MLB - NEWS & NOTES

To Our Fans:

I had hoped against hope that I would not have to be in the position of canceling games. We worked hard to avoid an outcome that is bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs.

I want to assure our fans that our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort on the part of either party. The Players came here for nine days, worked hard and tried to make a deal. I appreciate their effort.

Our committee of Club representatives committed to the process, offered compromise after compromise, and hung in past the deadline to exhaust all efforts to reach an agreement.

So far, we have failed to achieve our mutual goal of a fair deal. The unfortunate thing is that the agreement we have offered has huge benefits for fans and players.

We have listened to the Players Association throughout this process. A primary goal of the Players Association has been to increase pay for younger players. As I have said previously, we agree and share that goal. We offered to raise the minimum salary to $700,000, an increase of $130,000 from 2021. We offered to create an annual bonus pool of $30 million for the very best young players. In total, we are offering a 33% raise to nearly two-thirds of Major League players and adding more than $100 million annually in additional compensation for younger players.

The proposal also addressed player and fan concerns about issues like service time and competitive issues. Baseball would for the first time have a draft lottery -- the most aggressive in professional sports. Also, for the first time ever, we agreed to an incentive system to encourage clubs to promote top prospects to their Opening Day rosters. We also proposed that the first and second-place finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting in each league would receive a full year of service.

The MLBPA asked to make free agency more robust. For the first time ever, we agreed to eliminate direct draft pick compensation, a change the MLBPA has sought for decades. On the Competitive Balance Tax, we offered a significantly larger first-year increase than in the last two agreements, bearing in mind that the Competitive Balance Tax is the only mechanism in the agreement that protects some semblance of a level playing field among clubs.

The International Draft would have more fairly allocated talent among the clubs and reduced abuses in some international markets.

We also listened to our fans. The expanded playoffs would bring the excitement of meaningful September baseball and postseason baseball to fans in more of our markets. While we preferred a 14-team format, when the format became a significant obstacle, we listened to the players’ concerns, and offered to compromise by accepting their 12-team format.

Finally, we offered a procedural agreement that would allow for the timely implementation of sorely needed rules like the pitch timer and elimination of shifts to improve the entertainment value of the game on the field. And we agreed to the universal DH.

So, what is next? The calendar dictates that we are not going to be able to play the first two series of regular season games and those games are officially canceled. We are prepared to continue negotiations. We have been informed that the MLBPA is headed back to New York meaning that no agreement is possible until at least Thursday. Currently, camps could not meaningfully operate until at least March 8th, leaving only 23 days before scheduled Opening Day.

We played without an agreement in 1994 and the players went on strike in August, forcing the cancellation of the World Series. It was a painful chapter in our game’s history. We cannot risk such an outcome again for our fans and our sport.

The Clubs and our owners fully understand just how important it is to our millions of fans that we get the game on the field as soon as possible. To that end, we want to bargain and we want a deal with the Players Association as quickly as possible.

Mr Manfred

 

Rob Manfred can fuck all the way off

 

The players are retards, the owners actually are offering an over the top fair deal

 

No, they’re not. And they haven’t negotiated in good faith, either.

Stay classy.

 

MLBPA makes new offer, but sides remain far apart

The MLB Players Association delivered its latest proposal to Major League Baseball on Sunday, as the two sides met in New York City for roughly 90 minutes.

The union lowered its ask for a pre-arbitration bonus pool from $85 million to $80 million, a source said, though there was no change in its proposal for the competitive balance tax.

MLB has offered a CBT threshold beginning at $220 million, increasing to $230 million by the final year of a new CBA. The MLBPA’s proposal would begin with a $238 million threshold, rising to $263 million by year five.

According to the source, the union agreed to the implementation of non-monetary penalties for clubs that exceed the CBT threshold if the qualifying offer system is eliminated. MLB has offered to eliminate that system in multiple offers, taking away Draft-pick compensation for free agents.

The MLBPA also proposed to implement three specific on-field rules changes beginning in 2023 with 45 days of notice: a pitch clock, a ban on infield shifting and larger bases. The league has also been seeking to add an automated strike zone, though the union has not agreed to that to this point.

As for the Draft lottery, the sides remain one pick apart, with MLB offering a system to award the top five selections and the MLBPA seeking the top six picks.

“We were hoping to see some movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly,” said MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin. “The Players Association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward. On some issues, they even went backwards.


“Simply put, we are deadlocked. We will try to figure out how to respond but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”

MLB’s most recent offer came on Tuesday while the sides were meeting in Jupiter, Fla., a proposal that included a significant increase in minimum salary (from $570,500 to $700,000), a $30 million pre-arbitration bonus pool, an item on fighting alleged service-time manipulation, a limit on how many times a player can be optioned each season and an additional $23 million in amateur spending per year.

Expanded postseason has also been an issue; the league is seeking a 14-team field, though the union prefers 12. MLB’s most recent offer included different financial parameters for both formats.

No further meetings between the two sides are currently scheduled.

MLB.com

 

MLB and MLBPA agree to new CBA pending ratification

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, paving the way for the 2022 regular season to begin on April 7.

The CBA must still be ratified by both sides before it becomes official. Once that happens, Spring Training camps are expected to open on Sunday, bringing the three-month lockout to a close.

The deal came to fruition a day after MLB postponed Opening Day until April 14 in the absence of a new agreement and announced that each team’s first four series were removed from the schedule. However, as part of this agreement, a full 162-game schedule will be played, and the four series that were previously removed from the calendar will be rescheduled. The makeup games that came as a result of the delay will be rescheduled as nine-inning doubleheaders.

The new five-year CBA is expected to include increased minimum salaries, a new pre-arbitration bonus pool to reward the top young players in the game, a raise in competitive balance tax thresholds, the introduction of a universal designated hitter, the widest-ranging Draft lottery in pro sports, a system to prevent alleged service-time manipulation, limits on the number of times a player can be optioned in a season and a 12-team postseason. There will also be the evaluation of an international Draft.

Once the CBA is finalized, teams around the league will turn their attention to completing their offseason business, as more than 200 players remain on the free-agent market, including notable names such as Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman, Kris Bryant and Trevor Story.

MLB.com

 

Can’t even a little bit wrap my head around the Braves letting Freeman walk.

 

I guess Olson will save the day... but., Freeman walking is indeed a head-scratcher.

 

They gave up a TON for Olson, too.

 

3rd baseman Chapman to the Jays for 4 prospects...

 

Freeman, Dodgers reportedly agree to $162 million, 6-year deal

 

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Wake up, Twins fans. You have a new superstar starting shortstop.

While most of the baseball world soundly slept in the 1 a.m. ET hour of early, early Saturday morning, the Twins pulled off a stunner by agreeing to terms with Carlos Correa on a three-year, $105.3 million deal with opt-outs after the first two seasons, a source told MLB.com's Jon Paul Morosi. The club has not confirmed the deal. The agreement was first reported by Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston.


The move marks the biggest commitment to a free agent in Twins history, surpassing the four-year, $92 million contract they gave Josh Donaldson two offseasons ago. Coupled with the Twins' acquisition of Sonny Gray from the Reds earlier in the week, Minnesota is clearly postured to try and win big again now, one season removed from a surprise last-place finish in the American League Central.

 

Just thought I’d post this in case Catfish is out there lurking somewhere…

 

Jose Ramirez
Dollar for dollar, this is the best player in MLB.

20 RBI's and 2 grand slams in 11 games....did I mention his glove?

 

Jose is and has been one of my favorites in the MLB... what a start! Cleveland caught the White Sox last night for a 1st place tie also.
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On a side note; Miguel Cabrera went 3 for 4 vs the Yankees last night... he's at 2999 hits.

 

Miggy just hit 3000 !!!

 

Last one we’ll see for a long time. Maybe ever.

 

The umping has been short of good so far... downright crazy calls at times.

 

Yeah they are way too inconsistent. And I hate how different umpires have their "own" strike zone. What the hell is that? A strike is a strike.... I think we are quickly getting to a point where technology will take over the calling of the pitches.