The economics of baseball isn't going to change much due to labor strife. The players have a voice, but it's a limited one. Baseball teams still own players. They control the first seven years of a player's career. Not only that, owners can manipulate the start dates on a player's service time in order to keep them under "team control" for longer. Arbitration rears its ugly head in the final few years, but that's an adversarial process that only serves to undermine a player's relationship with his bosses. When most players reach free agency they are in decline. They aren't as good as they used to be and thus less valuable to other teams. Baseball has managed to pay the best young talent at the lowest rates and also to suppress the late-career earnings of older players who have "earned" their freedom. It's a crap system, and it isn't going to change with this or any subsequent CBA.
In an ideal world all players would be free agents from the start. In a less-than-ideal but better world, the kind of world we all hope for, players would need half the service time to become free agents. Three years, maybe four years. If teams had that clock ticking they would have to make decisions sooner on young players and that would give those guys chances with other teams while still in their athletic primes.
Sadly, the players made no movement on that. That's the most important thing, but it strikes at the heart of the game's power structure, so it has a sort of "third rail" status. I think the only way players will ever get that kind of work done is if Congress gets rid of MLB's special status. There is no reason why baseball owners should get an anti-trust exemption. It's infuriating to have these creepy wannabe-tycoons brag about their free market successes yet fight, and fight dirty, to protect themselves from competition. We need the equivalent of the old AFL and ABA to emerge and challenge MLB's monopoly on the game.
As far as this Collective Bargaining Agreement goes the players got a few bones tossed their way. They raised the minimum salary quite a bit. I heard that AAA players will get a bump. Those are good things. The Competitive Balance Tax level was increased. The players rightly see it as a salary cap and are opposed to a CBT, but the owners are paranoid and want to keep a lid on the nutjobs (like Steve Cohen of the Mets) who will game the system. For them it's sort of "we gotta have some rules in this sandbox!" The players got some money into the pre-arbitration bonus pool and that will help a chunk of younger guys.
If you haven't already seen it coming the National League will now adopt the Designated Hitter. About time, I say. I would expect more rule changes coming even though they weren't explicitly covered in this CBA. There is a move to ban shifting, which I think is stupid, and a desire for pitch clocks, which I support. Pace-of-play is a critical failing of today's game and needs to be addressed. Clocks aren't the prettiest solution, but they have been well-received where they've been tried out. There will be a sort of "fast-track" scheme for implementing new rules so us old-timers need to be prepared.
I'm ready for baseball but it's going to be a different vibe, that's for sure. This whole mess let some of the air outta my balloon. But it's baseball, and it's back.
--M.C.
p.s. Giants just signed lefty Carlos Rodón. This is a huge move. Two years, $44M. I suppose we'll talk about that in the comments!
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Over at FanGraphs Owen McGrattan had this to say about Rodon last month (while correctly picking the Giants as a likely landing spot):
While we don’t know the economic rules of the post-lockout world, the Tigers, Giants and Angels are uniquely well suited to fit both the contract and workload needs that Rodón may require. To be fair, every team is a good fit for a pitcher as talented as he is, but the fatigue issue is a clear concern. Still, regardless of whatever the final innings total may look like, giving him the workload he needs to maintain his health will net a team one of the most valuable pitchers in baseball.
It's a huge move. There's an opt-out after one year, but that's for later. Right now the Giants are taking a $22M gamble on a brilliant but brittle talent. I'm all for it. I think it's great they jumped on him. The Giants are once again building a deep rotation of proven major leaguers. I like it.
Gausman got $22M per year but it was a 5-year deal. Giants weren't going there, and won't go there with anyone who isn't Juan Soto-like.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-best-fit-for-any-version-of-carlos-rodon/
I do not understand the Rodon love by so many. Looking at his career, it will be a surprise if he throws 50 innings this year...
His talent is obvious, that's why. Yes, he's an injury risk. The whole deal could go south. But there's at least as good of a chance that he will throw a bunch of high-quality innings. That's worth the short-term gamble.
The Giants stockpiled a lot of arms last year and I hope they do the same this year.
David Pinto over at Baseball Musings linked to my post!
I like baseball because of its game pace, Speeding up the pace of the game, could work for some and turn others off. The pace of Hockey and Soccer may be fast but the soring in few and far between so I find both games almost unwatchable and tedious. Football has long waits between plays except when a team is purposefully trying to speed up the game. Basketball is fast but so back and forth and there are so many fouls. I usually wait until late in the fourth quarter to watch a basketball game. Baseball is like a broadway play, usually with 9 acts and each act unfolds with every pitch. If one fell in love with the game the way it is played, especially those of us who did before the DH, it is like changing the game we fell in love with. I don't mind changing the umpiring to make it more and more correct, but otherwise, these new arbitrary changes are being made to please some while turning off others.
Games were routinely two hours when I was younger. They are three hours now, and not because of action. I think pitchers should work quickly. TV has made us accept interminable waits for action. It's hard to tolerate the slower pace in person. I've recently been following amateur ball and the pace is so much better even if the quality of play is much lower. Get the ball and throw the ball, man.
I know changes are going to get different reactions from folks. It's a game that values tradition and clings to the past. I appreciate all of that stuff. But I'm OK with tweaks, too.
Commercials are longer and the time between events is sometime longer due to corporate interests. A worry about speeding up the game so to speak it that they will still have all their commercials and corporate interventions, and speed up the other parts of the game. That will end up making baseball a 2 hours watch with half of it being slick TV ads. There are no Black Bear Diners where I live in South Florida. There are Toyota dealerships however.
Yeah I find it almost impossible to watch a TV broadcast. The penetration of the ads to every spot in the game is hard to take. Now with fan-betting legalized--and encouraged--it is only going to be worse. The revenue from all those suckers is going to be crazy. The owners are going make out big time.
I stick to the radio, mostly. The ad-space on the air is bad, but not as bad as TV. I like the MLB GameDay, too. I can always watch highlights later. And I get enough ball games on free TV here and there, plus watching with friends, I get my fill. I watch all TV sporting events with the sound off whenever possible.
I think TV ruins baseball. You get no sense of the whole field and the fielders. It narrows it all down to the strike zone and you get none of the feelings you get from being there and taking it all in. Sure, the slo-mo and hi-def and great camera angles are fun and enjoyable, no argument there, but the game loses something on the screen.
I think younger fans are walking away from the game because it is a bad TV product and no amount of whizbang graphics will fix that. Baseball is like a Grateful Dead concert, you have to be there to appreciate it. Fans have to enjoy the live product first, then they can tune in to media to follow it. That's why it is a shame about the minor leagues being cut--the live product is now less available to potential fans! Stupid move. Maybe a rival league with barnstorming teams playing local amateurs will emerge the next time there is a labor dispute. Wouldn't that be fun?
LH catcher Jose Godoy, 27 years old from Venezuela, joins the Giants on a waiver claim. Originally a Cardinals prospect he's been in pro ball since 2012. The Mariners had him at AAA and he saw ML action (16 G, 40 PA) last year. He's the third catcher behind Bart and Casali.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/martica04.shtml
Giants sign another starter, RH Carlos Martinez, 30 years old, from the D.R., spent his entire career with St. Louis. He was a stud 2015-2017 but has fallen from grace. He gets a minor league deal. Another intriguing rotation depth piece. That's the FZ way.
Giants add RH reliever Jakob Junis. He's on the ML roster. Martinez, mentioned above, has a minors deal.
Caleb Baragar and Hunter Harvey DFA'd.
Junis was a starter for two years in KC.
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