glory

If slim Vlad is an average 3B, then moving him back there is a no brainer. My guess is he'd still be below average there, but no where near as bad as pre-2020, so might still be worth it if the upgrade at 1B (Freeman or otherwise) was big enough to justify it.

Based on today's results, seems like the only way baseball will begin (either March 31 or any time after that) is if the players cave. I don't think the owners care if they miss games or even a season. They'll survive. It's the players who lose guaranteed money, lose a year of their careers, etc. I don't think we see a resolution to this any time soon. I hope I'm wrong and they figure something out by Monday, but that's looking like a pipe dream. Last year the Jays missed the playoffs by 1 game in large part due to not being allowed to play home games for 4 months, and now have a roster that on paper looks like it could contend for the playoffs even if they are not expanded and we don't even know when or if the season will begin. Having to sit through the 2017-19 seasons only to get completely screwed when the competitive window begins. Frustrating. I could stomach a 60 game season during the pandemic due to the circumstances, but a shortened season because the two sides couldn't figure out how to split $10b is ridiculous.

Vlad is competent enough at 1B to be there long term so if the team is seriously interested in Freeman, then it would have to mean Vlad to 3B. Moving him to a DH role at age 23 when he's legitimately in the best shape of his life probably wouldn't go over well with him. His IG bio still has "3B" on it, so he probably still wants to be there (or he's too lazy to change his bio, I guess). I'll trust the front office on this one if it actually happens. Freeman is probably going to the first team to give him a 6 year deal, so curious to see if the Jays would actually do it given all their other FA contracts added recently.

The 3B free agent market stinks and Jose Ramirez may not even be available in a trade (especially if expanded playoffs becomes a thing). Moving Vlad back to 3B and either trying to sign Freeman or trade for Olson might be superior options at this point, although that means competing with the Yankees, Dodgers, and Braves for those two players so it won't be cheap.

Yeah, I don't think what the players are asking for is unreasonable, but the entire structure is so different from previous CBA's that it's clearly an attempt to make up for getting screwed in the last one (or last couple). Arb after year 2 + $100-115m pre arb pool + 36% increase in league minimum + 15% increase in CBT (from 2021 to 2022). Again, can the owners afford to make these changes, or at least meet somewhere in the middle on them? Sure, but you can't correct the structure in one CBA. Lay the ground work and then build from there seems like a more realistic way to implement these things. If they agree to a pre arb bonus, even if it's $20-30 million this time around, it's still a new structure built into the CBA that didn't exist before and it can grow over time. You can't make all the money back in one negotiation. If the owners agreed with the $775k minimum, raised the pre arb bonus to say $50m, and did the lottery for the top 7 teams, then maybe the players back off on the CBT increase. If they do all that while getting the 14 team playoff format and advertising on the uniforms, they'd still come out way ahead in the end, but the players would get a win as well. There has to be a middle ground when it's just money, but I don't think either side wants to go there.

Yeah there's no chance any minor leaguer with even a small chance of making the Majors would ever be a scab. They'd be blackballed by the PA. If it wasn't for the stupid antitrust exemption, I'd be rooting for a bored billionaire to create the baseball version of the XFL so that baseball fans could watch nationally televised baseball that hasn't been touched by Manfred or Clark, but unfortunately we are stuck waiting for the two sides to agree, whether that happens in 4 days or 4 months. I'm not a big fan of college baseball, and minor league baseball without 40 man roster players is going to be messy.

Seems like the owners thought the players would fold with the lockout, or at least concede on some important issues because Tony Clark always concedes, but the PA is taking a hard stance this time and I think the owners genuinely have no clue how to proceed from here. They are so used to throwing the PA a crumb and having the PA act like it was a steak dinner. The biggest issue was the lockout beginning on December 1-2 and the owners not coming up with a proposal until 6 weeks later. It was clear from that point that they were just waiting for the players to bend rather than actually wanting to negotiate. At this point I don't care which side "wins", just give me baseball on the regular schedule, but if there is a delay then it's 100% on the owners. They should have been having these types of meetings in Dec-Jan, not just on the final week of a self imposed deadline a few weeks before the regular season.

Starting ST on March 5-6 would make sense with a 2/28 deadline to get a CBA done. Of course, this assumes a CBA will get done by 2/28, and I'm not as confident about that.

I find it very hard to believe that the Jays as is have a top 5 farm system. I think most publications would agree with Kiley/BA's ranking. Although obviously I hope Law ends up being right.

If they are sincere about meeting everyday next week and both sides look at the 2/28 deadline in the same way, then maybe a deal to save the regular season is possible. I won’t hold my breath though.

I think the "choose your opponent" feature is great. No other sport does it, so it would be unique to baseball, and I think in today's clickbait obsessed world it would be a pretty good marketing tool to add drama to the Wild Card round. Of course, they'd have to do it properly. Have a 30 minute special on ESPN where fans get to see the teams choose their opponent live. Have a player representative from each team, preferably the star player, show up on a split screen, and then let that rep announce which team is chosen as the opponent. Might be too gimmicky for some, but I like it. I think with the way bullpens are used in playoff rounds nowadays, a bye into the DS is a real incentive since teams can rest their relievers rather than having to use them excessively to win a 3 game series prior to it. The only drawback is it would allow some mediocre teams into the playoffs, and devalue the long regular season. Ex. the exciting AL Wild Card race last year would have been boring since all 4 of Boston, New York, Toronto, and Seattle would have made it rather than only two of them. They might want to consider shortening the regular season in addition to this change, but it all comes down to money in the end.

12:59 PM @EvanDrellich MLB has arrived to hear the MLBPA’s latest proposal, and thus another collective bargaining meeting begins 1:18 PM @EvanDrellich The meeting between MLB and the MLBPA has ended.

I don't think the next CBA will impact what top earners get. There won't be a salary cap or floor, and the CBT is probably going to increase at least marginally, if not more than that, so I doubt much will change as far as what elite players are getting on the open market unless league revenues suddenly plummet 3 years from now. Whether Soto could get $500m is debatable, but I think he beats what Trout got given his age. Where I agree with you is injury. If he was a FA a year from now then the risk would be considerably less, but 3 years is a long time, and anything can happen. However, if Soto feels he could get more than that by waiting, then I respect that he's willing to bet on himself (or wait for a better offer from the Nats). Also, 350/13 is a little under $27m AAV. That could be viewed as a lowball offer even factoring that he's not a FA for another 3 years. His arb years are going to be high, probably around $60-70m in total. He'd be selling his FA years way short.

Glad Soto turned that down rather than go for the financial security. It’s a risk because a lot can happen in 3 seasons but he has 3 expensive arb years left and then could be a $500m player in free agency (or damn close to it). I’m sure it was hard to turn down $350m guaranteed but when you could potentially get $150m more than that, you have to weigh the risk/reward. Hope he stays healthy and gets to that level after 2024.

Yeah, it seems like if MLB just met the players in the middle on the pre arb bonus pool (say, $50-60m), then they'd probably be close to an agreement. The minimum salary difference seems pretty arbitrary so meeting in the middle there is probably easy, and the CBT issue can probably be resolved by limiting the penalties for going over rather than having to increase it significantly (which I believe MLB started to do by eliminating draft pick loss for going over the first tier but financial penalties still exist). I agree, it would be insane for a $10b business to come to a halt over this. If MLB was asking for a salary cap like they were in 1994, then that type of difference would be difficult to overcome, but this is strictly money. Seems like a pretty damn easy fix if both sides were motivated to get a deal done. The sad thing is, I don't think the the owners realize (or maybe they don't care) what type of damage this would do to the sport. This is an industry that is tied heavily to local cable contracts, and the RSN model is going to have to change significantly in the coming years (which will hurt owners). If there is a lockout into the regular season, then they are risking fan interest and future attendance, which is going to hurt the owners if it leads to a decline in both. No one is breaking Bonds' record any time soon, so even if they juice the hell out of the ball again it's probably not going to save the sport like McGwire/Sosa did coming off the last work stoppage. They really need to figure this out, and within the next 2 weeks.

The "meet in the middle" period comes when both sides feel pressure to make a deal and/or both sides start to lose money. That's probably going to happen some time in the next two weeks because if they want 4 weeks of ST and to start the season on March 31, then they'll need a deal by the end of Feb. That's when (hopefully) the urgency starts to kick in. If not, then who knows when it is. I guess the good thing about their differences is that they appear to be mainly numbers. It's not like one side is saying they refuse to do one thing while the other is continuing to push for it. The MLBPA wants the CBT to start at $245m while the owners want it to start at $214m. The MLBPA wants the pre arb bonus pool at $100m while the owners are offering $15m. The MLBPA wants 12 playoff teams while the owners want 14. The MLBPA wants a set minimum of $775k while the owners want a $615k-$650k-$725k system for the first 3 years of service. They are clearly still far apart but you can meet somewhere in between with numbers, and they seem to agree with the general point of the changes. It's just a matter of which side concedes first, and unfortunately I don't think either side wants to feel like they "lost" when this is over, so stubbornness is a real threat.

They wanted Young instead of Dragic, and they saved a bit of money in the process, which apparently can help them in the buyout market. Although I can't remember a single player the Raptors got in the buyout market except Jeremy Lin during the championship season so not sure how desirable a spot Toronto is in that regard.

At this rate, I'm fine with the deal as long as Nurse plays Thad (he will) and Eubanks (he probably won't). The Thibodeau model of minutes is not sustainable and the Raptors desperately needed some bench bodies that Nurse will actually give playing time to. If that's Thad and Eubanks, then fine. I don't like including the pick, even if it comes with a very high 2nd rounder, and really don't understand why they even had to include it, but at this rate anything that stops Siakam from averaging 43 minutes a game is fine. If only they added a guard to backup Fred. Banton isn't ready yet and Nurse hates Flynn, so one FVV injury and it looks bad.

Yeah I think the only MLB market with any real restriction is Toronto. Owners would be making money in ST and regular season mostly like normal, I would imagine. I guess the owners are ready to take that hit.

Anyone know why Dragic isn't playing or even with the team? He would be a bench piece on a contender, so not sure why he's not playing at all for the Raptors when Nurse is letting 5 guys average like 45 minutes a game the last few weeks. Clearly they can use the bench bodies. I'm sure they will try to move his contract at the deadline, but I think using him as a combo guard off the bench probably would have been helpful leading up to this point. Oh well. Hopefully Masai/Webster can add at least 2 bench pieces (that Nurse will actually play) so the starters can get a little bit more of a breather.

2020: 60 game season, no fans, Buffalo 2021: Couldn’t play home games for 4 months, missed the playoffs by 1 game 2022: Lockout likely to cost games, and there will be little to no fans in attendance for home games at least to start the year It’s straight BS.

Sounds like the QO will still exist, but the team that signs the FA doesn't lose anything anymore. My guess is they will keep the other part of the equation, meaning the player would get the choice of 1/18 (or whatever the QO is in that particular year) or test free agency. Team gets a pick if qualified FA signs elsewhere. I'm just assuming that's what it is, but I think the main point is that teams will no longer be penalized for signing free agents. I still can't believe the MLBPA agreed to that rule in the first place. According to Passan the two sides are meeting again tomorrow. Looking more and more like ST will be delayed. Now it's just a matter if they are crazy enough to have this bleed into the regular season. If they are, then they deserve whatever consequences that come out of it.

I wonder if Bonds would have gotten voted in, even with the PED cloud over his head, if he didn't break Hank Aaron's record. I feel like with Ortiz, brushing aside that he was popular and well liked by the media, was harmless to the "integrity" of the sport that old baseball men seem to love throwing in everyone's face. Bonds holds the single season HR record and the all time HR record, both while he was presumed to be (likely was) using PED's. Those are two of the most sacred records in the sport and he holds both. He may have gotten extra penalized for that. Regardless, the reaction to this has been insanely negative, so at least the BBWAA are getting the backlash they deserve.

You know this is bad when athletes/media from other sports are talking about how ridiculous this is. I’m actually fine with Ortiz making it but not including Bonds is not going to help the league with fans. Hopefully he and Clemens get in via that committee that voted Baines in.