Mike's Mets - Going Down With the Ship

Going Down With the Ship

By Mike Steffanos June 15, 2020

Rob Manfred is no longer 100% confident that there will be a baseball season in 2020? Join the club, my friend. It's amazing how bad negotiations can go when the primary method of negotiating is by leaking stuff to the media.

Manfred did an interview with ESPN's Mike Greenberg today, and the optimism that he was exuding last week apparently has disappeared. He was asked about the optics of the ongoing squabble with the players while the country is trying to come back from the pandemic:

"It's just a disaster for our game, absolutely no question about it. It shouldn't be happening, and it's important that we find a way to get past it and get the game back on the field for the benefit of our fans..."

Manfred said the MLBPA's "decision to end good-faith negotiations" and the need for an agreement with the union on health and safety protocols "were really negative in terms of our efforts."

I'm not going to get into a debate over whether sending the players proposals that varied very little from each other was "good-faith" negotiating. What I will say is that, if it's really important for Manfred and MLB to "find a way to get past it and get the game back on the field", then perhaps it's time to actually get the two sides together in the same room and try to come to some sort of an agreement.

Both sides have taken turns at accusing the other of bad-faith negotiating, and now I'm sure everyone's fee-fees are hurt. Enough name-calling and negotiating through the press, if Manfred really believes that the 2020 season is in danger and does not try to engage the union face to face, then he can't pretend that he's really trying to find a way through. If the players are resistant to meeting, then we'll all turn around and blame them for everything. But Rob, you're the freaking Commissioner of Baseball. The ball is in your court, dude.

Since Bud Selig took on the job, the Commissioner's office has lost the pretense of being on the side of the game of baseball and trying to at least appear impartial. And that's a problem here, because it's hard to command both sides to sit down face to face when you're clearly on the management side. Manfred is pretty handy at coming up with pithy quotes blaming the union for all of this, but he's the captain of this ship and blaming the other side isn't going to keep it from sinking. If being the Commissioner of Baseball still means anything, then it's time for Rob Manfred to step up and make a last ditch stand at getting the sides together. He can point fingers all he wants, but if baseball fails to make it to the field in 2020, Manfred will be remembered as the Commissioner who let it happen.

I'm so tired of writing about this. When the players put the ball in MLB's court to set a schedule I was hoping that these non-negotiations would come to an end. Now apparently that won't be the case. I love baseball, but I'm almost ready to throw my hands up and decide which Australian Rules Football team to adopt so I can turn my back on all of this crap.

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