Yesterday, Rob Manfred canceled a second week of Major League Baseball after negotiations with the players failed.
It was, it seems, the last chance to salvage a 162-game season since with one week cut, arrangements already had to be made to play 162 games.
And don’t forget that COVID-19 could derail plans after all.
This means that despite the MLBPA’s dissatisfaction with the decision to cut two more series, life moves on.
MLBPA finds decision to cancel games unnecessary
While players and bosses continue to blame each other, fans wait. That can not continue.
But obviously, I spoke too quickly (everyone spoke too quickly) since the hope of seeing a 162-game season would still be alive.
According to Bob Nightengale, the hope of seeing a season of 162 games would not be dead. Negotiations in this direction will take place today, on this day #99 of the lockoutin order to salvage the 162-game season.
Lockout Day 99: No formal negotiations are scheduled this morning but the two sides are expected to speak and determine if they can reach a compromise on delaying an international draft decision until Nov. 15, and complete negotiations on a new CBA to still resurrect full season .
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 10, 2022
Add to that the fact that MLB didn’t officially “cancel games” yesterday, but rather they were “removed” from the schedule.
According to Jayson Stark, that means something.
Keep seeing/reading that Rob Manfred “cancelled” another week of games last night. Wait. He didn’t say that
The phrase he used was “removed from the schedule.”
MLB says there’s no significance to that. But I’m hearing they think they can still play 162 if they agree today
“If!” pic.twitter.com/xnD8Rnq2fY
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 10, 2022
The object of the game, as was raised yesterday, would be to ensure that the decision to establish or not an international repechage (which is currently blocking discussions) would be postponed until November to play now.
After all, the international draft, a fashionable idea for a few days, has been discussed for a long time, but the bosses only recently brought it back to the fore. This changed the dynamic of the negotiations.
The International Draft has been a volatile topic for over a decade. It is a complicated issue that has gotten barely any mainstream coverage until 24 hours ago. And it is a topic that deserves deeper examination than being treated as a throw-in in coverage of CBA negotiations.
— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) March 10, 2022
Get informed before jumping to conclusions. pic.twitter.com/VA34RbC3K0
—Francisco Lindor (@Lindor12BC) March 10, 2022
We can believe that players will want to take their time to be sure not to be fooled.
After all, besides picking their team, youngsters get big bonuses because teams have to convince them to sign and can’t just draft their rights. This ensures that the bonuses are good and the players do not want to lose this.
If and when the PA and the owners continue the discussion about the international draft, this issue needs to be addressed: The international slot $ allocations should be identical to what players get in the domestic draft. As it stands in proposed system, a big $difference.
—Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 10, 2022
That being said, what worries me is that I don’t see the players accepting this in the short term and I don’t see the owners not having some guarantee that the subject will come back on the table.
Moreover, this is not the only subject to be negotiated. Things are going better on the economic side of things, but there are still issues to be settled despite everything.
MLB, MLBPA are still discussing qualifying offer, international draft, but gaps remain on other issues too, and sides intend to talk all day today. Like yesterday, a lot of that might be by phone, but communication is constant. Players made last global counter offer yesterday.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 10, 2022
The current state of things: MLB and PA are trying to resolve this international draft/direct draft pick comp issue, but that’s not nearly the final hurdle toward a deal. Players side is awaiting counter offers on all the issues we’ve been hearing about: CBT, bonus pools, etc etc
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) March 10, 2022
Don’t ask me to comment on whether I believe in the possibility of MLB and the players being able to agree on the terms of a 162-game season following ANOTHER deadline extension.
Why? Because I don’t want to tell you that I’ve learned from the last few weeks and that I don’t believe it. It will happen when it happens.
