MLB Owners Lock Out Players in Battle Over the Game’s Economics

WSJ ^ | December 2, 2021 | Jared Diamond

[Gil4]

Long suffering Pirates fans have a deep understanding of tanking.

It's not really tanking if they don't use it to stockpile draft picks and prospects in order to try to win. "Tanking" for 30 years is really just sucking.

[j.havenfarm]

Thanks for the stats. I’m willing to work for the minimum wage!

[MinorityRepublican]

There was economics version 1.0 before Covid, and there is economics version 2.0 after Covid. If you look around, I’d say at least a dozen clubs are marginally making it (meaning they have five or six decent players only because of the TV contract). Count in the other fact that most all clubs are laughing at agents trying to talk up 7-year contracts.

This time, owners might hold the cards. As long as they are willing to shut down 2022 season over it. Marginal teams like Pirates, Royals, A's would rather have no deal than to take a bad deal with the players' union.

[Fury]

My guess is it will be resolved by mid-March at the latest.

You would like to think so. In this day or so many choices for sports snd entertainment, MLB risks driving away more fans.

[pepsionice]

It might be interesting to open the books....I suspect there’s only ten clubs (Dodgers, Yanks, Red Sox, Braves...among them) that generate enough to be in the ‘high-group’. There’s probably five or six at the bottom....where there’s no real profit under the Covid era. The rest are in some middle-ground where they carry a carefully planned budget.

[Alberta's Child]

I seem to remember the NHL going through the same thing a couple of times in the last 15 years. Some of the contracts were front-loaded with huge salaries for one year because the owners and players knew a portion of that season was going to be canceled and the salaries adjusted accordingly.

This affected my NJ Devils directly in a couple of ways after the 2012 season. First, they lost one of their best players (Zach Parise) as a free agent because he anticipated a lockout in 2012-2013 and demanded a huge signing bonus up front to minimize its impact on him (the team was in financial distress and couldn’t come up with $10M+ cash up front for a signing bonus). Then, star Ilya Kovalchuk retired unexpectedly after the shortened 2012-13 season, just three years into his huge 15-year, $100 million contract. The 2012-13 lockout was one of the main reasons he left the NHL while he was still in his prime.

[cowboyusa]

They will work it out by Febuary.

[Alberta's Child]

Free agency seriously damaged MLB, but not for the reasons you describe. The Yankees may have won in 1977 and 1978, but the core of that team had been assembled before free agency. And that team had an awful time in the 1980s when they tried to build their rosters through free agency. They went through the longest World Series drought in the team’s history between their 1981 loss to the Dodgers and their mini-dynasty of the late 1990s.

What makes free agency so destructive for many fans is that it disrupts the continuity of team rosters and makes it impossible for fans to get attached to their favorite teams when the rosters change so much from year to year. Look at a typical pro athlete who retires today and notice how many different teams he’s played for over the course of his career. It’s gotten ludicrous for many of these guys.

[NautiNurse]

"Tanking" for 30 years is really just sucking.

Truism of the day!

[Ahithophel]

I think this strike will go through June

Heard about a lockout by the MLB owners but not a strike. Please, elaborate on the strike of which you speak.

[nutmeg]

Thanks for the ping. I admit I haven't had a chance to follow any of this (with our 'moving' etc. chores).

Does this mean no Spring Training as usual in March 2022?