poppysox

I tend toward the owner's side of the argument but Monfort's statement doesn't help. If he can't afford the game he shouldn't be playing.

You are preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned. We both know that money is the reason for this playoff silliness.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that all union/employer negotiations are hostile or entail "big drama". All contracts have an end date and that serves as the deadline in most cases. Usually, a new contract is in place without the need for lockouts and strikes. Generally, there is little animosity and the process is nice and polite. A very public negotiation conducted between high profile people doesn't have that luxury as a general rule.

Very seldom are union/employer negotiations concluded before some form of deadline is established. Who knows...maybe the other side will blink and give you something you weren't expecting.

This is the phase of negotiations where we give up the crap we never thought had a chance. Today the players drop FA eligibility before 6 years...tomorrow I expect owners to give up on the expanded 14 team playoffs. I expect the owners to give the $600K ML minimum because it's already $570.5 I believe. A few more tweaks like universal DH and its "play ball". Could have been done months ago but everyone would complain we left too much on the table.

No divisions with a balanced schedule would be perfect. Of course, there would be no reason to have a playoff since we already would know who won the league fair and square. As an old-time fan that would be my preference but of course, the money made off the playoffs would make that dead on arrival.

Bummed would be putting it mildly. Why bother with a regular-season at all?

I would call it being realistic.

I agree. It is obvious from the lack of interest in these forums that baseball is hurting itself. Neither side will win if the fans tune out.

I agree. It is much easier to keep 30 owners unified than 1200 players. If the union overlays its hand the end result won't be pretty.

Robot umpires can't come soon enough to suit me. It is just as important to get balls and strikes correct as a bang...bang play at first IMO.

Both sides move slowly thinking time is on their side. After receiving this response the owners will take over a week to respond. One big frustrating game. Once we hit mid-February things will heat up and it will take two or three days to hammer out what could have happened months ago.

Everyone is tradeable for the right price...but, Sheets is someone I want to keep if at all possible.

If the only criteria for the HOF are talent...Allen would be a lock.

He has built himself back up to having some decent value. That in itself is a happy surprise.

We should return to those good old days of 7-yard end zones with our current team makeup.

I'll reserve judgment. Juan Uribe didn't much look like a typical infielder either.

I think you are a little bit low on that 98% figure.

In that little clip, he seems to move quite well. I think he surprised us all last year when we got a look-see of him at third.

They have been preparing the counter-proposal for weeks would be my guess. Just needs some modification to fit the owner's offer.

I'll bet you could put a counter-proposal on the table in a day. I predict it will take them over a week.

Slow playing negotiations are how most of these things are done. Players will now take their time and counter with an equally non-starter counter offer.

The owners are using their economic advantage to win this battle. What you or I think is unimportant to either side IMO.

Competitive balance is a noble endeavor but will not be achieved in these negotiations IMO. Some small improvements will be all that is accomplished. If the players would give up some room on the team cap more could be given on the lower end but I don't see that happening. All this macho talk of staying out for as long as it takes loses its appeal when paychecks and ticket sales start to be missed. A good chunk of ST will probably be lost unless something unexpected happens soon.

I don't think asking the owners to shorten the time of control over players has any chance of success. Higher minimum wage, higher minimum team cap, universal DH could all happen but that's about it.