Thank you Observer.

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Set it to 235M and let's get on with Spring Training, at least until Putin nukes the entire world into oblivion because he's mad at his generals.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Jon Heyman is the only one saying this. Everybody else says they are pretty far apart and that meetings this weekend actively pissed off the players.

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Luxury tax should be easy. Just meet in the middle.

Have a bonus pool for the young non-arbitration players who succeed.

Give the players as much of a say as owners on how the game is to be played. Players aren't blind. They see bullpen pitching getting abused. They see the one size fits all approach of ALL 32 teams. They see the apathy in the stands at the lack of balls in play. They see 3rd basemen not getting paid to play SS.

The owners don't really want April baseball. It's just something to do between Spring Training and when the kids get out of school.

The owners also know that at the present moment the Biden administration is too busy with other crises to have Congress angrily yank baseball's antitrust exemption.

Finally, to use some Chicago examples, the owners know that Ian Happ isn't really worth 8x more salary than Rafael Ortega, and that whatever "name" 2B the White Sox bring in won't be that much better than Leury Garcia. So for players to insist that salaries rise just so they can rise is a fool's errand.

On a different note, Derek Jeter quit as President of the Marlins today, citing philosophical differences with ownership. Could it be that Jeter wanted to vote for a softer settlement and his owner overruled him?

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Jeter fired

updated - it said he resigned.

Disagree. Games in April translates to TV revenue. so yes....the owners do want baseball in April. These TV revenues even offset running partial ballparks in shitty April weather.

I completely agree that paying Ian Happ or Leury Garcia more money is ridiculous and foolish. If anything, those are the players that should get squeezed financially in all of this. It won't happen, though. Any increase in salaries that should be directed toward rookies will just get funneled to the journeyman middle aged players.

I don't believe any talk that they're close. If they were close that all could have been settled months ago.

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We canceled our Cubs trip to Yankees Stadium and are just doing the Vegas leg. I am not waiting around for these guys to figure out how to carve up billions of revenues.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

And I'm sure that the business owners in Arizona and Florida are counting their losses of revenue.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

We lost our Yankees trip in 2020 due to Covid. Sucks we are losing it again.

Between the slow pace of games, players unable to put the ball in play, and unloading of bullpens, I have already soured on the game I love most. Playoff expansion is a terrible idea too.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I was thinking of taking my dad to the Cubs series in Toronto and getting him one of those rooms that overlook the field. I don't know if they will play interleague or if Canada will be on full lockdown

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I'm still planning on going to minor league games most Tuesdays starting in early May. But I have no plans yet to travel to see any major league games, although I might hit a game in Pittsburgh or Atlanta this year, not necessarily involving a Chicago team.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

We had actually be kicking around the idea of heading south for a couple weeks and Arizona was on the list. I loved spring training. Life made it a harder trip than it needed to be but this strife put a big damper on getting it set up. I find myself spending less and less time on the game that I consider my first love of sports and not missing it.

Also, on Sunday I cancelled my MLB.tv subscription which was set to renew today, and put Other-Lockout as the reason. I get the radio feed through my SXM subscription.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I agree that the CBT and bonus pool issues should be capable of resolution. Both sides seem prepared to allow each of those things to exist and the difference in their dollar positions are not that great when you consider MLB'S overall revenue. Also, it's not like an increase in the CBT threshold would necessarily force the owners to spend more money, it's not a mandatory salary floor.

I've heard the players want to end revenue sharing, that could be a more bitter pill for many of the owners to swallow. However, if they agree to raise the minimum salary and make reasonable concessions in the CBT and bonus pool areas, I expect the players would relent on the revenue sharing issue.

Marlins record under Jeter's leadership:

218 Wins 327 Losses

The Score.hosts & Kap demonizing the owners, and portraying most players as paupers makes for horrendous radio.

When Tom Rickets & Jed show up the next time on their shows it'll be back to ass kissing time as usual.

Can't wait for the "J-Hey Kid" quotes once the dust settles on the hardships he's endured.

I'd thought about the same thing for a few years when the White Sox moved out to Arizona. And aside from my desperation between February and May I tend to fall into love of the pro games.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Fuck the owners.

Fuck the players.

Fuck Rob Manfred.

Fuck Major League Baseball.

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Fixed. This one is squarely on the scumbag owners reaping massive capital gains and borrowing or extorting for big new revenue streams.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Players aren't blameless.

They get the fuck you too.

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Ok; but not to the same degree. This is 1981 all over again.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Not good.

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Yeah I gotta side with Reader on this. Twice in the last three years the players have wanted to negotiate and the owners didn't.

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No its not the same degree of blame.

Owners 85%
Players 15%

I hate everyone right now, though.

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MLBPA will be cutting checks to players of approx. $15,000 a month starting April 1. I thought it would be much more.

The players wouldn't negotiate to bring baseball back from COVID. The owners wanted more games and more money for everyone. They said "Tell us when to show up as you are allowed to".

Did the players even offer a counter proposal?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm telling you it's mostly the players. You will see.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The owners are greedy as hell and don't give two shits that they're damaging the sport and Rob Manfred is the worst commissioner in the history of North American sports.

I knew Mully was blindly optimistic this morning when he said a deal was close because the owners extended talks by a day. It seemed clear to me the owners just wanted to be able to say they exhausted every possibility.

To be honest, I'm fine having more free time in Mar/Apr/May instead of watching Frank Schwindel and the rest of the castoffs that will be foisted on us. When the game returns in June or July, I'll be there.

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