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 Vladimir_Kyrilytch:
I'm disappointed so many of you root for the Royals. I've always considered the Royals to be completely classless.
Sources: Freddie Freeman negotiations expected to reach a conclusion in next 24 hours and possibly by the end of tonight. Dodgers have made a strong offer, and it is unclear if the Braves will match it.
Context on Dodgers and Freddie Freeman:
He is represented by the same agency as Clayton Kershaw, who just agreed to a new contract with the team, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal.
Universal DH also provides flexibility to have Freeman/Muncy/JT in same lineups.
Originally Posted by BWillie:
Hey dickhead, you are on a KANSAS city chiefs message board, with a god damn Chiefs hat on your dog..and you hate the Royals? Go **** ya self
Royals maybe shit, but they are our shit.
Hey fraud. Im not here trying to pimp a broke dick website that had shit odds when I was in college. In Russia.
You can take your weak ass affiliate game back to the late 90s you relic. [Reply]
Sorry willie im sure your mom loves you. Next time dont stress with a real baseball fan, a real gambler. Im not your mark, shiny as your shoes might be. [Reply]
Welp, now that we're an Internet-only home because Google Fiber dropped their TV service/offering, it's going to be fun to see how much it's going to dig into what we're saving to watch our Royals on TV... [Reply]
Originally Posted by Capt_Von_Trapp:
Banning extreme shifts won’t affect the game?
I don't believe it goes into effect until 2023.
2022 is just gonna be the same ol' shit product we got in 2021. Too many teams in the post-season creating too little incentive to improve your squad. Too few balls in play. Too many mediocre athletes on the field. Too many teams not even attempting to compete.
If you're going to burn this much goodwill with the fans, you might as well come back with a better product than they got in 2021.
The two sides got together, spent 2 months throwing darts at each other and will present the fans with the same staid, boring, aesthetically appalling garbage game they gave them last season. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Vladimir_Kyrilytch:
Sorry willie im sure your mom loves you. Next time dont stress with a real baseball fan, a real gambler. Im not your mark, shiny as your shoes might be.
You can now be a real baseball fan somewhere else. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Vladimir_Kyrilytch:
Hey fraud. Im not here trying to pimp a broke dick website that had shit odds when I was in college. In Russia.
You can take your weak ass affiliate game back to the late 90s you relic.
Lol whut...I still sign up ppl but my website is poker driven. Almost everyone that sign up plays poker, not the pit games but I do have a few of those. Its a way for serious grinders to not have to play for free - get RB, more rewards etc
While most of those websites are offshore...they arent Russian. [Reply]
