Everyone Gets Their Blocks Knocked Off
So, the empty suit that carries the title of Commissioner of Baseball has decreed that there will be a 60-game season this year, provided MLB and the Players could agree on safety protocols this week. There was a genuine opportunity to come to some sort of negotiated agreement between MLB's 60-game proposal and the MLBPA's counter of 70 games, but that was just a bridge too far for MLB to travel to possibly erase a bit of the stain that baseball carries for staging an ugly 6 week dust-up over money.
We came close to real negotiating last week when Rob Manfred flew out to Arizona to meet with Tony Clark. Inevitably, however, there was a dispute over whether the fruits of that meeting was a definite agreement or the framework of one, and the idea of one last negotiation over the number of games played was the almost farcical immovable obstacle to being able to get some positive PR by actually coming to a mutual agreement.
MLB said the owners were "disappointed" when the players turned down their last proposal. This might mean something if they hadn't unilaterally rejected the players' 70-game proposal without even attempting to offer a small compromise. The outcome is that both sides come out looking bad, and neither side got the things they felt they needed. So essentially, this was a lose-lose deal. Good times.
The primary things the players gave up thanks to a lack of a deal was a $25 million playoff pool and forgiveness of $33 million of the $170 million they were given in March. They also lose out on the universal DH for this year and next, but it's possible that it will be implemented at least for this season as a safety protocol to keep pitchers from getting hurt. Given that they will have only 3 weeks to prepare for the season, they should have more than enough opportunities to hurt themselves on the mound, so it makes sense to remove hitting and baserunning from the equation.
The playoff pool money could be big, if the season makes it there, as the only money players traditionally make from the playoffs is a percentage of gate receipts. If there is nobody in the stands, there won't be any gate receipts. It remains to be seen, however, if the players would be willing to play those games for no money, and I assume some sort of compromise would be worked out - if the season manages to reach that point.
The owners lose out on two years of expanded playoffs, which they desperately wanted and needed, but apparently not badly enough to see if a couple of extra games might convince the players to come to terms. More importantly, what was lost here was one last chance to change the dreary narrative of the past few weeks. Baseball will carry the stink of this for a long time. Ten years from now most of the current players will be gone or at the tail end of their careers, but most of these owners will still have their franchises, and they will still be feeling the effects of this madness.
If the players agree to the health and safety protocols, training camps can officially begin next week. The season would start up around July 20. There was a time, back a few weeks ago, when I would have been truly happy to have a start date for baseball. Now, while I guess it would be good to have baseball to watch, it's hard to feel excited about it. Any potential excitement bled out slowly over these past few weeks. I just don't feel it anymore.
Here's hoping that it doesn't get any worse, that the two sides don't find anything else to disagree on and further delay a potential return of baseball. Knock wood that a significant number of the game's top stars don't elect to sit this season out and render it even more meaningless than a 60-game schedule has already done. Fingers crossed that COVID-19 doesn't put the final dagger into a 2020 baseball season.
If I was a club owner that wasn't a member of the minority group of hardliners that caused most of the damage, I'd be wondering what needed to be done going forward to stop this group from having such total control of the negotiations. I'd be extremely skeptical that a new agreement could be reached after the 2021 season when this one was botched so badly. And I would most certainly question whether Rob Manfred is the right man for the extremely difficult job of correctly steering through the next couple of years.
MLB said the owners were "disappointed" when the players turned down their last proposal. This might mean something if they hadn't unilaterally rejected the players' 70-game proposal without even attempting to offer a small compromise. The outcome is that both sides come out looking bad, and neither side got the things they felt they needed. So essentially, this was a lose-lose deal. Good times.
The primary things the players gave up thanks to a lack of a deal was a $25 million playoff pool and forgiveness of $33 million of the $170 million they were given in March. They also lose out on the universal DH for this year and next, but it's possible that it will be implemented at least for this season as a safety protocol to keep pitchers from getting hurt. Given that they will have only 3 weeks to prepare for the season, they should have more than enough opportunities to hurt themselves on the mound, so it makes sense to remove hitting and baserunning from the equation.
The playoff pool money could be big, if the season makes it there, as the only money players traditionally make from the playoffs is a percentage of gate receipts. If there is nobody in the stands, there won't be any gate receipts. It remains to be seen, however, if the players would be willing to play those games for no money, and I assume some sort of compromise would be worked out - if the season manages to reach that point.
The owners lose out on two years of expanded playoffs, which they desperately wanted and needed, but apparently not badly enough to see if a couple of extra games might convince the players to come to terms. More importantly, what was lost here was one last chance to change the dreary narrative of the past few weeks. Baseball will carry the stink of this for a long time. Ten years from now most of the current players will be gone or at the tail end of their careers, but most of these owners will still have their franchises, and they will still be feeling the effects of this madness.
If the players agree to the health and safety protocols, training camps can officially begin next week. The season would start up around July 20. There was a time, back a few weeks ago, when I would have been truly happy to have a start date for baseball. Now, while I guess it would be good to have baseball to watch, it's hard to feel excited about it. Any potential excitement bled out slowly over these past few weeks. I just don't feel it anymore.
Here's hoping that it doesn't get any worse, that the two sides don't find anything else to disagree on and further delay a potential return of baseball. Knock wood that a significant number of the game's top stars don't elect to sit this season out and render it even more meaningless than a 60-game schedule has already done. Fingers crossed that COVID-19 doesn't put the final dagger into a 2020 baseball season.
If I was a club owner that wasn't a member of the minority group of hardliners that caused most of the damage, I'd be wondering what needed to be done going forward to stop this group from having such total control of the negotiations. I'd be extremely skeptical that a new agreement could be reached after the 2021 season when this one was botched so badly. And I would most certainly question whether Rob Manfred is the right man for the extremely difficult job of correctly steering through the next couple of years.
Well, get this exhibition season started already...will there be nickel beer nights and other amateurish stunts like the starting extra inning games with a guy on second that they've stolen from the minors?
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