poppysox

I am hopeful the Cubbies want to bring back Kimbrel to placate the fan base.

Yeah...the media thinks that all quality players belong on a coast team.

I agree. We need our biggest contract in history to be a sure thing...not a hope it works out.

Tampa is a scary team to trade with. They don't lose many of them.

The political polling has been done and Durbin has an opinion.

It would be sweet if Congress actually did something period.

Scherzer isn't necessarily the best spokesman for the players at this point in time.

Today the top pension is $255M but it is my understanding that Ernie Banks died in poverty. Ernie was one of those that built the game into the money maker it is today.

I am always a bit surprised the players don't negotiate a large amount of money for the oldtimers pension fund. The old times who built this game are in some cases living in poverty while in the middle of the road today players have unimaginable wealth. I am aware they don't have any obligation to do so but it certainly would seem to be the right thing to do.

Just like an opening day in baseball...I have played in some really crappy weather that first round or two of the year. I'm getting the itch.

You sound like this is somehow a manly contest of who has the biggest balls. I have hardly bothered to comment once we passed D-day where games are lost. We are in uncharted water at this point and none of us know what's going on. Do you find it angry to say the lawyers are making lots of money? Truer words were never spoken. The owners obviously want to get on with the season and have come further than I would have expected. The players are smelling blood in the water...meaning they believe the owners want to end this more than the union leadership. If this plays out to a month or two more... there will be big losers on both sides of the table IMO. I learned a long time ago that negotiations need to end with both sides feeling they won some and lost some. When you try to clean the other guys' clock it oftentimes comes back to bite you in the ass. I cleaned my golf clubs today so am preparing myself for a nice long wait in negotiations.

The Lawyers on both sides are making a fortune. They have no reason to rush the process.

I still believe that Hahn thinks Kimbrel has tradeable value. He could have paid the small dollar amount to release him if his value was nothing that many board members feel is the case. This idea of paying in order to get someone to take him just doesn't make any sense.

I don't think anyone on either side is worried about what we are fine with.

This is what I would think and yet it doesn't seem to be the discussion anymore.

Serious Question. I get why raising the minimum wage is a big deal...we have 10 guys on the WS who get very nice raises. I can understand why Mike Trout would want a higher CBT so the Yanks and Dodgers can fight to pay him even more money. I don't understand what is in it for the average guy making 4 or 5 million. For the average guy to miss paychecks in order to raise the CBT is a mystery to me.

It certainly should be. "Pigs get fat...hogs go to slaughter."

Total agreement on this point.

These NO votes on both sides need to sober up. Compromise is going to happen eventually...why not now?

Like everything else in this negotiation...it put the subject on the table. If the owners/players would have excepted the $220 CBT with a $60M minimum that would surely be a win for everyone.

I don't remember the MLB offering a $100 million floor. Why didn't the players take it?

Exactly right. I would be totally in favor of having a minimum payroll requirement. That would actually have a chance of making weak teams compete a bit. I thought parity was everyone's big need.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

I refuse to believe that either side is dumb enough to kill off the game that makes their millions and billions possible.

Yeah...it's kind of like a babysitter for some of us. Some nap time can frequently happen.