At its own self-imposed deadline for reaching a new CBA with the players, after months of alternating between silence and terrible offers, Major League Baseball decided to start making threats. A more self-aware body would know that it has no high ground here, but they don’t care about high ground. Only short-term dollars.
The threats:
MLB today indicated a willingness to miss a month of games and took a more threatening tone than yesterday, sources briefed on the day’s first meeting between MLB and the Players Association tell me, @Ken_Rosenthal and @FabianArdaya. Full context of conversation not yet known.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 28, 2022
The rhetoric is ratcheting up. As @EvanDrellich said, MLB suggested in the first meeting with the MLBPA today that the league is willing to cancel a month's worth of games. What that means, or whether it's simply a threat, is unclear, but players have taken it as a clear threat.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 28, 2022
So, again, MLB owners started the lockout, did nothing for six weeks, and then have made terrible offer after terrible offer. And now they threaten to cancel a month of the season. You’ll forgive me if I fall back into my cynicism and say: this is exactly what was always intended. Either the players were going to accept a ridiculously unfair deal, or a chunk of the season was gonna get lopped off. That was always the plan. Period.
Call it a planned disaster:
Remember this quote from Rob Manfred:'
"I consider missing games as a disastrous outcome for this industry."
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) February 10, 2022