Marc Normandin – Baseball Prospectus ($): Good faith negotiating is an interesting concept though it’s one that is only ever trotted out when the larger party with more power feels as if they were somehow wronged. Major League Baseball accusing the Major League Baseball Players’ Association or negotiating in bad faith is hilarious. For the past ten or so years MLB has done nothing but negotiate in bad faith, they continue to negotiate in bad faith, and there’s no reason to think they will ever negotiate in good faith.
Craig Edwards – FanGraphs: The thing with MLB owners is that they are owners of baseball teams. It may seem silly to point this out, but it’s often the case that MLB owners operate as if the point of their teams isn’t to play baseball games. The negotiations to start the 2020 season have been ample evidence of this fact. Over and over again the players have said they are ready to play, and the owners have continually tried to negotiate down the number of games played. If you don’t want to play baseball then you probably shouldn’t own a team.
Michael Baumann – The Ringer: After years of the MLBPA rolling over to the demands of the owners it is clear that the owners have no idea how to react to an MLBPA that is willing to stand up to them. The hilarious thing is that the players still aren’t standing tall enough and have actually offered plenty of concessions. For an ownership group that has grown accustomed to getting 100% of what they want they weren’t willing to settle for a mere 90% of what they want. Hopefully, the Union continues to stand taller and taller, owners are useless anyways.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – Unknown
