OnlyBucs

I am going to assume that if the lockout continues past the opening of ST, that sometime in late February minor league players, not on MLB rosters, will report to camp to begin preparations for their season. I don’t think any national or local writers have given any indication that this will happen. They may all be waiting to hear from the Commissioner that MLB ST will be delayed until an agreement is reached before they report something on minor league ST.

A couple of thoughts:



1) When this dispute is ultimately settled, its going to be a wild ride for quite a few players and teams in finding landing spots in a very short time; e.g Castellanos & Freeman. Pirates' generally will be on the sideline of this madness, but perhaps will pick up someone like Rodriguez.



2) I hope that players who are in limbo as free agents have somewhere they can train until they are signed.



3) It's February 7 and still no resolution to this lock-out. It's hard for me to believe that either side really wants to shut down baseball. Hey folks --- your decisions regarding COVID had some rationale behind them, this doesn't. Also, the players clearly tried to send a message regarding their demands by dropping their bonus pool consideration by all of $5 mil ($105 to $100) after the initial rounds of negotiations. Yup, a sure sign this lock-down is almost over (not).



4) I like the idea of showing AAA or AA games, but it is unfortunate that all players on the MLB roster will be prohibited from playing. Just what a minor league player needs after the COVID shut-down; more loss of development time because of a lock-down.



5) Regardless, of what happens, I am a sucker and again will return to watching baseball when teams take the field stroll out onto the field. In this dispute, I am neither pro-player or pro-owner, but I am frustrated that neither side is really discussing what needs to be done to encourage more competitiveness and decrease the likelihood of tanking --- real revenue sharing and team salary caps (floors and ceilings).



Lastly, P.S. to the players union --- Nutting will not spend one more penny on the Pirates, even if you force a draft lottery regarding the top picks. Turning a profit is more important that improving the caliber of play on the field.

I'm going out on a limb, but I think that other owners, the players (aka 'union') and probably most importantly, the players' significant others already know that.

18343C3B3017203626550 wrote: A couple of thoughts:



1)  When this dispute is ultimately settled, its going to be a wild ride for quite a few players and teams in finding landing spots in a very short time; e.g Castellanos & Freeman.   Pirates' generally will be on the sideline of this madness, but perhaps will pick up someone like Rodriguez.



2)  I hope that players who are in limbo as free agents have somewhere they can train until they are signed. 



3)  It's February 7 and still no resolution to this lock-out.  It's hard for me to believe that either side really wants to shut down baseball.   Hey folks --- your decisions regarding COVID had some rationale behind them, this doesn't.   Also, the players clearly tried to send a message regarding their demands by dropping their bonus pool consideration by all of $5 mil ($105 to $100) after the initial rounds of negotiations.  Yup, a sure sign this lock-down is almost over (not).    



4)  I like the idea of showing AAA or AA games, but it is unfortunate that all players on the MLB roster will be prohibited from playing.   Just what a minor league player needs after the COVID shut-down; more loss of development time because of a lock-down.



5)  Regardless, of what happens, I am a sucker and again will return to watching baseball when teams take the field stroll out onto the field.   In this dispute, I am neither pro-player or pro-owner, but I am frustrated that neither side is really discussing what needs to be done to encourage more competitiveness  and decrease the likelihood of tanking --- real revenue sharing and team salary caps (floors and ceilings).                



Lastly, P.S. to the players union --- Nutting will not spend one more penny on the Pirates, even if you force a draft lottery regarding  the top picks.  Turning a profit is more important that improving the caliber of play on the field.      


This is a really good post Maine. I agree with all of your points, especially number 5. That's actually a really sad part of all of this. Despite all of the antagonism between sides, the real issues are not going to be resolved.



To your point about Nutting, I don't think it's about making a profit. I think that he is unwilling to lose money on the Pirates. I think that is probably the case with most owners and I have a hard time faulting him for it. That said, none of us knows what the finances look like for these owners. Wouldn't that be a fun thing to push for in negotiations???



Finally, and why I really wrote this post in the first place, we bought the MiLB package last year. It was $15 ($) a month and it was soooo worth it. This year I'm even more excited about those games.