Baseball strikes out again

By David Mullen

Major League Baseball owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) continue contentious contract negotiations in the coastal Florida town of Jupiter. Their differences seem as far away — and as relevant — as Pluto.

Players who are members of a 40-man roster are not allowed to practice at their team’s facilities. Spring training games in Arizona and Florida have already been compromised. The first few regular season games — scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 31 — have been cancelled. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had set a deadline of February 28 to avoid a delay in the season’s start. That date came and went with no agreement.

At press time, negotiations continue but are reported to be at a standstill, and the start of the regular season has been delayed. 

For baseball fans, after COVID-19 shortened the 2020 season and created an odd 2021 season where some games were played without fans and the Toronto Blue Jays had to find a home outside of Canada, 2022 seemed like a chance for baseball to return to a sense of normalcy. Not if the owners and players can help it. 

Among the issues that owners and players can’t agree upon are players becoming free agents after six full seasons in the majors. The MLBPA wants free agency and salary arbitration to be sooner. There has been a practice by clubs to hold back young, league-ready players until after the season begins. The team gets an extra year of control, so the young player loses contract leverage. The MLBPA wants that clause amended. The MLBPA wants a higher minimum salary. Currently, MLB owners can offer players a minimum contract of $570,500 annually. The owners are willing to go to $700,000. The players want the minimum salary established at $775,000 per year, escalating by $30,000 every year after. The median annual wage of the American worker is $35,000.

In some cases, player’s salaries have been getting smaller. The MLBPA claims collusion. The owners say, “Look at the contract of 23-year-old San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. at 14-years for $340 million.” The Texas Rangers made two key free agent signings in the offseason. Cory Seager received a 10-year, $325 million contract and Marcus Semien got seven years and $175 million. Neither player can pitch. And unlike other sports, contracts in baseball are guaranteed.

There is also concern over tanking for better draft picks. Tanking is when a team allegedly loses on purpose, primarily at the end of the season, to earn a better draft selection. The first-overall amateur draft pick goes to the team with the worst regular-season record. 

Throughout the years 2003-18, which is a fair gauge of a player’s performance or potential — the first overall picks have been Delmon Young, Matt Bush, Justin Upton, Luke Hochevar, David Price, Tim Beckham, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Correa, Mark Appel, Brady Aiken, Dansby Swanson, Mickey Moniak, Royce Lewis and Casey Mize.

Harper, Cole and Correa are stars. Price and Strasburg have had flashes of brilliance but are often injured. Hochevar is 46-65 in nine seasons with the Kansas City Royals. Swanson is a .249 lifetime hitter. Aiken never signed with the Houston Astros and is currently a free agent with a bad elbow. Mize has potential but is saddled with a rebuilding Detroit Tigers club.

Tanking or not, the first overall draft pick guarantees nothing. No Mike Trout, Mookie Betts or Jacob deGrom in that bunch. 

There are other issues like expanded playoffs, pitch clocks, a universal DH and better pay for minor leaguers. But all of those issues seem increasingly irrelevant. The one concern that never seems to be in consideration during contract negotiations between millionaire players and billionaire owners are the people who make the owners and players rich.

Baseball fans.  

In 1994, a labor stoppage derailed the season from August 11, 1994 through April 2, 1995 when MLBPA went on strike. The World Series was cancelled. The Montreal Expos had a team that seemed destined to win their first championship. Led by Hall of Fame players Larry Walker and Pedro Martinez, the Expos were 34 games over .500 after 114 games before the season was shut down.

The Expos are now known as the Washington Nationals.  

Major League Baseball never fully recovered from the 1994 strike. Fans lost interest. If you don’t play baseball in the summer, when no other major sports compete for fan interest, followers look for other things to do. It took a home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 to renew fan interest. It was an epic battle between two superheroes for the single season home run record. Both players eventually found their kryptonite when overpowered by steroid use allegations. And then along came Barry Bonds. How did all that work out? 

Even if the lockout is settled by the time this column gets read, the baseball brass and greedy players have caused irreparable damage to the game. Fans have had enough. The new look Rangers with the heftier payroll were scheduled to open the 2022 season at Globe Life Field in Arlington with a four-game series against the New York Yankees. That series has been cancelled. In a recent statement, Manfred said, “I see missing (regular-season) games as a disastrous outcome for this industry.”

Industry? By definition, an industry is an economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories. Anyone ever consider Wrigley Field or Fenway Park a factory?  Baseball has long been considered the “National Pastime.” A pastime is an activity that someone does regularly for enjoyment rather than work. When work interferes with “an activity that someone does regularly for enjoyment,” the fan base becomes further eroded to the point of no return.

Looking at baseball as an industry further removes the squabbling barons from the people ultimately paying the salaries. Baseball fans won’t take further abuse and alienation. Just ask the few that believed an on-time start to the 2022 baseball season was possible.