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Strange that I'm not seeing any stories about negotiations resuming. Or not resuming. Seems like it would be newsworthy either way almost two weeks later.

 
Courtesy of the Athletic, here's a good breakdown of key dates to be worried about as far as lockout goes:

So be conservative and say that spring training 2022 would need to be, at minimum, four weeks long. Then your deadline for a deal is really about March 1, or the days leading up to it to allow for travel. Opening Day is scheduled for March 31, so if we’re in late February and a new deal hasn’t been agreed to, they’re on the brink of jeopardizing Opening Day. And if they can stomach a three-week camp again, then the deadline is about a week into March.

 
They're moving the LF fence out at Camden Yards.  Upgrade John Means and any other Orioles pitcher you dare to draft accordingly.

Oh, and there's a negotiating session on Thursday.

 
Travis Snider has decided to retire after eight Major League seasons.

"I have contemplated this day for for a while but the time has finally come for me to hang up the spikes," he wrote on Instagram.

"I have spent many waking hours and sleepless nights trying to find a way back to the show. How to fix my swing. How to be a better teammate and a leader. What I have learned through those experiences is what gives me the confidence in this transition to becoming a 'former player.'"

Snider, who turns 34 next month, last played in the Major Leaguers in 2015 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the 14th overall pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2006.


@Northern Voice

 
BeTheMatch said:
This season isn't happening unless the players completely cave. MLB simply refuses to negotiate. Their "offers" are a complete joke. They're clearly trying to bust the union.
The Atlanta Braves have been hesitant in signing Freddie Freeman to a long-term deal because of the financial strain it would place on their budget.

The owners of the team released their year end summary this week: https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2022/02/25/the-atlanta-braves-financials-are-public-and-baseball-was-very-good-to-them-in-2021/

Over half a billion in revenue, with almost 180 million in profit.

Atlanta made 6 million dollars for every home game. 

 
A 100 game season sounds awesome. I loved the covid season because every game actually mattered. A 162-game season followed by a short playoff series is ridiculous. Hopefully they don’t reach a deal till June. 

 
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The Athletic not mincing words in their articles on yesterday's developments.

Ken Rosenthal;

The players’ union made moves on Saturday, moves it considered significant toward reaching a new collective-bargaining agreement. Major League Baseball responded by raising a collective middle finger.

Many of the league’s “concessions” — a draft lottery, provisions to limit service-time manipulation, the amount of money it is willing to devote to a pre-arbitration bonus pool — are just slightly above the inclusion of floor mats by a car dealer in the purchase of a new vehicle. Heaven forbid the owners negotiate the actual price of the car.

On the luxury tax, the owners on Saturday improved their original proposal by increasing the threshold by $1 million in one of the five years of the agreement, and decreasing the penalties to levels still above those in the previous CBA. For additional fun, the league also tried to link the expanded playoffs, the union’s most valuable bargaining chip, to the draft lottery, an anti-tanking measure that, without additional provisions attached, might have minimal impact. The “deal,” the equivalent of Mike Trout for a Triple-A reliever, was the second time the owners tried such a stunt. The first was before the 2021 season when they attempted to secure expanded playoffs in exchange for the universal DH.

Which raises the question: Who is running this show anyway?

Manfred can’t deal with this union? He breathed life into this union. Yes, his job is difficult, more difficult than many of us know. But it’s his responsibility to lead the owners, and by extension the sport. Give him credit for this much: He said missing games would be a disastrous outcome for the industry. On that point, he’s about to be proven right.

Evan Drellich:

They could have postponed Opening Day a long time ago.

Two days before a deadline that MLB imposed for the 2022 season to start on time, and 86 days after the league started a lockout, the owners’ message to players remained the same: You’re not getting anything close to what you want without a fight. Your wallet will suffer before we bend. If you want change, it will cost you games and money, and fans will be at your Twitter doorstep, haranguing you to get back on the field.

The daily volleys in negotiations, including the latest flurry of proposals on the sixth straight day of talks, have told the same story over and over. On Saturday, MLB offered to increase the luxury-tax threshold by $1 million in just one of the next five seasons, as dramatic a chest poke as one could imagine in these negotiations.

 
A 100 game season sounds awesome. I loved the covid season because every game actually mattered. A 162-game season followed by a short playoff series is ridiculous. Hopefully they don’t reach a deal till June. 
I had an idea awhile back of trying to make the season a little more like football schedule wise.   Basically you have one 3-game or 4-game series a week.  The series are either Fri-Sun, Thur-Sun or Fri-Mon.  That way each series is meaningful and there is a build up of anticipation each week to the games.  You can make it a 100-120 game schedule.  I would assume the level of play would increase and you can showcase the game better to the fan.  You can have marquee Thursday and Monday night games and they become more of an event.  

Every game will matter more.  I know it will never happen but it would be interesting to try.  

 
I had an idea awhile back of trying to make the season a little more like football schedule wise.   Basically you have one 3-game or 4-game series a week.  The series are either Fri-Sun, Thur-Sun or Fri-Mon.  That way each series is meaningful and there is a build up of anticipation each week to the games.  You can make it a 100-120 game schedule.  I would assume the level of play would increase and you can showcase the game better to the fan.  You can have marquee Thursday and Monday night games and they become more of an event.  

Every game will matter more.  I know it will never happen but it would be interesting to try.  
Sounds great, honestly. 

 
I had an idea awhile back of trying to make the season a little more like football schedule wise.   Basically you have one 3-game or 4-game series a week.  The series are either Fri-Sun, Thur-Sun or Fri-Mon.  That way each series is meaningful and there is a build up of anticipation each week to the games.  You can make it a 100-120 game schedule.  I would assume the level of play would increase and you can showcase the game better to the fan.  You can have marquee Thursday and Monday night games and they become more of an event.  

Every game will matter more.  I know it will never happen but it would be interesting to try.  
I kinda like this even if it is just a pipe dream. You would also have built in off days to play rainouts the same week

 
They'll never do that because of all the history/records. Those mean more to baseball than any other sport.
As true as that is, it gives extra hope to a settlement this year. Lose any of these games and the chance of records being broken go way down.

 
This always results in the little man who works for the company taking it in the shorts. The company itself will be just fine. 
True. I'm just salty that my TV provider (Dish) hasn't carried them since 2019 when the last contract expired and they decided to jack up their fees way beyond what Fox was charging.

Also that Reds games are blacked out for me on MLB network despite living 150+ miles from Cincy. Like I'm going to drive 3-4 hours each way for a Tuesday night game .

 
So they say they have eliminated the shift.....how do they actually enforce it?  This is so stupid and a an overall detriment to the game.  All it will do is maintain the current approach of swinging for the fences and completely do away with having a solid approach at the plate.  

 
So they say they have eliminated the shift.....how do they actually enforce it?  This is so stupid and a an overall detriment to the game.  All it will do is maintain the current approach of swinging for the fences and completely do away with having a solid approach at the plate.  
I've wondered that too. I'm envisioning painted circles on the field!

 
No, they eliminate that too. Must be on infield. 
So does that mean you cannot use 5 infielders with a runner on 3B?  Again, this is so stupid.  Defense should be able to place fielders anywhere they want.  Go with 6 OF's or 6 Infielders.  Just terrible.

 
So does that mean you cannot use 5 infielders with a runner on 3B?  Again, this is so stupid.  Defense should be able to place fielders anywhere they want.  Go with 6 OF's or 6 Infielders.  Just terrible.
I disagree. It's terrible now. It's led to the worst batting average since before the DH rule. It's ridiculous. It was never envisioned. It's ruining the game, making it even more boring. This won't solve everything, but it will help depending on how they enact it.

 
I disagree. It's terrible now. It's led to the worst batting average since before the DH rule. It's ridiculous. It was never envisioned. It's ruining the game, making it even more boring. This won't solve everything, but it will help depending on how they enact it.
The game was envisioned for the defense to position wherever they felt covered the field the best.  There are no original rules disallowing fielders from being any specific location.   Part of the strategy of the game is defensive alignment.  That includes the "shift", 3B in for obvious bunt situations, and infield in with the winning run at 3B.  All of these are based on defensive strategies to limit the offense from what they are trying to do.  The shift is no different.

The problem is the offense hasn't made adjustments for beat the shift.  The offense hasn't changed because analytics says swinging for HR's every pitch is better than playing small ball.  Maybe that was the case before analytics said to play in a shift to take away hits.  Offense needs to adjust to take advantage of the shift.  That is how baseball is supposed to work.  

The game with the shift isn't the problem.  The problem is not taking advantage of the shift.  If players stopped swinging from the heels and learned how to actually hit the game would be much better.  Watching HR's and K's is boring.  That is the problem with the game.

 
The game was envisioned for the defense to position wherever they felt covered the field the best.  There are no original rules disallowing fielders from being any specific location.   Part of the strategy of the game is defensive alignment.  That includes the "shift", 3B in for obvious bunt situations, and infield in with the winning run at 3B.  All of these are based on defensive strategies to limit the offense from what they are trying to do.  The shift is no different.

The problem is the offense hasn't made adjustments for beat the shift.  The offense hasn't changed because analytics says swinging for HR's every pitch is better than playing small ball.  Maybe that was the case before analytics said to play in a shift to take away hits.  Offense needs to adjust to take advantage of the shift.  That is how baseball is supposed to work.  

The game with the shift isn't the problem.  The problem is not taking advantage of the shift.  If players stopped swinging from the heels and learned how to actually hit the game would be much better.  Watching HR's and K's is boring.  That is the problem with the game.
Have you ever listened to hitters talk about the people who think it should just be so easy for them to beat the shift? It's worth a listen.

I get everything you're saying, I just disagree with you. It's gone too far. And it very much is part of what's ruining the game.

 
Have you ever listened to hitters talk about the people who think it should just be so easy for them to beat the shift? It's worth a listen.

I get everything you're saying, I just disagree with you. It's gone too far. And it very much is part of what's ruining the game.
I played through college.  I know how hard it is to hit the other way.  I also know it's not that hard to bunt to a side of the field with nobody there.  

The problem is analytics has swung so far that players are only being taught from the time they are 10 to work launch angle to hit homers and that bunting is bad so they never learn it.  

Like I said, analytics needs to catch up and figure out the best way to take advantage of the shift.  That is what is great about this game.  Adjusting strategies to beat the other team.  Doing away with the shift is dumbing down the strategy of the game.  You might as well just play over the line and stop running the bases too.  

 
Ok, will today finally be the day???
MLB 2/28: If we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

MLB 3/1: OK, I'm serious if we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

MLB 3/8: OK, now we are really really really super duper serious. If we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

MLB 3/9: Cross my fingers and hope to die, if we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

 
Supposedly the last hold up is an International Draft. This is one thing I agree with owners on as it makes no sense from a competitive landscape. I also understand why players don't want an international draft.

 
MLB 2/28: If we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

MLB 3/1: OK, I'm serious if we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

MLB 3/8: OK, now we are really really really super duper serious. If we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.

MLB 3/9: Cross my fingers and hope to die, if we don't have an agreement by the end of today, we will cancel games.
I thought they had already canceled 2 weeks (or 2 series or something)?

 
They canceled the first 2 series last week but now say they can still do a 162 game schedule if they agreed yesterday.  :shrug:
Yeah, just looked at MLBTR and saw that.  I think earlier the owners were saying they would not do doubleheaders to make up for a late start, but looks like they're OK with that now.

 
I played through college.  I know how hard it is to hit the other way.  I also know it's not that hard to bunt to a side of the field with nobody there.  

The problem is analytics has swung so far that players are only being taught from the time they are 10 to work launch angle to hit homers and that bunting is bad so they never learn it.  

Like I said, analytics needs to catch up and figure out the best way to take advantage of the shift.  That is what is great about this game.  Adjusting strategies to beat the other team.  Doing away with the shift is dumbing down the strategy of the game.  You might as well just play over the line and stop running the bases too.  


Yep…learn to bunt

 

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