NEWSLETTER
I never used to drop the electronic term “LOL.” I found it juvenile and unnecessary, given the existence of “haha” if you were trying to express to the recipient that you found their joke, or your own, humorous.
But as I got more and more Online, I couldn’t help but pick it up, partly because it’s ubiquitous and it just digs its claws into you, but also partly because – for me – there’s something extra cheeky and almost sarcastic about it. Like, “can you even believe this shit, LOL.” I drop it when I’m just shaking my head at the beautiful absurdity of the world.
Like, can you even believe this shit, LOL:
A decision in the Kris Bryant case is expected by the end of the month, possibly next week. Bryant has 2 years to go before free agency but he is grieving that, claiming it should be 1 year based on service time. Ruling will affect his trade value.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 16, 2020
You’d be a fool to expect any kind of firm timeline at this point for a grievance that is approaching kindergarten, but the “end of the month” is a couple weeks away at this point. Josh Donaldson has now signed, so the pedal is to the floor in terms of the Cubs’ presumed ability to feel out the Bryant trade market … EXCEPT for the existence of this grievance.
I also increasingly wonder about the length of time the decision, itself, is taking – all the briefing and evidence was completely and totally submitted in December.
Specifically, it makes me wonder if the arbitrator suspects his decision is going to be controversial, and thus he’s taking an extra long time to craft the language perfectly. Understand: if he were to rule that the Cubs did (somehow) violate the CBA in the process of promoting Kris Bryant in order to hold down his service time, he is essentially calling into question nearly every single promotion decision under the current CBA. Because there is not explicitly language in the agreement that prevents anything the Cubs did. So a ruling that holds them accountable would have to be on the basis of some kind of good faith and fair dealing concept, and that blows up – for all practical purposes – the entire CBA as it relates to service time. It would be a potentially groundshaking decision, and one that would have to be very, very carefully crafted. It would take a long time to write.
I’m not saying the length of time here means that Bryant is going to win his grievance, and I would say that it still seems more likely than not that he won’t. For all we know, the decision takes a long time to craft in the other direction for all the same reasons (you think the league doesn’t want this decision to have *perfect* language in it for the upcoming CBA negotiations?). I’m just saying, in my experience doing the law thing, sometimes you did see tough, controversial judicial opinions taking a little longer to craft.
And now, we continue to wait.
