It flew under the radar, but MLB actually made a proposal to the MLBPA yesterday, according to Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers. It was their first negotiation about the core issues of the Lockout, which shows just how much the owners have wanted to end it. There are many reasons why the proposal was above a joke.
The proposal didn't address the luxury tax or raise minimum salaries, which is something that won't be an agreement without major changes to either. They did not do a good job at appeasing the players.
If a player on the top 150 prospects list finishes in the top five of a major award, there was a sham about teams getting a bonus draft pick. It depends on the opinions of other people who make the top 150 prospects list, and then the opinions of others to decide who finishes in the top five. The system of players having their fortunes decided by the writers on that day is not well-grounded.
Expansion of the playoffs will turn the regular season into an even more meaningless affair. MLB will be surprised how many fans are turned off by a sport that is on every day.
The owners are making a lot of noise about the draft lottery, which doesn't matter to players nearly as much. The MLB draft isn't transformational like the NBA or NFL draft. The top pick is not a guarantee of anything for two, three, or four years. It doesn't make a difference if you draft first or fifth. The players should ignore this red herring. They need to get more teams, or all teams in a dream world, to not focus on the draft position. 30 teams are trying to win. Teams try to get prospects from other teams. They don't care if fans are the first or third pick.
The bullshit was about formulas for players in the case of an arbitrator instead of just paying them what they can negotiate or getting someone to award them.
The proposal of 14 playoff teams will probably be the most important thing for fans. The players are hesitant because they know they have to give the owners the biggest matzo ball they can get in order to get what they want. The players know that if there are more teams in the playoffs, they will want the middle and bottom seeds, rather than the top and bottom seeds, which will deflate their salaries. The players might want something in return for expanded playoffs.
Expansion of the playoffs will turn the regular season into an even more meaningless affair. MLB will be surprised how many fans are turned off by a sport that is on every day. Every day it will drive home how little is happening. Football can get away with it because it is once a week. Home field in baseball is more important than home ice in the NHL. Not really. The top seeds in the NBA are more likely to advance. Baseball has no stakes. There will be no parade.
It seems like the owners believe the players will crack before the season starts, and that they will still win the PR war. These things are not true. The owners made a proposal that they hoped the players would ridicule and that they would pin the whole thing on them. It won't work. The players will not miss any checks until April, but they are not going to give up some of the things they have lost in the past. The owners will start sweating when TV deals are threatened.
The issue is when you have 30 vampire squids who have been chasing every dollar they can find to maintain their fix. They won't get every dollar they get.
That doesn't mean the players will win. That is not the point of a labor dispute. They might not lose it that badly and even get a draw.
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