MLB Teams Told To Operate Under Assumption Of No Universal DH In 2021

[TURBO]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/mlb-rumors-universal-dh-2021.html?fbclid=IwAR3C_GJSOk11D6pCkJPRGogeQqkXJcUHjdYiLdAip9ZL4AHdNQ1JL871RGs

[SeaBass]

Translation: Once we've made it through 2020 & 2021 we still have a nice awesome work stoppage to look forward to because negotiations between MLB and the Players is where baseball goes to die. They can't even agree on the Universal DH, a thing that makes so much sense and is supposedly 100% likely to happen anyway.

[TURBO]

What possible reason would the players have to be against the universal DH?

[SeaBass]

They're not. The last thing I heard, and this is pretty dated, like weeks/months, was the owners wanted the players to agree to expanded playoffs like we had last season in return for the Universal DH. The players are not exactly gung ho about that, they want compensation for the additional playoff games that would result.

 

So we're back to money. To me, the joke is that the owners want the players to give something up when the whole DH rule was botched way back when AL owners instituted it and NL owners didn't. Players had nothing to do with that.

[RightFieldCoder]

So the clear answer is to remove the DH rule.

 

Both sides are using the situation to leverage for more money.

[markedman5]

It’s always about money......in any negotiation.......players want it.....owners will want something in return to approve the change.

 

Normal operating procedure.........nobody to blame.....it’s just business.

[Axman59]

This is a collectively bargained issue. Owners are not going to agree to a DH in the NL in 2021 for nothing. Nor should they. It would appear whatever concession the owners want has not be agreed to. So there will be no DH in the NL for 2021. It's as simple as that.

[Eye Black]

The fact that the DH is clearly being withheld to use as leverage in labor negotiations rather than a decision based on what is actually best for the sport sort of sums up everything we need to know about the current state of MLB.

[SeaBass]

I'd argue that the MLB clubs probably benefit from having a universal DH just as much, if not more, than the players. On the players side it only adds 15 DH spots. That's nice and all but the DH only type of player seems less abundant than they used to be. So it seems likely that DHs are going to be players teams would roster anyway and would have to be capable of playing defense at least some of the time. I think clubs benefit from having more offense, more innings with sustained rallies, and their expensive pitchers won't be exposed to as much risk of injury.

[Jopal78]

Owners want expanded playoffs. The players don’t get paid for playoffs. This the owners offered universal DH to get the players on board with the expanded post season in 2022 he Union rejected it. They’re such dysfunctional groups, they’ll kill off their sport before long

[Brewers Numbers]

Both sides want it, they just don't want to offer it for free.

[Brewers Numbers]

Both sides want it, they just don't want to offer it for free.

[StearnsFTW]

The fact that the DH is clearly being withheld to use as leverage in labor negotiations rather than a decision based on what is actually best for the sport sort of sums up everything we need to know about the current state of MLB.

 

Pretty much. And the norm for the last 50 years.

[SeaBass]

My earlier point was this one should be a layup. The fact that they're nitpicking over it to this degree when there's so much other crap where they're even further apart doesn't bode well for 2022.

 

I also feel like the players have made concessions in the "speeding up the game" policies that have been enacted recently that they've accrued some leeway where owners wouldn't use this particular issue to extract a pound of flesh for something they want equally as much as the players do. Maybe they've secured other things in compromise that I'm not remembering though or there's something already promised in the give/take for those concessions.

[MrTPlush]

COVID probably isn't helping the cause. They probably didn't have serious discussions while trying to figure out how to make a 2020 season work...and probably not when the season was going on. Didn't give them a whole lot of time to negotiate before we quickly got into the thick of the offseason.

[monty57]

I'd argue that the MLB clubs probably benefit from having a universal DH just as much, if not more, than the players. On the players side it only adds 15 DH spots. That's nice and all but the DH only type of player seems less abundant than they used to be. So it seems likely that DHs are going to be players teams would roster anyway and would have to be capable of playing defense at least some of the time. I think clubs benefit from having more offense, more innings with sustained rallies, and their expensive pitchers won't be exposed to as much risk of injury.

 

The DH allows older, more expensive players to extend their careers. The union gets a percentage, so they'd rather see a 41-year old Albert Pujols taking up a roster spot at $30,000,000 than a young up-and-comer taking up that spot for league minimum. I think NL teams have "lost out" on a lot of big name free agents over the years because they haven't been willing to add the extra years to the end of the contract.

 

It seems that teams have been smarter about this over the past few seasons (which had the union screaming "collusion"), so it may not have as big an effect going forward, but the union absolutely wants the DH to be instilled in the NL.

 

The fact that the DH is clearly being withheld to use as leverage in labor negotiations rather than a decision based on what is actually best for the sport sort of sums up everything we need to know about the current state of MLB.

 

I think that's been an argument used against collective bargaining since collective bargaining began.

[owbc]

I'm sick of watching 3TO baseball and used to no baseball in the spring/summer, so if we have to sacrifice another season to get the needed changes, then so be it.

 

It feels inevitable and I'd rather blow it up than suffer through the inevitable progression toward every offense in MLB looking like the 2020 Brewers.

[jerichoholicninja]

I don't care one way or another what they decide but for MLB to not give them a definite answer this far into the offseason is asinine.

[Eye Black]

So how do we feel about starting pitchers heading to the plate next season after many won't have swung a bat in > 18 months?

[jerichoholicninja]

So how do we feel about starting pitchers heading to the plate next season after many won't have swung a bat in > 18 months?

 

Won't make a difference in the results. And if guys are afraid of getting hurt swinging the bat they should probably start working on that now.