BASEBALL LOCKOUT?
Potential snafu with new CBA
The spectre of a work stoppage in Major League Baseball landed on Tuesday when Fox Sports reporter Ken Rosenthal authored a piece saying a lockout by owners had become a possibility with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Dec. 1.
None of Rosenthal’s sources spoke on the record, but his track record as a reporter is sturdy enough that someone is talking about this scenario somewhere. In October, commissioner Rob Manfred and union president Tony Clark said they were not worried about a deal getting done.
Few believe, currently, that the situation will escalate into a lockout, but stranger things have happened when dudes start posturing over power and money.
Q What is the tipping point?
A The current agreement ends on Dec. 1.
Rosenthal said in his piece: “The possibility of a lockout stems from the owners’ frustration with the players’ union over the slow pace of the discussions, sources said. The two sides still have more than a week to complete a deal, but a number of significant issues remain unresolved.”
There’s no guarantee of a lockout on Dec. 1. The sides could decide to keep talking and operate under the rules of the old deal.
Q What are their differences?
A In Rosenthal’s story, the sticking points are said to be:
The owners’ desire to have international players go through a draft. Only North American players are eligible for the June entry draft and unsigned international players, especially from the Caribbean, are free agents from day one. Teams will start signing players in places like the Dominican Republic at the age of 16 and Cuban defectors can command high-dollar deals based on little scouting or comparison to other prospects.
Players want to eliminate or moderate the draft-pick compensation when free agents who turned down qualifying offers are signed by other teams. The system, which came from the 2011 CBA and was tweaked partway through, has hindered several players because the compensation was too steep for their relative value. Until last season, no player had even accepted the one-year qualifying offer because of the potential riches awaiting in free agency.
A faction of players has said it wants a stronger drug program and oddly, baseball is balking at it.
The two sides are also stuck on a new threshold for the luxury tax. It has been $189 million for the last three years with increasing penalties for every consecutive year a team goes over.
Q What else could come from a new agreement?
A Roster sizes is on the table, with the potential to increase the limit to 26 players, which could ease the burden on those relief pitchers and backup infielders with options left who get shuttled back and forth from Triple-A as a roster-management tool.
Bringing some sanity to the September roster sizes. An ancient baseball rule allows teams to call up any and every player on the 40-man roster after Sept. 1. The issue drew attention in the media in 2016 since it creates competitive imbalances that do not exist for the other five months of the season. A limit to some number under 30 is possible.
Adding a small handful of days to the season. Currently teams play 162 games in 183 days. That’s 21 days off over six months.
Q What is baseball’s labour history?
A The NHL has been through one strike and three lockouts since 1992 and the NBA has been through three major lockouts since 1995. The NFL had an off-season lockout before the 2011 season, which was settled after the Hall of Fame pre-season game was cancelled.
But baseball hasn’t done this in a big way since 1994, when it became the first of the major North American sports to lose its post-season to a labour war. Expos fans of a certain vintage remember the season because Montreal, with a 74-40 record, had a six-game lead in the East in the first season in which the leagues were split into three divisions. The Expos were 3½ games ahead of the Yankees for the best record in the majors. Montreal’s only trip to the playoffs had come 13 seasons earlier.
Baseball has trumpeted its labour peace for several years, reaching deals before deadlines in 2002, 2006 and 2011. The 2002 agreement was the first time the two sides had a deal without some sort of labour stoppage.
Q What will happen if there is a lockout?
A Not much other than negotiating or posturing. The off-season business of signing players or making trades already seems to be on hold, Wednesday’s trade between the Mariners and Diamondbacks notwithstanding, ostensibly because some teams are waiting to see what the new luxury tax threshold will be.
The annual winter meetings are scheduled for Washington, D.C., starting Dec. 4. Several deals between teams and among free agents are discussed or consummated there. The Rule 5 draft is held on the final day of the event.
Players will be able to begin their off-season workouts at home but for those who like to show up at the spring training complex early to get to work in late January or early February, they will be barred from doing so.
And if general managers, agents and players have to wait to sort out their business for any length of time, many teams’ rosters will be a mess when the stalemate ends and the marketplace could become a place of panic and mistakes. Expensive mistakes are hard to fix but fun to watch as long as your favourite team isn’t making them.
Q How are the Blue Jays affected, specifically?
A The Jays have signed two players, major league free agent Kendrys Morales and Cuban prospect Lourdes Gurriel. But there are holes throughout the roster, specifically in the bullpen setup roles and in the middle of the batting order. Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion remain on the open market with mixed signals as to their chances of returning and even fewer signals as to their value in a market constipated by this labour uncertainty.