chitownsportsfan

They aren't in the union so the owners cynically expect the union to concede on shit like this in order to get a few more pennies into the union. Of course the owners are being short sighted and blinded by greed, but no matter they just want to see more black on the books in the next few years. Doesn't matter if the quality of play goes down or whatever they figure (perhaps rightly) that the slack will be picked up by someone else, maybe private academies, maybe expanding Juco budgets, maybe for profit academies expanding in LA and Pacific Rim. But fuck them. Fuck the owners. This business will not end well for anybody -- including them. It's going to get out of control and a season will likely be lost one way or another -- a partial season isn't a real season and we all know that.

Sigh.

Yep, was saying the same thing this weekend to a fellow baseball diehard. The way that the players, especially pitchers, have been fucked over by the owners is a disgrace. Furthermore, there is a devastating impact on the towns and businesses in AZ and Florida that rely on Spring Training now getting screwed once again. Just leaves a bitter taste. Reading the comments posted above makes it even more bitter. The owners don't even seem to GAF about lost revenue. That speaks volumes. They'd rather wipe out an entire season in order to keep hogging the revenue pie. It's greed plain and simple. They figure they can break the union once and for all and reap the rewards for decades to come. They just expect the fans to come back when they hear that dinner bell ringing like a conditioned dog. Fuck them.

So not working feverishly on a deal? Go figure.

The owners are human scum. Not all of them, but collectively they are. They are a cynical, greedy and overly prideful group used to getting their way even if they have to run someone over to get there.

Well maybe the mediator can get the sides together MORE THAN 4 TIMES IN 8 WEEKS!

Fuck just make it pure auction for the first round, that would be amazing. Every team can nominate a player and then everybody bids from their allotted bonus pool. Can you imagine how fun and awesome that would be? And it will never happen because it will cost the owners too much money. The 1st round of the MLB draft would be must watch TV in an auction format imo.

I mean I get it, you gotta send the email, but FFS. @Dick Allen was there any acknowledgment of you know, a labor stoppage in the email?

With the stuff coming out about tanking in the NFL you gotta wonder how prevalent it's been in MLB the past few seasons. Have owners offered to pay management to lose games? With the local ticket revenues not nearly as important anymore and the revenue sharing MLB has created a scenario where yes, I think "broken" is a good description. Tanking might be a legit strategy for SOME clubs in SOME situations but too often it's just an excuse not to spend any money and just rake in the guaranteed revenue. And of course as you mentioned the other component to tanking is service time manipulation. How convenient is it for the owners that they can (literally) afford to keep their best prospects off the team and save money at the same time? A little too convenient. I'm not exactly rooting for an entire season to be wiped out because I'm a fan of baseball and I enjoy baseball but if that is what it takes to fix these issues maybe it will be worth it.

Right, that was their plan the entire time, I don't think anybody is surprised. I posted a couple weeks ago how dire I feel the situation is. Nothing has changed since then to move me off the idea that at best we'll play 100 games and there is a decent (so maybe 1/3) chance the entire season is cancelled.

Yea, the owners are fucking this up. A big reason is that Manfred isn't removed enough (unlike say Silver) from the ownership cabal to look them in the eye and tell them that they are going to kill the golden goose.

Why in gods name haven't they already worked out the non core stuff???? We will be lucky to play 100 games.

It's easy to "make progress" when you're as far apart as these sides appear to be. I expect negations to completely break down as we get closer to March and probably there will be plans for replacement players before the union comes back to the table in April or so. On a selfish personal note this time of year is so hard on so many folks including myself. With the COVID surge it's been especially trying and usually we'd be full of excitement for pitcher and catchers in two weeks with everything to look forward to as a playoff contender once again. So much for all that.

Season will start in June or possibly even be cancelled. The entire process so far has indicated that owners are completely fine with that. Question is if the players are. Unless they cave completely I'm just seeing it they aren't the NFLPA.

Reddit and twitter level discourse. Cya guys whenever the business of baseball starts again. Oof.

bro he's the starting RF!

I mean, if you want to b**** about allocation of resources you can start and end with the bullpen. Paying your primary backup at CF and SS 5.5 million per is not the place to start.

Good deal, that is a very club friendly AAV. Frankly I think he could have gotten another 5-6 million total on the open market. Seems like he took a little discount to come back to familiar grounds.

well that's on you -- OWNERSHIP

What's the AAV? I feel like if they gave him three years they should get a discount on AAV. Anything more than 18 million and I'm iffy. If they got him for 3/18 or something that's fine. But 3/22 or something feels like an overpay. I know we're "just" talking 2-4 million here and what's the difference but for the end of roster types that shit adds up and can prevent other moves.

Yea exactly. 2 years 85 million with a club option for a 3rd is a helluva lot better. That they had to include the opt out -- who the fuck were they bidding against at that AAV and those years?

there isn't a chance he opts out, the Mets played themselves.

the mets are a clown org.

this time of year you might find yourself doing a little "kummerspeck"

that's about where I'm at.