I first want to thank you for your continued support of the great game of baseball. This past season, we were reminded of how the national pastime can bring us together and restore our hope despite the difficult challenges of a global pandemic. As we began to emerge from one of the darkest periods in our history, our ballparks were filled with fans; the games were filled with excitement; and millions of families felt the joy of watching baseball together.
That is why I am so disappointed about the situation in which our game finds itself today. Despite the league’s best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26 year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired. Therefore, we have been forced to commence a lockout of Major League players, effective at 12:01am ET on December 2.
I want to explain to you how we got here and why we have to take this action today. Simply put, we believe that an offseason lockout is the best mechanism to protect the 2022 season. We hope that the lockout will jumpstart the negotiations and get us to an agreement that will allow the season to start on time. This defensive lockout was necessary because the Players Association’s vision for Major League Baseball would threaten the ability of most teams to be competitive. It’s simply not a viable option. From the beginning, the MLBPA has been unwilling to move from their starting position, compromise, or collaborate on solutions.
When we began negotiations over a new agreement, the Players Association already had a contract that they wouldn’t trade for any other in sports. Baseball’s players have no salary cap and are not subjected to a maximum length or dollar amount on contracts. In fact, only MLB has guaranteed contracts that run 10 or more years, and in excess of $300 million. We have not proposed anything that would change these fundamentals. While we have heard repeatedly that free agency is “broken” – in the month of November $1.7 billion was committed to free agents, smashing the prior record by nearly 4x. By the end of the offseason, Clubs will have committed more money to players than in any offseason in MLB history.
We worked hard to find compromise while making the system even better for players, by addressing concerns raised by the Players Association. We offered to establish a minimum payroll for all clubs to meet for the first time in baseball history; to allow the majority of players to reach free agency earlier through an age-based system that would eliminate any claims of service time manipulation; and to increase compensation for all young players, including increases in the minimum salary. When negotiations lacked momentum, we tried to create some by offering to accept the universal Designated Hitter, to create a new draft system using a lottery similar to other leagues, and to increase the Competitive Balance Tax threshold that affects only a small number of teams.
We have had challenges before with respect to making labor agreements and have overcome those challenges every single time during my tenure. Regrettably, it appears the Players Association came to the bargaining table with a strategy of confrontation over compromise. They never wavered from collectively the most extreme set of proposals in their history, including significant cuts to the revenue-sharing system, a weakening of the competitive balance tax, and shortening the period of time that players play for their teams. All of these changes would make our game less competitive, not more.
To be clear: this hard but important step does not necessarily mean games will be cancelled. In fact, we are taking this step now because it accelerates the urgency for an agreement with as much runway as possible to avoid doing damage to the 2022 season. Delaying this process further would only put Spring Training, Opening Day, and the rest of the season further at risk – and we cannot allow an expired agreement to again cause an in-season strike and a missed World Series, like we experienced in 1994. We all owe you, our fans, better than that.
Today is a difficult day for baseball, but as I have said all year, there is a path to a fair agreement, and we will find it. I do not doubt the League and the Players share a fundamental appreciation for this game and a commitment to its fans. I remain optimistic that both sides will seize the opportunity to work together to grow, protect, and strengthen the game we love. MLB is ready to work around the clock to meet that goal. I urge the Players Association to join us at the table.
Manfred
Originally Posted by The Franchise:
Only an idiot defends the owners and the billions that they’re making each year.
OK, now I see. So people that own a sports franchise should be slammed for making money even though that's the point of any business? So owners should just not maximize their profits? Every big business on the planet does what they have to do to max out profits but in sports the owners are perceived as evil for trying to get the most bang for their buck.
I am not defending the owners. They are just as bad as the players. They all are greedy fucks. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Red Dawg:
OK, now I see. So people that own a sports franchise should be slammed for making money even though that's the point of any business? So owners should just not maximize their profits? Every big business on the planet does what they have to do to max out profits but in sports the owners are perceived as evil for trying to get the most bang for their buck.
I am not defending the owners. They are just as bad as the players. They all are greedy ****s.
The owners aren't evil for trying to make money. They're completely full of shit, though, for sending out their errand boy Manfred out to argue that they're not making loads of money off owning these teams. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I think the players offering to raise the pre-arb bonus pool from $10 million to $100 million (down from $105 million) isn't any sort of 'offer' at all. That's an invitation to go **** yourself. Get serious about that conversation.
And at last check, the owners had accepted the minimum salary proposal.
So the MLB was going to raise the pre-arb pool from 5M to just 10M, and the players were originally asking for 115M. I don't think that's fair to say they weren't asking for enough when it's 115% more than the MLB's lousy 5M increase. I know the MLBPA backed off the proposal for super 2 status qualifications, but do we know where they had supposedly settled on the pre-arb pool number? Or is that still one of the hang ups? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower:
Deaden the ball?
Raise the mound?
Both?
I personally don't like watching people strike out. I just hate it. If the ball was constantly in play it would be much more entertaining. But it's just a boring sport, it is what it is. We wouldn't like it if it wasn't America's past time when this nation started to be a world power. The only reason any of us like baseball is because our parents watched it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
I personally don't like watching people strike out. I just hate it. If the ball was constantly in play it would be much more entertaining. But it's just a boring sport, it is what it is. We wouldn't like it if it wasn't America's past time when this nation started to be a world power. The only reason any of us like baseball is because our parents watched it.
Parents never watched baseball. I started watching it when I was 13 or 14 because I loved to play. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Red Dawg:
OK, now I see. So people that own a sports franchise should be slammed for making money even though that's the point of any business? So owners should just not maximize their profits? Every big business on the planet does what they have to do to max out profits but in sports the owners are perceived as evil for trying to get the most bang for their buck.
I am not defending the owners. They are just as bad as the players. They all are greedy ****s.
You are just so dumb that it's pointless to have a discussion with you. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
I personally don't like watching people strike out. I just hate it. If the ball was constantly in play it would be much more entertaining. But it's just a boring sport, it is what it is. We wouldn't like it if it wasn't America's past time when this nation started to be a world power. The only reason any of us like baseball is because our parents watched it.
respectfully disagree.
I love watching baseball because I played the sport for quite some time, and can appreciate a 9-8 game full of home runs, as well as a 1-0 pitcher's duel.
A strikeout is somewhat equivalent to watching a D-lineman stuff a run for -1 yard (you hate to see it happen to you, but love to see it when it's your team doing the stuffing). [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
The only reason any of us like baseball is because our parents watched it.
Not true. Maybe I'm speaking for just myself, but I love baseball. Played it since I was 5. Played catch with the old man and my best friend in the front yard. I can still hear the sound of that loud pop when a hard thrown ball hit the mit in the sweet spot. I had a 'foolish' childhood dream to play pro ball, eventually realized my potential wasn't good enough, and when I watch games now, it is somewhat of a satisfaction of someone living out my dream. I still get goosebumps when I drive through a small town and see the glow of the lights in the distance. There, some kid isn't satisfied until his uniform is dirty. The smells, the sounds, the feel of hitting the ball, the chatter in the dugout, the feeling of wearing the uniform, all of it. I loved it all.
So I watch baseball because I loved to play it, and I enjoy watching it. Even in today's style, I get satisfaction in admiring a nasty slider or changeup that buckles a hitter at the knees. There's more strikeouts today, but I still find things to admire about the game. And someday, they will make some changes to the rules to 'add more excitement'. I won't like it at first, but I'll still watch. And I'll find new things to admire.
I won't deny, it's lost a lot of popularity, and to the younger generation it's probably 'boring'. But I watch it because I love the game. [Reply]
I think a lot of people are baseball fans because they played it as a kid.
In small town rural America, especially before the late 1990's, the only option for kids to play organized sports was little league. Basketball and football weren't nearly as accessible and in most cases, didn't even exist for kids younger than junior high.
Baseball was the defacto kids game everywhere I ever lived. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
I think a lot of people are baseball fans because they played it as a kid.
In small town rural America, especially before the late 1990's, the only option for kids to play organized sports was little league. Basketball and football weren't nearly as accessible and in most cases, didn't even exist for kids younger than junior high.
Baseball was the defacto kids game everywhere I ever lived.
Nailed it. Football will always be my favorite, but baseball was different for the reason you are saying. I was wearing a uniform at the age of 5. That didn't happen in football or basketball until I was in the 7th grade.
I figured the emergence of traveling baseball over the years would have led to a bigger audience, but it really hasn't. It may have hurt it. It may have caused too big of a gap between the better players and the average players turning the average players away too soon. [Reply]
Sources: Angels, Diamondbacks, Reds and Tigers owners opposed MLB luxury tax increase to $220 million. MLB also proposed including player meal money in calculation of luxury tax, which irked players. https://t.co/gBKrqAx9wV
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
I think a lot of people are baseball fans because they played it as a kid.
In small town rural America, especially before the late 1990's, the only option for kids to play organized sports was little league. Basketball and football weren't nearly as accessible and in most cases, didn't even exist for kids younger than junior high.
Baseball was the defacto kids game everywhere I ever lived.
Back yard baseball games with all the kids in the neighborhood were fucking lit! [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
The problem was that we could always find at least three guys to go play some form of football.
Baseball takes at least 5 or 6 along with a bucket of baseballs and a damn big open space.
The logistics were just a lot tougher
That’s why we played wiffle ball! 2 on 2. Small yard worked. “Ghosty” runners. Nobody wanted to go retrieve the ball when we fouled it into the old lady’s yard next door. Man she was mean. [Reply]