ChiSox59

Yeah....I am with you. Doesn't matter if the Sox are 10 games up or 10 games back. I am on the edge of my seat for all 162.

Really? I can't look away at the beginning of the season. So damn excited to watch baseball again. Then again, I probably watch 155+ Sox games a year, so month doesn't matter much.

Well then why didn't they agree to the deal that is by all intents and purposes a large move in the right direction for the players? I definitely think there is some spite at play here for sure, but the players saying they would agree to the old deal is complete BS.

They wouldn't. The players are lying. The deal put in front of them is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the previous CBA.

I mean, that's quite obviously not the reason. They got what they asked for on the pre-arb raises (sans $25k, I mean cmon - thats not the reason). They got the never before seen bonus pool, and while I don't doubt they'd like to be closer to $85M than $30M, they did get their bonus pool. They got the full year of service for top 2 ROY the finalists. I don't doubt that the size of the bonus pool is 2nd biggest holdup, but its quite obvious to me that the CBT threshold is the main issue. Sorry, but the CBT threshold has nothing to do with younger pre-arb players at all, and everything with stars wanting to get paid more on their mega deals.

Is there any indication the sides are meeting or talking today? Don't have the energy to read the last 24 hours or so of posts.

Math and stuff.

At this point, I am not even going to think about transactions until we have a fucking game to watch. Pretty disgusted rn tbh.

The deal offered yesterday by the MLB/owners was a significant step in the right direction for a player like this. SO yes, he would have gotten the raise if the PA agreed to it and he actually played in the bigs. Now he gets paid nothing, can't work and is driving uber while the uber-wealthy Max Scherezer's of the league are arguing for higher CBT thresholds so his $43.3M AAV contact can become more commonplace. So yeah, have a little bit of a hard time believing that the PA's stance on the current offer isn't more about the elite players getting max pay as opposed to really helping the little guy (as they claimed). The little guy got a ton of help in the proposed deal they snap-rejected.

Here is a good example of the little guy getting crushed. You think this guy wasn't happy to get a $130k raise? What exactly are these negotiations (at this point) doing to help a player like this?

MLBs position is that players are not getting paid for games not played. Bonilla isn't getting paid for playing in 22; he gets paid deferred compensation. Completely different thing.

Yawn. This sucks. I totally get the players position. Its a tough spot. I definitely side with them in all of this, but I am able to see both sides. Biggest issue I have is that this started out as being largely about getting the younger players in a better spot. The proposed "best and final" offer from league/owners largely did that. $130k raise for pre-arb players. A bonus pool that never before existed for the best players. Full year of service for the top 2 in ROY to try to help curb service time manipulation. It seems to me like the CBT threshold was the biggest hold up. This isn't impacting the little guy. This is impacting the guys getting mega deals, who are largely the guys at the front and center of this (Scherzer, most notably). Giolito's comments about having a 15-20 year career and wanting to make a change is great and all, but the dudes that really get fucked in all of this are the little guys. Giolito is going to sign a big contract is 2 years that sets him up for life no matter what the new CBA looks like. How about the guys on his team (and many more around the league) that will never get a big FA contract and didn't get a big draft signing bonus? Those are the dude's that have to be scratching their head right now. And the game is predominantly made up of those guys. They just got 22.8% raise. And now they're getting nothing until the big dicks figure it out. They just got one of their limited opening days taken away that they'll never get back. I have to imagine most of the younger players that don't have star upside think the proposal put in front of them wasn't that bad. Its certainly an improvement on the previous CBA.

This fucking sucks. What a whirlwind of 36 hours. Really just want some baseball.

It’s better than $0. Which is what tbe bonus pool has always been. A $130k raise for all pre arb players and a bonus pool (for a small number of elite pre arb players) is a nice move in the right direction. Wish MLB was willing to go to $230m on the CBT and $15-20M higher on the bonus pool, but doesn’t appear to be in the cards.

Yeah I just disagree. $85-100M is a huge number and it’s a brand new concept that never existed before. I don’t think $30M is the answer. But $85M isn’t. $40-$50M seems reasonable. It’s also a small number of guys that are even going to play in this pool. If MLBPA makes that the sticking point, it’s kind of dumb. They’re not going to get everything they want.

The PAs ask on the bonus pool is unrealistic IMO.

$225/$227.5/$230/$232.5/$235 seems reasonable enough. Both sides should be able to make that part happen. Its a joke if not. Its rather immaterial difference in the beginning.

Players are going to have to accept way less than $100M on the bonus. $40M seems reasonable. Maybe have it increase 5% a year. $100M is way too much all at once. I do think the PAs (current) requests on the CBT and min salary are pretty reasonable. But insisting on $100M on the bonus pool is going to kill this deal getting done today.

Yeah 6 isn't god awful. 7 sure is tho.

Last year in WC teams in AL would have been Boston (92 wins), NYY (92 wins) and Toronto (91 wins). In NL, Dodgers (106 wins), Cardinals (90 wins) and Cincy (83 wins). In 2019, Oakland (97 wins), Tampa (96 wins) and Cleveland (93 wins). In NL, Washington (93 wins), Milwaukee (89 wins) and Mets (86 wins).

I mean is HFA throughout a 3 game series really even that big of an advantage for a team that won a division? I don't think so. You could win 95 games, be the 3rd division winner, andnd now you're playing a slightly .500 team in a 3 game series for your life. ANything can happen in a 3 game series - that 95 win team lost more than a couple 3 game series at home during the season. Seems like a tough way for that division winner to go home. But again, its better than 14 teams. But that division winner deserves a legit advantage and more than just playing at home.

Will be interesting to see. Definitely think the division winner deserves a sizeable advantage. Perhaps HFA for full series and a ghost win. Feel much less so that the WC does, but wouldn't really care too much either way. Would be kind of cool if they built in a nuance like if WC #1 was 3 games or more ahead of WC 2, they get full HFA advantage. Otherwise its a 3 game series rotating H/A. But with a 3 game series, pretty tough to rotate H/A so they'll probably just give the higher seed HFA for full series.

12 team playoff structure sounds like it'll be top 2 division winners get byes. Worst division winners gets 3rd WC, and other 2 WC play a 3 game series. Winners advance. Hopefully they go to a 7 game series after that. That's a pretty garbage scenario for the 3rd division winner having to play a 3 game series. Hopefully they got home field for the whole series. But far better than 14 teams. Can't really go beyond three games in that first round with byes tho - can't have a team sitting at home for a week really.

That should work out fine. Leury hits lefties much better than righties anyway.

Between this and March Madness, safe to say some things are going to take a backseat.