NEW YORK — Commissioner Rob Manfred is scheduled to address the media on Thursday and is expected to deliver the biggest blow yet of the MLB lockout.
In that address, which will take place on the final day of the Owners Meetings in Orlando, Fla., Manfred is expected to deliver the news that spring training will be delayed. If he does make that announcement, it will be the first real indication that a March 31 opening day is not just a longshot, but improbable.
Pitchers and catchers have a report date to spring camps early next week. With Manfred and owners continuing to lock out the players, and no agreement in place on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, major league players on 40-man rosters will still not be permitted to use their team’s workout facilities nor speak to coaching and front office staffs nor, you know, play big league ball.
MLB’s quarterly gathering of owners began on Tuesday, with Sandy Alderson representing the Mets and Hal Steinbrenner repping the Yankees. The current labor battle remains at a standstill after last week’s twist, when MLB requested a federal mediator to become involved in negotiations before the Players Association promptly denied that request. The players union urged Manfred and MLB to stop wasting time, meet them at the table, and make a counter proposal. Instead, in the past six days, MLB has continued to drag its feet, refrain from meeting the MLBPA executive subcommittee, and fail to make a counteroffer.
The current stare down between MLB owners and players is the result of a deep distrust between the two sides. Players believe MLB is not bargaining in good faith and MLB continues to prove them right. Only the players have been open and clear about what they’re asking for in the new CBA. Only the players have countered, swiftly, to resemble an actual negotiation. Only the players have submitted their latest offer, while asking the league to stop sidestepping the bargaining process and suggest a counterproposal.
Core economic issues are the biggest sticking point for MLB, even though the Players Association is not asking for much. The MLBPA wants a bump in minimum salary, teams to stop tanking and being uncompetitive so that they can get a higher draft-pick position, and for the luxury tax not to act like a salary cap.
While a glass-half-full optimist might hold out hope that Manfred could announce something positive on Thursday, those who have been closely watching the league shoot itself in the foot these past couple of years are expecting bad news. Fans can look no further than 2020, when MLB delayed the season over revenue concerns, largely due to butts being glued to couches rather than stadium seats in a global pandemic. For weeks, and then months, MLB implied the sport would end up in financial disaster if players did not accept lesser salaries to make up for the lack of tickets and concessions.
Two years ago, Manfred and MLB attempted to pit the fans against the players by making the latter out to be greedy for wanting their full prorated salaries. Nothing changed this time around when the lockout was imposed. In Manfred’s first statement about the lockout, in which he absurdly said MLB was “forced” to take that action, the commissioner again tried to smear the players by suggesting that they’re being stubborn and unreasonable.
“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,” Manfred said on Dec. 2. “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.”
Manfred continued: “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.”
Fans should be offended that MLB thinks paying customers will still buy this baloney. The owners’ unyielding inaction and unwillingness to significantly move on economic issues is plain to see. Over the 43 days after Manfred’s initial statement, the league wasted time by sitting on its hands, resistant to making a counteroffer. In the four meetings since MLB finally decided to meet at the table, very little bargaining has been accomplished besides concessions from the players.
In exchange for the players agreeing to expanded playoffs and advertisement patches on uniforms, both of which are highly lucrative gains for the league, MLB has barely budged on economic issues that are important to the MLBPA. No, we are not counting MLB’s acceptance of a universal DH or the elimination of draft-pick compensation for free agents as “wins” for the players. Both of those issues were expected to be included in the new CBA.
If Manfred on Thursday announces the expected, a delay to spring training, he can point to the owners as to why baseball fans, for the second time in three years, will not have any games to watch or attend. There must be some unity for a new CBA to work. Until MLB parts ways with its usual strategies — gaslighting fans, dragging the players down, crying wolf on loss of revenue despite lucrative TV deals and expanded playoffs — there is little “good faith” involved in these labor talks. And the players union is strong in its implication that, while there is no good faith, there is no deal.
