Major League Baseball's lockout is compounding the issues that have been brewing in the sport for years.
USA TODAY Sports MLB insider Bob Nightengale shares the latest on labor negations and if the lockout will delay the start of Opening Day. Mackenzie Salmon and Andy Nesbitt believe MLB can’t afford to lose anymore time to the lockout.JUPITER, Fla. — There was no Twitter during the 1994-95 strike that resulted in the cancellation of the World Series.These days you don’t need a laptop, iPad or cellphone to gauge the level of anger spewing during baseball’s lockout.
"This isn’t millionaires vs. billionaires," Los Angeles Dodgers ace Walker Buehler tweeted, before later deleting it."This is workers vs. owners. The value is subjective. We are EXTREMELY lucky to do what we do but the numbers don’t line up. I appreciate the fans getting where we are coming from. Truly.""We came to Florida to make a deal," an MLB executive said.
Even with most teams starting spring training with their minor leaguers, the fans have been stuck outside the gates, unable to enter the back fields and watch. One fan took his family down from Colorado after being told that minor-league workouts would be open, only to find them all closed. And remember, even when the lockout ends, the sport is going to be suffocated in bitterness, resentment and anger. Players will rip management for the lockout. Players like Nick Anderson of the Tampa Bay Rays will be filling notebooks talking about how he actually had to pitch in a Tampa parking lot since he couldn’t use the Rays facilities.
Then again, considering the game’s defects these days, maybe it’s better to limit that audience to prevent fans from realizing just how little they’re missing.– Commissioner Rob Manfred is asking the union permission to implement a pitch clock for the 2023 season, but has been rebuffed since the Commissioner’s office can’t unilaterally implement a rule change without giving one year’s notice to the union.
at their Camelback Ranch stadium, the spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. "I’m shocked they get it right most of the time. I’m used to seeing it spelled wrong more than right." They all are eligible for salary arbitration and are projected to earn a total of $45.7 million, according to MLB Trade Rumors.
– Tough news for Rangers prospect Josh Jung, who was expected to compete for their starting third-base job, and now is out for about six months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn left labrum. – Ryan Zimmerman, who announced his retirement from the Nationals, says he can certainly understand why former teammate Juan Soto rejected a 13-year, $350 million offer., Soto will earn about $60 million in salary arbitration the next three years, and he’d be a steal at $290 million over 10 years at the age of 26.