2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement Discussion Thread

[Spanky99]

I don't understand why the players are against the expanded playoffs anyway. More teams being competitive means more teams willing to pay for free agents and fewer rebuilding, and more playoff games means more money to the players in the playoffs.

 

I believe t's just used as a leverage point, as it doesn't make sense. We'll likely see 14 teams this season.

[Abomination]

More players playing for free come playoff time.

 

They don't play for free in the playoffs.

[John_Havok]

I don't understand why the players are against the expanded playoffs anyway. More teams being competitive means more teams willing to pay for free agents and fewer rebuilding, and more playoff games means more money to the players in the playoffs.

 

They want expanded playoffs but only to a certain point. If too many teams make the playoffs then it could have the opposite effect they want, in that more teams will choose NOT to invest heavily in players because they’ll just take their chances that they back into the playoffs, get the extra revenue from a few home games and call it a year.

 

It’s a fine balance between the playoffs being important enough to try hard for every year, without it being a participation trophy

[John_Havok]

They don't play for free in the playoffs.

 

Yeah. They don’t make a salary, but they share in a playoff revenue pool that gets split up based on where the team finishes. But, the pool doesn’t just go to players, they vote on how many “shares” end up getting split between the players and other club personnel

[Grant77]

They want expanded playoffs but only to a certain point. If too many teams make the playoffs then it could have the opposite effect they want, in that more teams will choose NOT to invest heavily in players because they’ll just take their chances that they back into the playoffs, get the extra revenue from a few home games and call it a year.

 

It’s a fine balance between the playoffs being important enough to try hard for every year, without it being a participation trophy

 

You just saw it in the NBA where playoff teams actually sold off assets. It will happen in MLB too with 14 teams.

[connorp]

Are we having a board fantasy league if it’s scabs? I call dibs on a team right now

[Abomination]

Are we having a board fantasy league if it’s scabs? I call dibs on a team right now

 

Just bring back retired players. We can see things like Barry Bonds face off against Roger Clemens again!

[connorp]

I wonder if anyone (Yahoo/ESPN) would do it?

[connorp]

Just bring back retired players. We can see things like Barry Bonds face off against Roger Clemens again!

 

BB looks like he’d be slapping singles the other way

[Ehjays]

[Spanky99]

Are we having a board fantasy league if it’s scabs? I call dibs on a team right now

 

Shaddup... ya dingleberry!

[connorp]

Shaddup... ya dingleberry!

 

At this point there’s a better chance of a tall boy staying full in your fridge past the weekend, than having a meaningful bb season. May as well root for some scabs

[Grant77]

Let's watch Spanky and ConnorP go at it in an octagon. That might be better than baseball.

[Laika]

okay but spanky is allowed to fight with foreign objects to keep it fair

[jerb]

 

Jon Heyman

@JonHeyman

 

Contradictory to all the negativity/ upset surrounding the MLB/players talks, one person involved said he believes the sides are now “within striking distance” and a deal could be done be tomorrow night. Luxury tax remains the sticky issue but a 225/230M threshold should work.

[Ehjays]

[connorp]

 

Jon Heyman

@JonHeyman

 

Contradictory to all the negativity/ upset surrounding the MLB/players talks, one person involved said he believes the sides are now “within striking distance” and a deal could be done be tomorrow night. Luxury tax remains the sticky issue but a 225/230M threshold should work.

 

If it doesn’t happen, the source needs to be outed and treated like a piñata

[Ehjays]

[Ehjays]

[connorp]

Someone should create some sort of algorithm and assign sports reporters (really all reporters) a rating. I think it would catch on

[Brownie19]

Bingo. Plus everything is seniority based, which makes sense in theory for vacation time and such, but when it impacts business operations...

 

Quick example. I was working as a Tech Dispatcher and was good at my job. They wanted to move me to a 6am shift as I was fast, organized, and had a good sense of workload requirements, etc. So they wanted me in early to get s*** lined up and in order for when the techs started at 7. Did it for a few months, everything was going well. Someone with more seniority complained cause she wanted the shift. So they had to give it to her. She did it for a couple of months and they ended up getting rid of the shift altogether cause she kept f***ing everything up in the mornings.

 

That's probably my biggest pet peeve. IMO, someone's age has very little to do with how valuable or good they can be. In my work, we stopped giving raised because you got older and started given them based on effort, productivity, innovation and client relations (including how much work you bring in). Obviously it's more difficult to ensure 'fairness' with several different factors - but IMO, it's a f*** of a lot more appropriate than paying someone more because their older than someone else.

[Brownie19]

You just saw it in the NBA where playoff teams actually sold off assets. It will happen in MLB too with 14 teams.

 

I tend to agree. I think 12 is a good number.

[Brownie19]

You don't think the reason Amazon and Starbucks are fighting (in many cases illegally) so hard (in many cases illegally) against locations unionizing is because it will give their employees more power to bargain? They're not doing it because they think some workers are going to start slacking off...

 

I mean - isn't the same argument there for why Amazon/Starbuck's employees want to unionize? So they can get paid more and not have to worry about being fired - even if they are below average workers?

 

Does either company have trouble finding staff? I think (although I don't know) the answer is no. Is that a systemic issue that people don't have a choice? Perhaps it is.....but if low skill workers are going to get paid more, then the highly skill workers do to - and I'm not sure that's going to solve anything.

[BTS]

Rosenthal thread describing the disagreement on playoff format. How are these idiots still squabbling about the playoffs one day before the deadline and large financial bridges still left to cross?

 

[Ehjays]

 

OMG if they go with a GHOST WIN that will make baseball a joke IMO.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Ehjays

[BTS]

 

OMG if they go with a GHOST WIN that will make baseball a joke IMO.

 

Yeah, that was my thought as well. I haven't been following super close, so that was the first I've heard of it. I can't believe that's being discussed this late in the game.

[Ehjays]

and I think Kenny Ken has his example all screwed up. A best of 3 has first team to win 2 advances. But Ghost win my god what a joke.

[Spanky99]

Da fuq are they doing???

[RobinThicc]

Ghost win lol

[Dick_Pole]

I get why they want to do that. So a scrub 78-84 team that finds its way into the playoffs has the odds stacked so heavily against it winning the series that it's a rare occurrence. Because as we know, a 70 win team does have a reasonable shot at winning a three game set over a 90 win team throughout the course of the year. It would be far too embarrassing if it happened in the playoffs more than once in a blue moon.

 

Basically the owners want the extra revenue of playoffs while still trying to maintain the integrity of the regular season. What's the point of having a 162 game season when a 93 win team has a 35% chance of being ousted by a team in the 75-85 win range in a three game playoff?