs. It’s very frustrating to watch.
Folks the reality is that the players could care less about the state of baseball in say years. There are massive issues in the game and if they aren’t addressed the fact is everyone in that sport will be making less. Pace of play, better equality and competitive teams, stars leaving small franchises and more parity in the playoffs are all things that will keep more teams involved and thus more fans engaged while also getting kids to become and stay fans. Instead of addressing these fundamental issues though the players just want to apply a bandaid of more money in short term at all costs. It’s very frustrating to watch.
Neither side is clean in this. I'm not convinced the owners care about the state of baseball in 60 years either. We already siphon money from successful, competitive teams to small market teams in the name of competitive balance. That was done in the name of better equality and more competitive teams.
You'd have to really show me something to make me believe the owners don't just want to take money back from players to pocket. If this dispute was just about the good of the sport, the owners would open up the books and have an honest discourse about a path forward.
the players say they want more competitive balance but they want to ditch the 1 feature of the existing landscape that keeps small market teams competitive (service time). they say they care about more compensation to young players but what they want is UFA as early as possible.
the small market owners cry poverty, some to obviously extreme lengths where their payrolls are a literal joke. but also gladly pocket revenue sharing and bemoan big markets spending.
all that said progress is incremental and given the reality that the players CBA is more generous than any other sport both sides should make some incremental progress to spare us fans of their bullshit.
unlike 2020 i blame the MLBPA more right now than the owners because they are talking out of both sides of their mouth. Every other sport has aligned salaries to a % of revenues (aka cap). That ensures salaries grow as revenues grow. And each sport has different nuances with hard caps, LTT, cap floors, etc. Pretty simple because team and player interests are aligned - grow the sport, grow the pot, grow the salaries. The MLBPA refuses to entertain that (remember the A-Rod comments he had to walk back?). Which is fine - if they like the current system better than a cap that's their right. But own it and negotiate in good faith towards a deal. If the owners don't like in 2020 then they will get the blame - like they did in 2020.
OF Simon Juan for $1.9 million and OF Willy Fanas to $1.5 million.
Neither side is clean in this. I'm not convinced the owners care about the state of baseball in 60 years either. We already siphon money from successful, competitive teams to small market teams in the name of competitive balance. That was done in the name of better equality and more competitive teams.
You'd have to really show me something to make me believe the owners don't just want to take money back from players to pocket. If this dispute was just about the good of the sport, the owners would open up the books and have an honest discourse about a path forward.
the small market owners cry poverty, some to obviously extreme lengths where their payrolls are a literal joke. but also gladly pocket revenue sharing and bemoan big markets spending.
all that said progress is incremental and given the reality that the players CBA is more generous than any other sport both sides should make some incremental progress to spare us fans of their bullshit.
unlike 2020 i blame the MLBPA more right now than the owners because they are talking out of both sides of their mouth. Every other sport has aligned salaries to a % of revenues (aka cap). That ensures salaries grow as revenues grow. And each sport has different nuances with hard caps, LTT, cap floors, etc. Pretty simple because team and player interests are aligned - grow the sport, grow the pot, grow the salaries. The MLBPA refuses to entertain that (remember the A-Rod comments he had to walk back?). Which is fine - if they like the current system better than a cap that's their right. But own it and negotiate in good faith towards a deal. If the owners don't like in 2020 then they will get the blame - like they did in 2020.