Waiting on MLB lockout could be more tedious than 4-hour game
Winter traditions are something to cherish, especially for baseball writers covering the offseason rumor mill at the annual general managers meetings.
There really is no offseason in baseball, of course. November is just a brief lull for everyone to nap before roster building begins in earnest at the winter meetings in December. Players aren’t going to sign themselves, or at least they haven’t since Andre Dawson inked a blank check to play for the Chicago Cubs in 1987.
Unfortunately, I could not attend last week’s GM meetings in Carlsbad, Calif., while covering the Bulls and missed out on two of my favorite traditions — listening to awful puns from agent Scott Boras and sizing up the GM core for Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.
And when I say “sizing up,” I mean that literally.
My wacky theory, as Hoyer was forced to listen to every year, is that baseball was much better when the GMs were as fat as the sportswriters.
Modern baseball executives generally are younger and have degrees from prestigious universities, unlike the older, less physically fit types back in the day, most of whom hailed from a baseball background. In my thinking, the economy-sized GMs were superior to the skinny-jeans crowd because they probably got that way from being stressed out from working so hard trying to improve their teams, not to mention they also knew how to relax after a long day.
The pre-moneyball GMs didn’t text their peers with trade proposals while shedding pounds on a Peloton. They went face-to-face with a scotch in one hand and a soggy corned beef sandwich in the other. That’s why I always root for the World Series team with the biggest gut and was happy this year for my guy, Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos.
My annual unscientific study of the body types of current baseball executives was conducted live in front of Hoyer, mostly by looking around the room full of GMs and pointing out all the skinny dudes with low body fat indexes.
Hoyer dismissed my theory as skinny shaming, asking what I have against GMs living a healthy lifestyle. Then someone would ask Hoyer a question about the Cubs offseason spending plans and he would quickly change the subject and tune me out until spring training.
I was hoping to bring my skinny GM theory up again at the upcoming winter meetings in Orlando, Fla., but the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 1 and speculation of an impending lockout has everything up in the air.
With no certainty spring training will begin on time in February, what’s the rush to sign anyone to a long-term deal or making a blockbuster trade? A hot-stove shutdown would stop the rumor mill in its tracks and lead to unending pronouncements about the idiocy of the other side’s proposals.
It’s the last thing baseball needs but perhaps what baseball deserves.
An Associated Press story from Oct. 24 reported the likely shutdown “probably will cause high-spending clubs to delay reaching pricier player agreements.” Apparently, however, the rest are free to operate as if it’s business as usual.
The Detroit Tigers signed freeagent starter Eduardo Rodríguez to a five-year, $77 million deal, and the Toronto Blue Jays handed their own starter, José Berríos, a seven-year, $131 million extension. Noah Syndergaard, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in 2021, got a one-year, $21 million deal from the Los Angeles Angels.
So the price of starting pitching remains at a premium even as they’re asked to throw fewer innings than ever in playoff games thanks to the revolving-door strategy employed by most managers.
Still, expect most of the big names to remain unsigned until the CBA is resolved, which should make for an offseason as tedious as a four-hour game. The two sides will mostly argue about economic issues and seem to be far apart.
The average major-league salary has dropped 6.7% since 2017, so the players union wants to fix that. But the owners reportedly want to cut the luxury tax threshold from $210 million to $180 million, which would lead to fewer players being paid their market value. It already is a de facto salary cap because only a few teams dare to spend over the threshold.
But other issues are on the table, including implementing a universal designated-hitter rule and what to do about pandemic-created rules such as seven-inning games for doubleheaders and the “ghost” runner starting at second base in extra innings.
During the season I spoke with St. Louis Cardinals reliever Andrew Miller — a member of the players union subcommittee along with Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, James Paxton, Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, Jason Castro and Zack Britton — about the recent rules changes and their effects on the popularity of the game.
“I consider myself pretty much a traditionalist, but …” Miller said. “The seven-inning games were a savior for us (in 2020) in the pandemic. We never could’ve completed our season without them. The innings were hard to sort out (for pitchers). It was a miracle we got through it, especially us (the Cardinals).
“I go back and forth on it. A full 18-inning doubleheader, with so much pitching to cover, can be a real grind and a challenge. But the seven-inning games feel like they’re a shortcoming. … Sometimes it doesn’t feel like real baseball games, and we’ve got to get that balance right.”
The implementation of a 20-second pitch clock to speed up the action also is expected to be debated, following the adoption in 2019 of the three-batter minimum for relievers, which theoretically was supposed to speed things up. It hasn’t worked, and games are longer than ever at 3 hours, 10 minutes, 7 seconds.
“It’s unnecessary,” Miller said. “The more rules on the books, the worse to me. That’s part of the beauty of our game. It works so well. Would I like to see the ball in play more? Yeah … I guess I have concern for the game, but I’m optimistic we’ll make it better.
“There are always (offensive) peaks and valleys. You had 1968, the year of the pitcher, when Bob Gibson (posted a 1.12 ERA) and all that stuff happened. I’m sure many people said the sky is falling and baseball is over.
“I think we’re America’s pastime for a reason. We have incredible talent, incredible stars to watch. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect. I just hope we find the right mix (of change).”
Eventually things will get sorted out. The next CBA will be agreed upon, new rules will go into effect, free agents will be signed and the trades will be consummated. The hot stove league will be shorter and action-packed right before the 2022 season.
But until then expect a lot of leaks and posturing from both sides — between stints on the Peloton.
We can’t turn back the clock. But they may indeed add one, for better or worse.