By Brian Joura November 5, 2020
We saw many MLB
players react negatively when the Astros cheating scandal became public. But
that’s nothing compared to how the players react when the owners collude to
keep down salaries. It brings to mind Billy Martin’s great
quote about Reggie Jackson and
George Steinbrenner, where he said, “One’s a born liar and the other’s
convicted.” The players would consider the owners to be born liars about
colluding in the recent free agent classes, starting with the one following the
2017 season. And they were convicted for their collusive behavior in free
agency following the 1985-87 seasons.
MLBPA ended up filing
three grievances over the owners’ collusive behavior in the 1980s. Arbitrator
Thomas Roberts heard the first case and ruled for the players. George Nicolau,
Roberts’ successor, heard the next two cases and he, too, sided with the
players. Afterwards, MLB and MLBPA negotiated a settlement of all three cases
for a total of $280 million. Having to pay that money to the players was one
factor in the ultimate expansion of the league in the 1990s, as a way to recoup
some of the lost revenue.
Anyway, the reason
that’s relative today is that the hawks among ownership leading the crusade to
collude to keep down salaries were Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf. And of
course, we recognize that Reinsdorf was the leading voice against the
confirmation of Steve Cohen as the new Mets owner. Sure, some point to his
personal relationship with Alex Rodriguez for
Reinsdorf’s position. But it’s hard to believe that the real reason wasn’t
Reinsdorf’s belief that Cohen would be an active bidder for free agents,
driving up costs for the rest of the league.
Of course, we should
keep in mind that Cohen also has the insider trading scandal from his previous
business attached to his resume. But it’s hard for me to believe that was a
major sticking point for any of the other 29 teams. The parable about glass
houses comes immediately to mind.
Perhaps as a
preemptive strike against Reinsdorf, Cohen announced that he would hire Sandy
Alderson as team president. If it was indeed a move to counter charges that he
would spend other owners into the ground, one would have to call it a
successful one. Needing 22 of the other 29 teams to agree to the sale, Cohen
received approval from 25 clubs.
2 comments:
At the end of the day, their resistance was futile. Now, Cohen will bury them.
actually, when resistance is futile, you will be assimilated, not buried. at least for Borgs...
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