hogan873

Isn't it refreshing to be talking about free agents and trades (and how the Sox will disappoint) vs. the lockout? Should be a very exciting weekend, starting today. Who makes the first move? What big free agent goes first? Who on Soxtalk will vow to never watch a Sox game again after Player X goes to Team Y instead of the Sox?

It's like when a guy goes after his buddy's ex-girlfriend. Has to wait an appropriate amount of time so it doesn't look like he was interested in her the whole time she was with his friend. "Nah, bro, we like just started talking a couple days after you guys split. She just wanted to talk. I didn't mean to fall for her, but it just happened. You mad, bub?

Don't worry, he'll tweet something to the contrary once the first trade is completed. "Team X strikes first! Hot Stove is afire, kids!"

GMs right now.

Dear lord, I can already hear him saying it. ?

Kimbrel traded for nothing exciting. Conforto signed. One more starting pitcher (Rodon?) Middle infielder

That's essentially 15 more job openings for some of the defensively-challenged heavy hitters out there.

Officially getting no work done tomorrow. I'm going to put "Busy - Monitoring MLB hot stove" on my Webex status all day.

So is the universal DH effective this year?

Hell yeah!

And watch the free agent and trade frenzy start. How many teams have deals in place, waiting to press the Go button?

The biggest gap on the financial side seems to be the non-arb pool. MLB's latest was $40M flat through 5 years while MLBPA's starts at $65M and rises to $85M. I anticipate several back and forths on this today, and we'll be waiting until the next imaginary deadline. This could be the one thing that keeps a deal from being made today. Unless they want to argue about something else we haven't heard about yet.

Nope, they're not sucking me back in and getting my hopes up. *constantly refreshes Twitter and Soxtalk*

It's like a divorced couple each publicly saying they love the kids more than the other person while not actually telling and showing the kids they love them. MLBPA: We love the fans. This is all for them. MLB: Nuh uh! We love the fans more. We're looking out for them and stuff. MLBPA: We hate you but love them! MLB: You suck...but the fans rule!

That was their proposal last night...just after the deadline, which is why MLB said, "Too late losers. We're cancelling games!"

This whole disagreement about the international draft, and the publicity of it, could be what ends the lockout. The purported importance of the draft was rather sudden, and both sides feel strongly about it. However, it seems like there's a very vocal, albeit smaller, group of players who are vehemently against it that seem to be the driving force behind the MLBPA's stance. Scherzer's tweet was a bit telling as it sounds like it was brought up in Florida, and at the time the union was told it wasn't a bargaining chip. Now it seems to be THE bargaining chip. Both sides are now blaming the other (nothing new there), and each are playing dumb about who brought it up first. The owners are probably still the bad guys here, but public perception has changed a bit after yesterday. Many of us armchair general managers look at the international draft as a way to get the lockout ended and our teams back on the field. And there's enough information out there for us to know that the current system for getting Latin American players into baseball is pretty corrupt. The draft is not THE solution, but it probably makes the situation better...if done properly. I think the players' last minute proposal, which ironically and supposedly was Manfred's proposal, is a good one because it allows the league and analyze it and hopefully implement a draft that actually improves the process. One thing is clear after yesterday: They should have been having these day long bargaining sessions a month ago. There's a lot of fan mistrust of both sides now, and that can't be good for the sport.

By God! It's Manfred with a steel chair! *cracks chair over owners' heads* That killed them! As God as my witness they're broken in half!

In further tweet, Jesse Rogers stated that MLB is offering the options: 1) Sign the CBA, eliminating the draft pick compensation and take some time to evaluate the international draft. If the union won't implement by '24, the CBA can be reopened 2) Do the entire package without draft and no draft pick compensation 3) Take the original deal. League gets the international draft and draft pick compensation is eliminated What's not clear is what deal they're referring to.

I think, at least from what's being reported, if MLBPA agreed to the international draft MLB would come up more and get very close to the players' ask. Otherwise, yeah, your suggestion makes complete sense. If that's all that's holding up a deal, that is complete horseshit.

So they want to tell us they can’t get to a deal from this? So much closer than last week.

What bugs the shit out of me is the two sides meet face to face and discuss stuff, then one side leaves a written proposal with the other. The receiving party reads the proposal and says, "Damn, this sucks." They then go to the media and say there are huge gaps, a counter proposal may not even be coming, a vote won't even be necessary, etc. Discuss this shit when you're meeting in person. Say, "Here's where you are, here's where we're at. What can you give, and what can we give?" This is all theater to make the other side look bad. They both look like assholes right now.

I think they were hoping the players would blink first, and they didn't. I still don't get the months that went by without formal negotiations.

Why am I fearing another statement from MLB along the lines of "MLBPA's tone changed drastically from last night. We were thinking a deal could be completed today. It's unfortunate that we'll have to cancel another week of games."

With Hawk doing color commentary. "What's Joe doing now? He needs a break, that's what he needs."

Yeah, I agree. At Least with what's being reported, it seems like MLB has made quite a few concessions while the MLBPA stuck to their guns on some key issues (rightfully so). I would hate to think the deal gets torpedoed over the international draft. You'd think there could be some safeguards implemented to at least alleviate some of the concerns.