When Does The Lockout End? Answer: March 10th, 2022

[torts]

Looks like this is going to possibly get done today!

[Brock Beauchamp]

Looks like a 12-team playoff won out! (instead of 14)

Good news, for sure. I've somewhat resigned myself to expanded postseason. I don't like it but I don't really hate it, either.

 

But I hate the idea of nearly half the league (14 teams) making the postseason. That's just nonsensical in baseball. Twelve teams in the postseason would actually be pretty reasonable if the league stops exhorting existing cities to buy teams new stadiums and just adds two new expansion teams. It has been almost 25 years since the last expansion, it's probably time to add two more.

[monty57]

I don't hate either side. I cheer for the Brewers, so I hope their players do well and I want the owners and management to make good decisions to keep the franchise "sustainably competitive."

 

There is a lot of money involved, and I understand that both sides want to keep a good share of that money for themselves. At the end of the day, most of this doesn't affect me much, so I just hope that they are able to sign a deal, and that deal won't make the uphill climb that small market teams already have even steeper.

 

Brewer management has done a good job of putting together a team of players who have a legitimate shot of winning it all. Let's get the CBA done and start playing baseball!!

[nate82]

Looks like a 12-team playoff won out! (instead of 14)

Good news, for sure. I've somewhat resigned myself to expanded postseason. I don't like it but I don't really hate it, either.

 

But I hate the idea of nearly half the league (14 teams) making the postseason. That's just nonsensical in baseball. Twelve teams in the postseason would actually be pretty reasonable if the league stops exhorting existing cities to buy teams new stadiums and just adds two new expansion teams. It has been almost 25 years since the last expansion, it's probably time to add two more.

 

There is definitely going to be expansion. What MLB is waiting on is for the Rays and A's stadium issues to be resolved first. The A's look like they are close to either moving to Vegas or staying in Oakland. The Rays situation is going to take a little bit longer. If the Rays don't get a new stadium they will definitely get moved from Tampa Bay as MLB is going to force them to move. The stadium the Rays are playing in is just not up to MLB standards. MLB would like to keep two teams in Florida so Orlando or Jacksonville would be in play here.

 

I don't see either city building a new stadium for the Rays so that may rule out the two teams in Florida. The next options are Charlotte and Nashville. Currently Nashville has the best chance to get a team followed by Las Vegas, Montreal and Mexico City. Yes MLB does want to expand to Mexico and they are very serious about getting a team in Mexico.

 

If the Rays and A's stay where they are at then I think the two cities that will be added will be Nashville and Las Vegas. This could then add new AAA cities as both Nashville and Las Vegas are currently AAA cities and I doubt MLB will allow for a MLB and AAA team in the same city.

 

 

Hopefully there a deal can be completed today as this has dragged on for far to long already.

[JackNicholson1974]

would that mean we are in for four, 4-team divisions? I hate small divisions, but if everyone is making the playoffs anyone, then I guess it doesnt matter.

[GreatNWwi]

 

If the Rays and A's stay where they are at then I think the two cities that will be added will be Nashville and Las Vegas. This could then add new AAA cities as both Nashville and Las Vegas are currently AAA cities and I doubt MLB will allow for a MLB and AAA team in the same city.

 

 

The St Paul Saints are the Twins AAA affiliate. MLB may or may not like it but they do allow it.

[nate82]

would that mean we are in for four, 4-team divisions? I hate small divisions, but if everyone is making the playoffs anyone, then I guess it doesnt matter.

 

I think the MLB wants to return to the 2 divisions in the AL and NL. There could be some realignment based on regions but I am not sure how that will work as MLB isn't really set up all that well for this.

 

There have been some rumors where it will be split up like the following adding two more teams would even this out more one in Nashville for the AL south and one in Vegas to the NL West:

 

AL East:

Yankees

Red Sox

Blue Jays

Orioles

Mets

Phillies

Nationals

Pirates

 

AL South:

Braves

Marlins

Rays

Astros

Rangers

Royals

Diamondbacks

Nashville (Expansion)

 

NL North:

White Sox

Guardians

Reds

Tigers

Twins

Brewers

Cubs

Cardinals

 

NL West:

Dodgers

Giants

Angeles

Padres

A's

Mariners

Rockies

Las Vegas (Expansion)

 

This would suck for the Pirates but it is where they belong geographically and it is not like they have been all that competitive in the NL Central either with one large market team and one mid market team. The Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Rockies could be in different divisions ideally I think MLB would want to keep the Diamondbacks in the West but that would then mean either moving the Rockies to the North and the Cardinals to the south. Like I said previously MLB isn't really set up for this but it is something that MLB has discussed as a possibility of 2 divisions in the AL and NL. This would help with the playoffs as you only have two auto spots and the rest would be dependent on record. But if that is the case it would probably just be best to go the NBA route and just remove the divisions and just go with the best 7 records and that is how the seeding is determined. Only use the divisions to plan out the schedule and that is it so travel isn't a nightmare for the teams.

[nate82]

 

If the Rays and A's stay where they are at then I think the two cities that will be added will be Nashville and Las Vegas. This could then add new AAA cities as both Nashville and Las Vegas are currently AAA cities and I doubt MLB will allow for a MLB and AAA team in the same city.

 

 

The St Paul Saints are the Twins AAA affiliate. MLB may or may not like it but they do allow it.

 

I doubt MLB will allow for an expansion team to have a AAA affiliate and an MLB team in one city it just doesn't make any sense at all. It also makes more sense for MLB to grant a new AAA city especially after MLB gutted the minors in 2021.

[markedman5]

Looks like this is going to possibly get done today!

 

Or not……

[KeithStone53151]

 

NFL Salary Cap 2012: 120.6 million

NFL Salary Cap 2022: 208.2 million (72.6% growth)

 

NFL Average Salary 2012: 1.9 million

NFL Average Salary 2022: 2.8 million (47.4% growth)

 

NBA Salary Cap 2012-13: 58 million

NBA Salary Cap 2021–22: 112.4 million (93.8% growth)

 

NBA Average Salary 2012-13: 5.15 million

NBA Average Salary 2021-22: 8.25 million (60.2% growth)

 

MLB Total Payroll 2012: 3.15 billion

MLB Total Payroll 2021: 4.05 billion (28.6% growth)

 

MLB Average Salary 2012: 3.2 million

MLB Average Salary 2021: 4.17 million (30.3% growth)

 

Comparing leagues honestly isn't super relevant. What really matters is how much did revenue increase from 2012 to 2021 and did the players get a fair share of that increase. I was able to find an estimate of $7.5B revenue in 2012 and $10.7B in 2019. 2020 was an odd year and i can't find a 2021 estimate, and regardless it's unlikely revenues in 2021 are greater than 2019 considering partially filled stadiums. That's still a $3.2B increase in revenue of which the players got $0.9B or ballpark 30%. That's low considering NFL players get 48% of revenue and NBA players get 50%. MLB players get a lower percentage of revenue than every other major sport and it appears to be shrinking.

 

I think part of the owners belligerence is each franchise probably lost money in 2020 and they aren't happy about it.

[KeithStone53151]

 

MLB owners are reeeeeeally good at manipulating the media to their benefit.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

 

MLB owners are reeeeeeally good at manipulating the media to their benefit.

 

I agree to a point, but I highly doubt it's all smoke. A lot of gray area to try to figure out.

[AZBrewCrew]

Cancellations imminent

 

[ewitkows]

if they don't get a deal done today, they'll probably take a break and come back in a month. It's going to be awhile till we see MLB baseball

[owbc]

I don't see what's going to change between now and a month or two from now. Most of the damage will be done once Opening Day is officially canceled.

[AZBrewCrew]

Manfred Mann holding a press conference at 4pm MKE time

[homer]

Manfred Mann holding a press conference at 4pm MKE time

 

That made me laugh harder than it should have

[sveumrules]

Robert Manfred is an anagram for Mr. Boner Farted.

[owbc]

Great, a victory press conference for the Manfred Man, celebrating his achievement of getting Opening Day canceled so the owners can pay lower salaries this year.

 

He should resign.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I really hope the media puts the owners and Manfred on blast for the way they've handled this situation. I've seen a lot more anti-owner media pieces than back in 1994 but we also haven't seen a lot of "casual" media coverage of this yet and now that Opening Day is being cancelled, we'll likely see a lot more "I barely understand this situation but am covering it anyway" coverage from large media sources.

[SomewhereInTime]

Two out of three years with games lost due to labor disagreements. Might be a while before you see sold out games in Milwaukee again. I know I can't imagine paying for tickets again anytime soon.

 

And all of that on top of the all-star game fiasco last year. What a terrible commissioner and group of owners.

[torts]

Jeff passan with the best tweet

“The concerns of our fans are at the very top of our consideration list.” — Rob Manfred, on the day MLB canceled regular-season games, during a league-initiated lockout

[gebc1997]

2021 : 570k minimum salary

2022 : 700k

 

2021 : no bonus pool in existence for younger talented player

2022 : 30 million set aside for those players

 

2021: 210million threshold for cbt taxes to kick in

2022 : 220 million

 

2021 : 15 dh full time jobs

2022 : 30

 

2021 : regular old style draft

2022 : top 5 picks are determined by lottery

 

2021 : draft picks are tied to some free agent signings

2022 : no draft picks tied

 

2021 : top 2 in Roy voting get nothing for that

2022 : top 2 get an automatic full year of service

 

2021 : 10 teams in the playoffs

2022 : 12 teams in the playoffs

 

Sounds like a reasonable move to help the younger players get more early money and to protect them from some service time manipulation

 

I understand that players salaries haven't increased that much over the last few years, but a lot of that has to do with the new modern way of evaluating talent and its dollar worth

 

This league is for us, not for the players.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Two out of three years with games lost due to labor disagreements. Might be a while before you see sold out games in Milwaukee again. I know I can't imagine paying for tickets again anytime soon.

 

And all of that on top of the all-star game fiasco last year. What a terrible commissioner and group of owners.

I think all we need to know about the priorities of the owners is that Dick Monfort, owner of perhaps the most incompetent organization in the sport, is their lead negotiator.

 

Just ugh.

[jjgott]

Labor Woahs Officially Not Solvdd