Locked Out of Opening Day

The MLB lockout began on December 2nd and almost three months later it feels like Opening Day isn’t going to happen on time. Spring Training has been postponed through at least March 5th. At this point, the 5:00pm deadline today was a failure to start the regular season on time. While there have been some agreements made between the owners and MLBPA, there still wasn’t enough to play ball on time.

The last 24hrs I’d say there was cautious optimism on the players side because the owners were actually at the table negotiating with us toward a deal. What we’re asking is more than fair. If there’s no deal the optimism from MLB was a PR illusion to make it look like they tried.

— Alex Wood (@Awood45) March 1, 2022

Short Summary

What happened? Why is there a lockout? The simple answer is that both the owners and the players are protesting Barry Bonds not being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. If Barry Bonds isn’t in Cooperstown, why should there be another inning played? I’m kidding. And to the 33% of BBWAA*, you all should be the ones locked out of baseball.

For the last three months, this has been a war between the owners and the players. The previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired on December 1st 2021. The owners, decided to padlock their facilities and lock the players out as a defensive tactic. MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred, said all 30 team owners unanimously were in support of the lockout. Their thinking was the lockout will jumpstart the negotiations, lead to an agreement and the season will start on time. However, the league took the following six weeks off doing whatever ballers do until they were ready to submit their first proposal. Both the owners and the players have had in-person negotiations, but they have been hitting a lot of foul balls. Here are a few topics they can’t agree on.

CBT

(Major League Baseball (MLB) has a luxury tax called the “Competitive Balance Tax” (CBT). In place of a salary cap, the competitive balance tax regulates the total sum of money a given team can spend on their roster. -Thank you, Google.)

The current CBT is $210 million. The owners agree to increase it to $214M with a cap at $222M for the full term of this CBA. The MLBPA wants to see more of a $220M to $230M cap scale.

Mom, I’ll break this down for you. Instead of a “salary cap” like other professional sports, MLB uses CBT. These are in place so rich market teams like New York and LA can’t stack their rosters with an endless number of zeros on players paychecks. It would hurt the feelings and talent on the rosters for small market teams like the Marlins and Cleveland. But we are Dodger fans and we know we spend more on payroll than Cleveland. In 2021 Cleveland only spent $50M while LAD spent $271M. Each year a team is over $210M they are billed a 20% tax for year 1, 30% tax for year 2 and 50% tax for year 3+. Basically, the Dodgers will pay to play.

Minimum Salaries

The players want a league minimum player salary of $675K. Current league minimum is $570.5K. Half the league makes league minimum to $1.1M BEFORE taxes and fees. Google Jock Tax; those salaries go to Uncle Sam really quick. This isn’t a war of millionaires vs. billionaires’ debate. But, this is still a valid war between the 1%. Here’s why.

The NHL league minimum is $750K minimum. The NBA league minimum is $925K. Both leagues play an 82-game season with smaller rosters. The NFL league minimum is $660K with a 17-game season. MLB plays 162 games!!!! Pay the players! The Players want it to begin at $775,000. And with all the extra money from expanded playoffs and advertising patches on the uniforms, they money is there!

Statement from the Major League Baseball Players Association: pic.twitter.com/rmpciPsQm4

— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) March 1, 2022

Now What?

Will there still be a season? Yes, there has to be. Both sides can’t afford to not play. Even though the first two series of the regular season have already been canceled, there will still be season. In spite of a three-month lockout, most progress was made in the last ten days. Maybe they should have started meeting sooner. If Beth Dutton was the moderator, this deal would be done! It is unclear now when talks will resume and a deal will finally get done.

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