Keith Law is clueless about so much. I wouldn't be surprised if this falls in that category as well.
Whether Keith Law is clueless or not, I have a hard time believing baseball would go with a 20 day “Spring” training.
Do they want to injure an entire generation of pitchers?
MLB owners approve plan that would have baseball return by July 4: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...-plan-july-start-players-union-preps-weigh-it
Now it's up to the players to approve it.
Among some of the details of the plan:
-An expansion of playoff teams from 10 to 14
-An 82-game season
-The use of home stadiums in areas that have local and state governmental approval
-A so-called spring training 2.0 that begins in June with a season set for early July
-A universal designated hitter
-Geographical schedules, in which teams play only in-division opponents and interleague opponents in a similar area (i.e., American League Central teams play only AL Central and National League Central teams)
-A 30-man roster with a taxi squad that would have upward of 50 players available
It appears that the only team that wouldn't be able to play in their normal home stadium would be Toronto who would be forced to likely play at their spring training home in Dunedin, FL.
I tend to side with the owners more than most, however, if the players will take essentially 50% pay cut, due to playing 50% of the games, and full playoff comp, I would have to side with the players here. Most, if not all of the owners are billionaires, they can have a "break-even" season for once. Heck, it will be a write off at tax time.The players have some legitimate gripes about the compensation framework under this deal. It goes back on a deal they reached with the owners in March that pro-rated salaries based on the % of season played, and instead makes player salary a function of revenues, putting much more of the risk of losses on the players during a season when there may be nearly zero revenue generated from attendance and concessions, which makes up roughly 40% of MLB revenue.
Generally, I side with the players in these situations and this is no exception. If the owners want the players to shoulder a big chuck of the risk, they need to give the players a payout at the end.
Personally, I think a deal will be done and that for 2020 it will look substantially like the proposal, but that the owners will have to make some concessions for 2021 and the future in terms of minimum salary, service time, roster size, etc.
I’m also relatively certain we’ve seen the last pitcher take an AB in a MLB game. It’s going to be DH across the board from here on out.
Curious how incentives will be played out. On a scale of 1-100 on my baseball contract knowledge, I'm probably hovering at around a 6, so I don't know how prevalent things like games played, HRs hit, saves, etc. are in contracts, but if they do exist, how would those be affected?
If a guy's got half as many games to hit on an incentive goal, how do they handle it? Prorated like everything else? Maybe that's the obvious answer.
There’d almost have to be a neutral site World Series, right? Will the Dodgers get it to make up for losing the All Star Game?
At this point of the summer, I'd guess the chances of a season happening are less than 5%.
I've come to terms with the baseball portion of it not happening, but my heart absolutely sinks for those whose livelihoods and families depend on the income a season would generate. Alongside that, the minor league system is being decimated, bringing with it dreams of making the show for many ballplayers.
Your point is well taken. I really have never favored either side (owners or the players) in their negotiations but I can see the owners position in not having a season if they aren't certain to at least break even, hard to see with no gate receipts. Clearly the owners are constructing a new way of doing business, with some of the lower free-agent contracts we've seen over the past several years and the massive minor-league restructuring that is planned, along with the up to 1,000 minor leaguers that will be released. I don't think this is good for the league to miss a season since it is already flagging in popularity, and to follow this up with a work stoppage would really hurt imo.Unfortunately, with the present CBA expiring after 2021, I think this is just the first battle in what’s going to be a long war. I don’t think we’re going to see much baseball over the next three years and I think MLB will look radically different once everything is resolved come 2023 or so.
Cubs took a high school SS Ed Howard with their first round draft pick yesterday. Home town kid from Chicago Mt Carmel that played on the Jackie Robinson little league World Series team a few years back. First high school player they’ve taken in the first round since Almora in 2012.
In the 7 drafts in between 12 and 20, they’ve taken their first high schooler in the third round or later 6 times. In 2016, they did not take their first high schooler until the 22nd round. They took two high schoolers in the second round of the 2018 draft (one of whom, Brennan Davis, looks like a complete stud OF and has made top-100 prospect lists as a 19 year old), but had two 2nd round compensation picks to do it with. During the Epstein era, the Cubs have had their most success with collegiate position players.
Probably too early to say if this reflects a change in drafting philosophy for the Cubs or if this just happens to be how the draft board fell this year.
In the brief clips I saw from MLB.com, the kid has a great glove and a very strong arm. Like the pick!
Cubs took a high school SS Ed Howard with their first round draft pick yesterday. Home town kid from Chicago Mt Carmel that played on the Jackie Robinson little league World Series team a few years back. First high school player they’ve taken in the first round since Almora in 2012.
In the 7 drafts in between 12 and 20, they’ve taken their first high schooler in the third round or later 6 times. In 2016, they did not take their first high schooler until the 22nd round. They took two high schoolers in the second round of the 2018 draft (one of whom, Brennan Davis, looks like a complete stud OF and has made top-100 prospect lists as a 19 year old), but had two 2nd round compensation picks to do it with. During the Epstein era, the Cubs have had their most success with collegiate position players.
Probably too early to say if this reflects a change in drafting philosophy for the Cubs or if this just happens to be how the draft board fell this year.
In the brief clips I saw from MLB.com, the kid has a great glove and a very strong arm. Like the pick!