Baseball isn't consumed as a TV sport to begin with. You don't need to watch games on TV to follow it. I feel like fans follow it by seeing a box score, following game tracker, listening to a few innings on the radio in their car, maybe watching a game on a weeknight when it's convenient for them. Most people even just have it on the TV as background noise.

I do still feel that baseball, along with soccer and basketball, is what kids first take up when they first get involved in sports around ages 4-7. Playing the sport creates interest.

But the problem now with baseball, I feel like 20-30 years ago, most kids were still playing past Little League in Babe Ruth or Pony. Nowadays though, the kids that are sticking with baseball past Little League are the "all star" players and the others that don't make all-stars are ditching the sport.

The CBT will be at a minimum $214 million in this new deal, that's the owners' latest proposal. The players are countering with $245 million as the CBT.

The owners already proposed a salary floor of $100 million but the MLBPA didn't take it seriously because the CBT was $180 million in the same deal.

I don't think we're going to have a floor in this deal. The MLBPA has already proposed lowering annual revenue sharing by $30 million because they feel like the small market teams like the Rays and the Pirates aren't using the revenue sharing money toward payroll.

Look at Carlos Correa in a year where there aren't 4 or 5 other options for a top tier SS. The guy probably has 3-4 teams legitimately interested in him as it sits with all but 1 of the other options signing. His market is already small because of the money he's going to get but its even smaller this year because a team like the Rangers could go sign Semien and Seager, or the Tigers signing Baez, or whoever is going to sign Story.

And like I said, the owners already don't spend so putting in a hard cap is giving them exactly what they want. Theres a handful of teams that go above the CBT but no one continuously goes over it every year because of the compounding penalties for doing so.

Every MLB franchise is worth over a billion dollars. You think teams like Royals can't put more money into their roster annually? What the **** does a hard cap do to balance the playing field? Nothing. Theres nothing even about the playing field. Every team isn't working with the same market. Every team isn't working with the same geographic location. Every team isn't working with owners that want to put a little more investment into their company. I dont follow NHL, but anyone saying that baseball doesn't have more parity than sports with a salary cap like the NFL and NBA, probably the NHL too but I dont know, are ****ing dumb. The answer isn't a salary cap and its why the MLBPA isn't fighting for one.

Well I can think of one solution to make small market teams spend more money. :spock:

Speaking of Baez, the Tigers just invested six years, $140 million into him after he posted a 64% contact rate and 5% walk rate last season. Another thing that's never mentioned is that many teams eliminate themselves out of contention with foolish spending.

You bring up the Royals, the Padres were the Royals of the NL. They had fire sales in 1993 and 1999. They have arguably the worst market in baseball with the ocean to the west, the desert and Arizona's market to the east and Mexico to the south (which is every team's territory). They are the only franchise to hand out two $300 million contracts. The Padres have turned the small market can't spend argument on its ear.

The small market teams are going to spend more in this CBA anyway because minimum salaries are going up and it looks like pre-arb players, that perform at a high level, are going to get paid early.

I think the MLBPA has been weary of a salary floor because it believes it will give teams an excuse to go over the threshold and justify not spending more because they met the requirements.

Ewing Kauffman spent like a big market team, trying to win one more title in his last few years of life. But given the overall track record of small market teams - I don't think it's realistic to expect all, or even a majority of them to act like the late 80s/early 90s Royals or 2017+ Padres.

Which is my whole point. The players' position seems to be to blame the small market owners and try to shame them into spending more, and then when (almost certainly) that doesn't happen, the players are still fine with the status quo. As a fan I'm not fine with the status quo. It sucks.

We have an example of a sport in this country where small market teams out-compete the big boys on a regular basis, and that sport has never been more popular. It's an infinitely better product at this point.

Yea you can tell who talks about baseball and who actually watches baseball.

I swear before this year the answer about why the MLB can't work like the NFL was always that too much of the revenues are local instead of national, and big-market owners will never share that much money with small market owners.

Am I crazy or was that always the refrain for decades?

I feel you about the status quo. I get sick of seeing the Athletics and Rays trade off their young stars and not keep them.

But here's the issue with some of the small market owners, they will go to their city leaders and say we need a new ballpark to compete with the Yankees, Dodgers. The taxpayers will take of them and spend over a billion dollars for their new ballpark and then nothing changes.

The Pirates and Marlins being prime examples. Their way of operating has not changed even with new ballparks.

I wonder if even a new park for the A's or Rays would drastically change the way they operate.

Well at the very least they would time their non-tanking window to coincide with the new ballpark.

Well on second thought those are the two teams who seem to have figured out how to win w/o tanking.

Three-hit Whit is participating in today's labor negotiations.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="de" dir="ltr">Player contingent includes Scherzer, Castro, Lindor, Taillon, Nimmo, Goldschmidt, Suter, Merrifield, Rogers, Gray <a href="https://t.co/2pUain8Fg0">pic.twitter.com/2pUain8Fg0</a></p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1495822092092203009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Meeting breaking up. Among MLB proposals today: MLB raised its prearbitration bonus pool $5 million, to $20 million. Still a very large gap compared to players’ proposal. MLB also proposed to allow one more draft pick to be determined by lottery, now top 4. Players had proposed 8</p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1495895905979052038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Man, the owners are really coming to the middle. The 20 million is getting close to the 115m the players are at now.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A Major League Baseball spokesperson said tonight that if a deal is not in place by Feb. 28, regular season games will be canceled. “A deadline is a deadline,” the spokesperson said. Player pay would not be recouped, nor would those games be rescheduled, the spokesperson said.</p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1496631360194289667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ok. I will get bombarded with stats about payroll vs. wins, but the truth is only one small-revenue team (the Royals) has won a title in baseball in the last 30 years. Teams with massive local TV revenue have an unfair advantage. That is a broken system. (1)</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/1496956213388619778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">David Glass understood this predicament and fought hard for a level playing field during the ‘94 work stoppage. His efforts fell through because the big-revenue owners back then were short sighted, not realizing, as the NFL did, that when the tide goes up, all boats go up. (3)</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/1496958465633394691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mr. K would have thought a “luxury tax” on the big markets would be laughable. That tax to those owners is simply the cost of business, trying to buy a title. A hard ceiling, a hard floor, and serious TV revenue sharing is the only answer for competitive balance.</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/1496962368277934081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That is the beauty of the NFL — we almost never talk about payroll, other than what every team’s capologists have to do. It is a level playing field. The Chiefs, Packers, Bengals, Steelers and Bucs can stick it to the Jets and Giants and Bears and Cowboys every year.</p>&mdash; Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlannyMLB/status/1496965050363432963?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://i.imgur.com/y89bCm7.png

Flanny can afford to tell it like it is, because he's retired.

He’s right and everyone knows it. Teams spending $200 million have an advantage over teams spending $70 million. Who disputes that?

Not getting a salary cap that might save baseball for future generations so how about Instead of arguing over how much to pay players in the 0-6 years how about you do something about the pace of play? Try to do something to even the playing field between teams?

All truths spoken.

Baseball doesn't get it.

The Royals may not have the TV contract of a Yankees or Dodgers but their contract brings in damn near as much money as their active roster costs. Before any kind of revenue brought in from ticket sales, concessions, etc... their team is pratically ****ing paid for.

Imagine if the Chiefs let Patrick Mahomes walk after decades of retread backup trash when they could afford to keep him. That's one of the bigger problems with baseball owners, not the spending of the Yankees and Dodgers. Baseball is no more or less balanced than any other ****ing sport, look at the numbers.

Your very own Whit Merrifield said owners need to stop crying poor when they aint broke.

One of the biggest disadvantages in baseball is a team that spends drunkenly and gets tied to a gazillion dollar contract. It’s not like the nfl where you can cut bait and run. It’s an issue but not nearly as big an issue as others make it. If you want better parity, what’s needed way more is a salary floor for cheapskate owners and for Manfred to stop juicing the game for more offense.

Be interesting to see just how bad the long term ramifications of this will be.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Meetings are done. Progress was minimal. There are four days left for MLB and the MLBPA to get a new labor deal or regular-season games are going to be canceled. They&#39;ve had four days to move and there&#39;s been next to nothing -- just incremental. And that&#39;s that.</p>&mdash; Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1496971675530842112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Doesn't sound good

Another shortened season.

MLB circling the toilet bowl.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

stop quoting 3 pages of text for a dumbass, one sentence take at the end

Make me.

When they're rebuilding, sure. But when they're attempting to maintain a roster for the purposes of extending a competitive window, the TV contract won't even cover half the roster costs. I'm curious...in the best of attendance years, what is the approximate income from ticket sales, stadium advertising, parking, concessions, merch sales plus whatever cut they get from competitive balance funds, MLB-wide (shared) TV deal income, etc. minus the total organization's operational costs ? I don't actually know the answer, but if that number is less than 50+ million, there's no way they're in the black during a competitive window.

Believe it or not, revenues go up when a team is actually successful and there's something for fans to root for, beyond the extra money teams get for making the playoffs.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...s-city-royals/

If that site is to be believed then just from 2013 to 2015 revenue went up $100M and hasn't really come back down.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If we really go short-season/regular/short/regular, it might actually hasten the end of traditional starting pitching. It would screw with the game’s stats for years.</p>&mdash; Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) <a href="https://twitter.com/joe_sheehan/status/1496993234177957891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Of course. I'm not sure I was disputing that. It's only logical. My question was more along the lines of how much they actually take in that does not go straight back out into operations, salaries, etc. It would be interesting to know where that site gets its figures, because both the union and the owners don't seem to have figures they're willing to present. Owners cry that they bleed red for years in a row...players say owners are raking it in. ZERO facts from anyone, including the cited web site. This is simple math.

Big picture - nothing will change substantively until/unless MLB becomes the brand in the same manner as the NFL. As is, MLB is a confederation of local brands...the local brands being primary. While the Chiefs are their own brand, there's no question Clark and the other owners are NFL-first...because as the NFL rises, each franchise rises. Unless MLB changes their business model, little will change. The large-city owners don't want that...they want their city/brand dollars for themselves. And since the largest amount of wealthy and guaranteed contracts belong to the mega-stars from MLB, I doubt they want to see a system where everyone else's contracts go up, but their mega-deals become less common, since there is no equivalent to a QB-type difference maker on a baseball field. So...we are left with a system where the MLB owners fight for terms that benefit the bottom line of their lowest revenue franchises, which will obviously make the highest revenue teams flush with ungodly amounts of profit.

You were making it sound like if their profits are so low now then if they spent just a little more money to be competitive they would be taking a loss. That's true for every team if they are stupid with money, but there's no reason the Royals or any franchise in baseball can't swing probably $120M minimum on payroll.

And this isn't directed at you, but the whole thing with Patrick Mahomes staying in KC because of a salary cap is the dumbest ****ing argument to make. The Chiefs made Mahomes the first ever $500M athlete, in any sport. He's not staying in KC because the Jets can't offer more. He's staying in KC because no one has ever offered more. The Chiefs ponied the **** up.

So give them a salary floor. That's the only solution I can see to make them spend more. Shaming them doesn't seem to be working.

If that's true, then yeah...they should be able to push that payroll up when they are needing to lock up some of their guys. The issue for me is this - I have no clue how anyone is certain of what any of these franchises pocket. Apparently the Braves opened their books to some extent? And they supposedly made 100 Million on the year. If this is true (and I don't know for certain whether this is a good faith, legit opening of their books), you can likely extrapolate an approximation of what others are making based on where they fall on the TV contract and payroll spectrum in contrast with Atlanta.

I wonder if they would go for a soft floor kind of like the soft ceiling. So for the smaller markets who receive benefits like picks and profit shares, if they dont meet the minimum then they start losing freebies.

Today's supposedly the deadline to start cancelling actual games. Looks like the owners are going to play hardball and try to put the squeeze on.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MLB today indicated a willingness to miss a month of games and took a more threatening tone than yesterday, sources briefed on the day’s first meeting between MLB and the Players Association tell me, <a href="https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Ken_Rosenthal</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/FabianArdaya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FabianArdaya</a>. Full context of conversation not yet known.</p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1498363900810743810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Whatever.

Both sides don't care about the average fan. So why should I care if players who if they weren't blessed by elite skills would be making 50,000 at a regular job and billionaire owners who only have the teams as play toys miss out?

Players nor Owners give a shit about the fans or they would have gotten things done and not miss a game.


I think it be funny once they resume playing in a month or two or three that they go back to empty ball parks and fans just don't show up because it's their hard earned money paying for tickets.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In talking to someone in management recently, I floated my theory that I didn&#39;t think owners wanted baseball in April, MLB&#39;s worst month That&#39;s why there&#39;s been no rush. And I was told that&#39;d be news to him. That he believed both sides wanted to start season on time. Now this: <a href="https://t.co/kkWxjChh0s">https://t.co/kkWxjChh0s</a></p>&mdash; Dan Connolly (@danconnolly2016) <a href="https://twitter.com/danconnolly2016/status/1498374096404504578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Day 8. Jupiter Summit. Owners’ deadline day. Brought a sketchbook to the ballpark. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLBPA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLBPA</a> <a href="https://t.co/QvwljhQeBT">pic.twitter.com/QvwljhQeBT</a></p>&mdash; Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) <a href="https://twitter.com/dgoold/status/1498330173384675332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Really tired of this. Since MLB locked out the players, I think it's time for the fans to give MLB a taste of their own medicine.

It looks like 7.5 million people have liked MLB on Facebook and 8.5 million are following them. It would be great to see fans unfollow/unlike MLB on social media to make that number fall. Anyone willing to start this movement?

Will it have a great impact? Probably not, but neither does anything MLB is doing (like removing players images/stats from their team websites).

Cancel the season

The NFL Scouting Combine this week will get higher TV ratings than 90%+ of MLB regular season games.

The point?

Yet the local ratings for the home market teams are generally the number one rated tv shows during the season.

No one cares or will notice that baseball is gone.

Local TV stations and RSN’s would get higher TV ratings showing reruns of the NFL Scouting Combine this summer.

That's false

It's popular to bash Derek Jeter but he walked away from the Marlins today because they were being cheap and not willing to spend more on payroll.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Heard Jeter believed going into the lockout that there would be another $10M-$15M that the Marlins would spend on the 2022 roster, and that strategy evaporated during the lockout. It was central to Jeter’s decsion to leave as CEO.</p>&mdash; Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) <a href="https://twitter.com/Joelsherman1/status/1498368516852002818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

MLB has evolved into a regional sport much like the NHL.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It made over 4 billion last season, so ya someone cares enough to spend some money.

I feel like MLB is in a unique situation. It's kind of a dying sport. It's probably one reason the players don't like what they are being offered. As popularity wanes, so does resources and pay.

NBA while it has dwindled a bit in fandom domestically since the 90s - it's made up in the international market. NFL is the NFL and is king and is just a monster so that isn't going away, especially with fantasy football and draft kings coming to fruition. MLS is getting bigger every year.

MLB is just kind of there with a super aging demographic.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Commissioner Rob Manfred on way back: “We’re working at it” <a href="https://t.co/vasSITXu7q">pic.twitter.com/vasSITXu7q</a></p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1498436659746062337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Highly unlikely.

If this is a weird pissing match between the NFL and MLB for you, consider this: When was the last time a MLB game was decided by an arbitrary call by an umpire?

And before you say "wide strike zone"........batters can still swing and make contact.

I like both the NFL and MLB.......but I like the NFL for what it is: strictly entertainment with heavy vegas betting-line influences.

Baseball might be the last pure "sport" left in this world (at least from an outside influence perspective, such as umpires/referees).

Jeezus!

Just institute a salary cap like every other sport & get on with it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Game 6 of the 2015 ALCS comes to mind.

As far as I can tell, unless something actually happened today, MLB and its owners have not been seriously negotiating the entire week as they have not budged on the issues that are actually critical to getting a deal done. I believe they are fully content with another shortened season like in 2020. It would mean paying the players far less and it would still mean they get their all-important playoff revenue in the end.

Better be negotiating steroid use to save baseball again.

Surprising amount of out-of-town baseball fans here now, considering nothing is going on. All getting smashed.

which play?

hell, replay in MLB gets it right 90% of the time or better for bang-bang plays.

point is, there is no arbitrary nonsense call in MLB that puts the other team on the verge of scoring 7 points.

And the World Series beat the NBA Finals in tv ratings.

No shit. National TV contracts bring in a lot of money but the bread and butter of all MLB teams is the local cable/TV contract. Your team matters.

The Yankees on TV only matters to Yankees fans. I didn’t watch an inning of the World Series last year. But watched every inning of my team in the playoffs.

That's not saying much

last year all baseball teams let their pitchers doctor the baseball. No one ratted out anyone. We are doing it, you don’t say anything, you can cheat too. We won’t say anything. It became so out in the open, MLB had to stop it last year.

That’s how ****ed up baseball is now. Cheat to help pitchers and make the game have less offense.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Deal not close, but not impossible. CBT thresholds, prearb pool big issues, among others. MLB has proposed two choices:<br><br>A: 14-team expanded postseason, minimum of ~$700k, ~40m into prearb pool<br><br>B: 12-team expanded postseason, ~$675k minimum, ~$20m into prearb pool</p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1498472526942515206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Significant: Per multiple sources with direct knowledge, the major topic right now -- and holdup -- is not CBT, but whether to expand postseason to 12 or 14 teams. PA wants 12. 14 very important to owners. This has been a big part of today.</p>&mdash; Andy Martino (@martinonyc) <a href="https://twitter.com/martinonyc/status/1498498700598984715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hearing now that players are resistant as a group to 14 teams in the playoffs, and it’s not just 1, 2 or a few against it. Theres’s “widespread consensus” not to go to 14 postseason teams.</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1498507437111918593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Do the owners or players hate the salary cap with players getting a percentage?

Every other sport has it…why doesn’t MLB?

The MLBPA is represented by the top 10% of players making the big money. Are they afraid of losing money while the minimum wage guys finally get paid?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So there will be a 12-team postseason pool and the owners have agreed to have similar luxury tax penalties as the last CBA</p>&mdash; Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1498519584684617728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3 division winners and 3 wildcard teams. Everyone give me your best format for that? <br><br>Can’t simple have 1v6, 2v5 and 3v4. Need to reward division winners more than that IMO <a href="https://t.co/36ib54HNvw">https://t.co/36ib54HNvw</a></p>&mdash; Jomboy (@Jomboy_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jomboy_/status/1498521084076957698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The two sides still have to finalize luxury tax thresholds with tweaks to smaller issues before a deal is reached.</p>&mdash; Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) <a href="https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/1498522630407827456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

At least it seems like there's some optimism. Wasn't sure we'd have any at all today.

MLBN is live covering the negotiations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Current plan is to stay in the stadium and keep talking until a deal is done. Determination to finish this exists.</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1498535106130198532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So glad we're solving the worst problem in baseball - the poor Dodgers having to play a one and one game. NOT FAIR!

They spent $285M last year. They're doing it the way Andrew Miller approves of. They deserve at least best 3 out of 5.

You know what made me pretty sure a deal would get done?

At about dinnertime Bob Nightengale tweeted out that the sides were far apart.

Guys - if Nightengale says something, the opposite is ALWAYS true. He's the CoMo of baseball writers. I have truly no idea how the hell this guy still has a job.

Good.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Shift restrictions have entered the discussion. MLB and players are hitting on everything, which may not be a bad sign.</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1498557243637346305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I was really excited to see Theo Epstein added to a sort of MLB competition committee. That guy is incredibly smart and truly cares about the game.

I'm betting his input will be strongly considered.

This really surprises me, that they are going to probably get this done tonight. Hopefully the players don't have in too much. **** the owners.

I liked Theo's observations and insights but banning the shift is not the answer.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Current plan is to stay in the stadium and keep talking until a deal is done. Determination to finish this exists.</p>&mdash; Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1498535106130198532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Among the biggwst issues left: luxury tax system (the proposed new first threshold starts at $220M &amp; ends at $230), the pre-arb bonus pool (proposed $25M) and the league minimum salary (proposed $675,000 &amp; rising $10,000 a year).</p>&mdash; James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByJamesWagner/status/1498570786294145029?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Looks like they've called it a night and extended deadline to 5 p.m. today. Seems like the players are getting a pretty decent deal. It's not exactly what they wanted, but very rarely do you get exactly what you want in a labor negotiation.

By all accounts the players were trying to ‘make up’ for getting their asses kicked during the previous CBA negotiations.

Once they dispensed with that idea there was some progress.

The PA wasn’t moving for weeks. The owners will always take more shit in these negotiations but the players needed to demonstrate a willingness to deal before this could go anywhere.

What would be the argument against having a quasi Euro soccer rule that a richer club can pay a poorer one to acquire and extend a player in the last year of their contract at a set rate?