MLB returns April 7th

[Taro Tsujimoto]

 

[John Price]

There is no danger of any game being cancelled, relax.

Not yet. But given the animosity between both sides it could very well stretch into February or March.

 

[GKJ]

So what can I expect to happen here?

Rule changes and robot umps don’t seem to apply here.

 

[Blitzkrug]

There is no danger of any game being cancelled, relax.

Depends. General feeling from insiders is this isn't getting resolved soon. That pension thing shows the owners look like they're digging trenches and getting ready to stay a while.

How long this lockout goes will be decided by the players. They'll either cave or also dig their heels in for a long stay as well.

I know a buddy of mine thinks this stretches to the All Star break at most but idk. I can't see either side just setting revenue on fire like that

 

[These Are The Days]

The game is dying because half of the league is nothing more than a feeder system for BiG Boiis who have no idea how to build a team and the sum of the average fan's hope is to be the Kansas City Royals or this year's Atlanta Braves. To make good on what little 3 year window you have before going back to purgatory. You wanna kill a sport? 20-30 years of fans sitting through another rebuild so teams like the Mets and Angels can throw idiot contracts around year after year and f*** that up too because they have no idea how to build a team. Them not winning doesn't define parity. It defines decades of other markets suffering for their ineptitude.

The whole "baseball isn't interesting enough" thing is a cop out. People are sick and tired of knowing they don't have a shot in hell and knowing that in 3 years their favorite player is going to LA or the Big Apple. The NBA won't be far behind soon

 

[IU Hawks fan]

The game is dying because half of the league is nothing more than a feeder system for BiG Boiis who have no idea how to build a team and the sum of the average fan's hope is to be the Kansas City Royals or this year's Atlanta Braves. To make good on what little 3 year window you have before going back to purgatory. You wanna kill a sport? 20-30 years of fans sitting through another rebuild so teams like the Mets and Angels can throw idiot contracts around year after year and f*** that up too because they have no idea how to build a team. Them not winning doesn't define parity. It defines decades of other markets suffering for their ineptitude.

The whole "baseball isn't interesting enough" thing is a cop out. People are sick and tired of knowing they don't have a shot in hell and knowing that in 3 years their favorite player is going to LA or the Big Apple. The NBA won't be far behind soon

Difference is tons of fans realize that NBA teams don't matter. It's a player's league, about creating their own legacies, like golf.

 

[These Are The Days]

Difference is tons of fans realize that NBA teams don't matter. It's a player's league, about creating their own legacies, like golf.

Well you're correct because the NBA has almost always been that way and long time fans will get it. To read the story of the NBA is to essentially read the story of the Lakers and Celtics with a few interruptions of their dominance. But the advent of the social media age and press glorification/condemnation of the "super team" phenomenon (and the overall dilution of the NBA product) is going to continue to exacerbate the league's problems.

MLB has taken probably 50+ years to get to this point. The NBA has had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James etc for its whole existence and it allowed for the survival of a league that had few relevant teams. What do you think is going to happen when the NBA no longer can market a generational athlete and has 25 fanbases who KNOW they have no shot in hell?

I give them 15-20 years before they start having "MLB problems" under these conditions

 

[John Price]

So what can I expect to happen here?

Rule changes and robot umps don’t seem to apply here.

A lockout until February where both sides reach an agreement

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The game is dying because half of the league is nothing more than a feeder system for BiG Boiis who have no idea how to build a team and the sum of the average fan's hope is to be the Kansas City Royals or this year's Atlanta Braves. To make good on what little 3 year window you have before going back to purgatory. You wanna kill a sport? 20-30 years of fans sitting through another rebuild so teams like the Mets and Angels can throw idiot contracts around year after year and f*** that up too because they have no idea how to build a team. Them not winning doesn't define parity. It defines decades of other markets suffering for their ineptitude.

The whole "baseball isn't interesting enough" thing is a cop out. People are sick and tired of knowing they don't have a shot in hell and knowing that in 3 years their favorite player is going to LA or the Big Apple. The NBA won't be far behind soon

That's a cop out. The real issue is cheap owners pocketing the money they're getting to balance out revenue differences.

Low revenue teams like the A's Pirates, Rays, have gotten $40-$60 million per year per team in recent years from revenue sharing.

 

[Terry Yake]

 

[John Price]

Be surprised if this goes past February

They know that if the regular season is involved the fans are going to tell both sides to just f*** off and go to the table and negotiate.

Then again the last "indicator" we had between the two in a COVID shortened season was very bitter. Manfred basically told the MLBPA "take it or leave it, if you refuse this offer we're not having baseball at all" so the MLBPA was kind of blackballed into accepting a much shorter 60 or so game sched.

 

[These Are The Days]

That's a cop out. The real issue is cheap owners pocketing the money they're getting to balance out revenue differences.

Low revenue teams like the A's Pirates, Rays, have gotten $40-$60 million per year per team in recent years from revenue sharing.

Have we seen the figures justifying this? How do we know revenue sharing isn't paying for the next year's roster and ownership isn't eating other losses? Claiming the owners are pocketing the money is speculation until proven otherwise.


Edit: And this argument is absolutely ridiculous because the issue of competitive balance doesn't lie in revenue sharing. It's that talent wins championships and teams are dropping $300+ million deals like dimes and all the revenue sharing in the world ain't gonna help small market teams afford deals like that. The inability to over a quarter billion dollars to a superstar doesn't mean "Oh my God the owner is Scrooge McDuck" it means that the top teams have so much money you can set up a revenue system and all someone has to do is call 1-800-THE-METS and behold your team gets to recover from losing a superstar and you get to watch them f*** up and not win the World Series again.

 

[NJDevs26]

Be surprised if this goes past February

They know that if the regular season is involved the fans are going to tell both sides to just f*** off and go to the table and negotiate.

Then again the last "indicator" we had between the two in a COVID shortened season was very bitter. Manfred basically told the MLBPA "take it or leave it, if you refuse this offer we're not having baseball at all" so the MLBPA was kind of blackballed into accepting a much shorter 60 or so game sched.

I'm a lot less pessimistic now than I was right after that happened, for one simple reason - neither side can really get away with crying poor and how the sport's on the brink of ruin after all the contracts that have already been thrown around this offseason. If we had another offseason like two years ago where the collusion word was being thrown around and Machado/Harper negotiations went into March that'd be another story. Or if it was only the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers and other big markets throwing around contracts as opposed to also getting plenty of action from the Rangers, Mariners and Tigers.

 

[guinness]

I'll be honest, I'm probably turning into an old crank, but the older I get, the less I care about sports. College too.

The level of money, greed, I just see it through adult eyes, and would rather spend my money elsewhere. Way back when, when the NHL locked out in 1994, I cared because I was teenager and didn't have the same level of other things to worry about, like my parents did.

But now? Big meh, let baseball continue to hurt themselves.

 

[Boeser Fan]

I'll be honest, I'm probably turning into an old crank, but the older I get, the less I care about sports. College too.

The level of money, greed, I just see it through adult eyes, and would rather spend my money elsewhere. Way back when, when the NHL locked out in 1994, I cared because I was teenager and didn't have the same level of other things to worry about, like my parents did.

But now? Big meh, let baseball continue to hurt themselves.

Over 14,000 posts on a hockey board with other sports discussion kinda contradicts that statement

 

[These Are The Days]

Over 14,000 posts on a hockey board with other sports discussion kinda contradicts that statement

After almost 20 years? Homie has had a long time give up in a ratio that barely makes more than 2 posts a day.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

The system seems pretty dumb. Like Josh Donaldson was an elite player (7 WAR) by 27 and when did he really start to get 20 mil+, like 31. At which point his best days health wise are over, and he never gets the mega contract.

It seems designed to not just have the Yankees and Red Sox take people's stars when their prime is tarting. Why not just have a salary cap? Or go the other way and let the Yankees pick these guys in their prime off and dominate like they did for all of 1900s and accept your European soccer type system where the rich teams kick everyones ass, it makes you different at least than the other sports like NFL and NHL that like parity and everyone having a shot when they get in the playoffs. The middle ground is worst.

 

[Voight]

The system seems pretty dumb. Like Josh Donaldson was an elite player (7 WAR) by 27 and when did he really start to get 20 mil+, like 31. At which point his best days health wise are over, and he never gets the mega contract.

It seems designed to not just have the Yankees and Red Sox take people's stars when their prime is tarting. Why not just have a salary cap? Or go the other way and let the Yankees pick these guys in their prime off and dominate like they did for all of 1900s and accept your European soccer type system where the rich teams kick everyones ass, it makes you different at least than the other sports like NFL and NHL that like parity and everyone having a shot when they get in the playoffs. The middle ground is worst.

Exactly. Outside of a handful of guys, many never get that massive contract because by the time they are eligible, they are closer to the end of their prime. Now and then you have lucky guys like Pujols who were elite right away and thus signed multiple lucrative deals but the majority of guys dont make the league until their mid/late 20s and by the time they can test free agency they are 30+.

 

[These Are The Days]

The system seems pretty dumb. Like Josh Donaldson was an elite player (7 WAR) by 27 and when did he really start to get 20 mil+, like 31. At which point his best days health wise are over, and he never gets the mega contract.

It seems designed to not just have the Yankees and Red Sox take people's stars when their prime is tarting. Why not just have a salary cap? Or go the other way and let the Yankees pick these guys in their prime off and dominate like they did for all of 1900s and accept your European soccer type system where the rich teams kick everyones ass, it makes you different at least than the other sports like NFL and NHL that like parity and everyone having a shot when they get in the playoffs. The middle ground is worst.

A salary cap would make too much sense. Therefore it won't happen. Something something "Only small market team's owners are Scrooge McDuck" something something "it's their fault" and that's based on them not being able to afford $300+ million deals like revenue sharing is supposed to even put a dent into such a cost for a player.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

A salary cap would make too much sense. Therefore it won't happen. Something something "Only small market team's owners are Scrooge McDuck" something something "it's their fault" and that's based on them not being able to afford $300+ million deals like revenue sharing is supposed to even put a dent into such a cost for a player.

Revenue sharing gives enough to cover the annual cost of every big contract except for a handful.

No excuse to not keep your young stars

 

[guinness]

Over 14,000 posts on a hockey board with other sports discussion kinda contradicts that statement

Not really. ~20 years ago, I was in college, and priorities change. I just happen to be at HF almost as long as Gee Wally or klingsor. But even then, most of my posting was actually never much on the main hockey board, but the non-sports ones or the Red Wings one, as the Avs rivalry was still a thing.

So many memes, like puck poise.

I no longer live in my home state, and have been gone for over a decade, and when I lived in California, I did follow baseball more than I probably had since a kid, but ultimately adult me with adult money is also more jaded with how the MLB handles things. 2017 WS did not help.

If baseball goes through another protracted lockout, I don't know if I'll be itching to come back soon, which is a shame, as just going to the various parks can be a nice experience. Minor league ball can still be fun.

But like anything else, vote with your wallet.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

MLS is salivating at the though of being the only men's league to play next summer.

 

[SSF]

Haha MLS wont be the only league playing next summer. This is brinkmanship at its finest.

 

[Canes]

MLS is salivating at the though of being the only men's league to play next summer.

The vast majority of MLB fanbases are older and couldn't care less about soccer. The MLS already has pretty good attendance for the most part so unless MLS can leverage a MLB lockout for a new TV contract to replace their joke of a contract they have now, it won't matter much.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

The vast majority of MLB fanbases are older and couldn't care less about soccer. The MLS already has pretty good attendance for the most part so unless MLS can leverage a MLB lockout for a new TV contract to replace their joke of a contract they have now, it won't matter much.

I wouldn't say that. There are still a sizable younger audience they can grab, who otherwise wouldn't watch MLS.