MLBPA SETS STRIKE DATE

[Guest LexLugerRules]

You also have Larry Walker chasing to be the 1st person to get .400 in a long time.

[Guest LexLugerRules]

Bonds doesn't seem to think he can break Aaron's record.

And Scotty Bowman doesnt believe he is the best hockey coach when he clearly is.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Maybe Bonds doesn't plan on playing long enough to break Aaron's record. It's possible he wants to pass Willie Mays or reach 700 than retire. With Bond's age the possibility of his power productivity dropping off his much greater.

[Guest alkeiper]

AlKeiper the Expos are getting more people, but they should still move to Washington. The Florida teams should be contracted.

 

No argument there. I'm just pointing out the black hole that Loria seems to be. Almost like he's the MLB's hired gun to help kill off franchises. The Marlins will never compete with Loria around, and if you're gonna kill the Devil Rays, do it now. I imagine they'd like a AAA team there instead anyway. You'd probably get the same number of stars.

 

Does that fat piece of human shit Fehr really think that the fans will be on the side of the players if they walk out. When the owners are actually suggesting ideas that would help the game.

 

The owners suggesting ideas to help the game is like having your wound dressed by the guy who shot you in the first place.

 

You also have Larry Walker chasing to be the 1st person to get .400 in a long time.

 

He's hitting .358. I don't see it. Others have been closer just the last few years. Heck, Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 before the '94 strike.

 

Maybe Bonds doesn't plan on playing long enough to break Aaron's record. It's possible he wants to pass Willie Mays or reach 700 than retire. With Bond's age the possibility of his power productivity dropping off his much greater.

 

I think 756 is going to turn out harder than any of us ever thought. Right now, only Sosa, Bonds and Rodriguez have a decent shot at the mark, and who knows how their careers will go. Ken Griffey onced seemed a god bet.

[Guest bob_barron]

The problem is I think the players don't realise how much this is gonna fuck up baseball. I don't tihnk they remember that it took A LOT to get fans back in- and some fans havn't come back

[Guest alkeiper]

The fans will come back. They're upset in the first place cause they're losing baseball. If they didn't want to watch baseball, they wouldn't care about a strike. The fact that players striking illicits such a reaction indicates to me that they'll come back.

 

And why should the players care anyway? Alex Rodriguez is going to make the same money over the next 7 years regardless of how many fans baseball loses.

[Guest bob_barron]

Not all the fans have come back from 1994 and even less will come back if they strike.

 

If the fans don't come back it'll be very bad for baseball obviously

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The owners suggesting ideas to help the game is like having your wound dressed by the guy who shot you in the first place.

The owners offer.

 

$100 Million Luxury Tax

 

50% Reveune Sharing

 

$45 Million Minimum Cap

 

Random Testing for All Drugs

 

Suspensions without pay

 

The Players offer.

 

22.5%Revenue Sharing. Up from 20%

 

$130 Million Luxury Tax

 

No Minimum Cap

 

Testing for players caught with steroids

 

Suspension with pay and long appeals

 

Which side offer helps the game?Screw this well owners overpaid bull. Most of the owners had to have agreed. If there ones that didn't than who cares. If they want to spend over $100 than fine. Hardly anything would change withe players plan.

 

Maybe the owners aren't thinking about the fans. But at least their offer might give more teams a chance to complete and win in the postseason.

 

You're right Alkeiper, the players DO NOT CARE about the fans at all. It's really sickening when Joe Giradi says we have the interest of the fans in mind. No you don't...the players union is interested in only the players, not the game of baseball...not the fans...but themselves.

 

Here's a poll I heard. 52% of people don't know of whose at fault, 44% would side with the owners, and a whopping 4% with the players. What does that tell. No matter how much spin the union does it isn't working this time.

[Guest MrRant]

I think people read the facts and would like to see salary caps. I am a Seattle fan and while we have a very good payroll we still can't compete with the Yankees and the reason we win is because we have some really good ballplayers , role players and pitchers.

 

Fans DO NOT want to hear about someone complaining that their salary may get capped at 5 million instead of 8 million.

[Guest alkeiper]

I think people read the facts and would like to see salary caps.

 

People don't see the facts. Look at the Chicago Tribune and its sister newspapers. They also own the Chicago Cubs. Not surprisingly, their coverage is slanted well towards ownership. Fox owns the Dodgers. AOL/Time Warner owns the Braves. ABC/Disney owns the Angels. There's a clear conflict of interest there. And what people want to see is their team win. Simple as that. Problem is, all the salary caps in the world aren't going to stop teams from doing stupid things like giving Derek Bell 9 million when they already HAVE a right fielder, or give Daren Erstad a $32 million contract extension.

 

I am a Seattle fan and while we have a very good payroll we still can't compete with the Yankees and the reason we win is because we have some really good ballplayers , role players and pitchers.

 

Last year including the playoffs the Mariners were 7-7 against the Yankees. This year they're 4-3. So where's the problem?

 

Fans DO NOT want to hear about someone complaining that their salary may get capped at 5 million instead of 8 million.

 

I also don't want to pay $4 for a hot dog, or hear an owner threatening to leave unless he's giving a brand new mallpark complete with luxury boxes. Sure the players don't care about the fans. But at least they provide the entertainment, which is more than I can say for Carl Pohlad.

[Guest MrRant]

Last year including the playoffs the Mariners were 7-7 against the Yankees.  This year they're 4-3.  So where's the problem?

 

The problem is that while the Mariners have say a $90 million dollar payroll the Yankees are $40 million above that. That is quite a difference in my opinion. Granted anyone can beat anyone but when you talk about competing with the Yankee's for free agents and trades you just can't.

 

I also don't want to pay $4 for a hot dog, or hear an owner threatening to leave unless he's giving a brand new mallpark complete with luxury boxes.  Sure the players don't care about the fans.  But at least they provide the entertainment, which is more than I can say for Carl Pohlad.

 

I agree with the food and I think owners shouldn't be able to "stick up" a city like Pohlad had tried to do. Also don't forget what happened with the Seahawks before Paul Allen bought them so I understand. But I still don't care about someone who thinks its okay to walk out because they are going to make 15% less then there were before. 1 less Mercedes I guess.

 

 

As far as the conflict of interest if Disney/ABC own ESPN and ESPN.com and if you read/watch that I see plenty of articles bashing owners from hell to high water. I agree with the stupidity of some owners but a cap would make them pay for that stupidity as well.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

bullshit, people always accuse the Yankees of Free Agent shopping, but what about the Red Sox, they bring in at least 2 big free agents a year

 

case and point, having an expensive team doesnt gwet you trophies...look at the yankees, how many people are homegrown

Jeter

Soriano

Bernie

Nick Johnson (he's gonna be good)

Petitte

you can even make an argument for Rivera

[Guest Vern Gagne]

People don't see the facts. Look at the Chicago Tribune and its sister newspapers. They also own the Chicago Cubs. Not surprisingly, their coverage is slanted well towards ownership. Fox owns the Dodgers. AOL/Time Warner owns the Braves. ABC/Disney owns the Angels. There's a clear conflict of interest there. And what people want to see is their team win. Simple as that. Problem is, all the salary caps in the world aren't going to stop teams from doing stupid things like giving Derek Bell 9 million when they already HAVE a right fielder, or give Daren Erstad a $32 million contract extension.

Do you not understand that newspaper columnist are some of the most pro-union people around. The Tribune Company owns the paper, they don't decide what's in it. In 1994 the baseball writers sided with the Union. During last year's NFL Referees strike several columnist wrote articles criticizng the NFL for being unfair to the refs. These people usually side with any sort of Union, and it's suprising so far that they haven't.

 

It's not a salary cap. But a luxury tax which would allow teams to go over that number but they would have to pay.

[Guest alkeiper]

ShavedBear- First off, I hate the Yankees with a passion. But i don't begrudge them their spending. The problem is, when no one else can even bid when the best hitter comes on the market, people are going to bitch regardless of how much talent is homegrown.

[Guest bob_barron]

I hate the Yankees too but they have a ton of home grown players- George Steinbrenner wants to have a winning ballclub while other owners don't

[Guest redbaron51]

Guys, the MLB is fucked anyway. They put games that only 5,000 people care about in 40,000 seat arenas. They're dead in ten years.

 

I'll grant that baseball has lost popularity, but to say they'll go out of business is completely ludicris. And only 5,000 people care? Baseball draws an average of 25,000 PER GAME. That's more than any sport outside of football, which supplies only 1/10th the product baseball does. Honestly, how is baseball fucked? The strike? The fans will come back. What other sport runs through the summer? Soccer doesn't have the markets yet. Trust me, baseball will survive.

Even though they average 25,000 people per game, how many empty seats are there in every stadium. The only teams that it seems to be selling out are the Yanks, Red Sox, Cubs, Giants, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Angels and thats about it. 7 teams. and when a certain player comes like Bonds, Sosa, or the Yanks the ticket sales go up slightly.

 

Almost every hockey game is sold out, and its the same with basketball, because they can get 16000-20000 people in, not like baseball where you barely even make it 25,000 per game with an extra 20-30 thousand seats still available.

[Guest DrTom]

To salary cap or not to salary cap?

 

It's a difficult question. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the salary cap is baseball's current situation, where the rich can spend their way into the playoffs consistently, and anyone outside that upper economic tier has to rely on a lot of intangible factors coming together.

 

Then there's the NFL's salary cap. It's a hard cap that chages a little bit each year as revenues change. The problem is, it's very hard for a team to stay together for more than three or four seasons. Look at the Ravens: they won the Super Bowl two years ago, and have had to jettison over 2/3 of that team due to salary constraints. How much longer do the Rams have before they can't afford to pay Warner, Faulk, Holt, Bruce, et al anymore?

 

I like a soft cap better, where how much a team can spend is directly tied to that team's revenues. I also like the "Larry Bird exemption" the NBA used to have, where teams could re-sign their own free agents without taking the full cap hit. If MLB went in that direction, I think it would be a "best of both worlds" scenario. The problem is, the players hear "salary cap" and just refuse to negotiate, and the owners will move onto something else.

[Guest MentallyNormal]

I wish they would all just shutup and play the fucking game.

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

Wow, the Yankees have homegrown 5, possibly 6 out of a 25-man roster! Let's dance! I don't believe Giambi or Raul or Mussina or Clemens or Ventura are homegrown. Yanks Suck.

 

I don't see how even small market teams can't be freaking rich, since I go to a Pirate game and it costs me 10 bucks for a Code Red and a cheeseburger.

 

And if baseball strikes, they're gonna lose a ton of fans. Twice in 8 eight years? Who wants to follow a sport where every so often they just pack up and leave. And you know the other sports are just gonna milk this thing for all its worth to steal as many viewers as possible. You can't replace baseball, but they're sure gonna try.

 

I hope they don't strike. I hope everyone realizes what this will do to America. No baseball on 9/11 because they're so concerned about money and drug testing? I thought we were all supposed to stop caring about little things like that. Not the billion and millionaires.

[Guest alkeiper]

redbaron51- One of the things I love about baseball is that you can decide an hour before the game to go and find yourself a reasonably good seat. In fact when I go to Scranton, I can almost always get a box seat behind the dugout. Besides, you have to consider that baseball teams play a 162 game season. At 25,000 a game, thats over 60 million fans in the ballparks every year. Honestly, if hockey played 162 games, would they sell out every game? Probably not.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

What bothers me about the Yankees is they overpay players like Rondell White and Sterling Hitchcock.

 

The bad teams like Milwaukee and Detroit do deserve alot of the blame for their problems. Their poorly managed. Look at the Twins..20 of 25 players on there active roster have only played for the Twins at major league level.

[Guest redbaron51]

redbaron51- One of the things I love about baseball is that you can decide an hour before the game to go and find yourself a reasonably good seat. In fact when I go to Scranton, I can almost always get a box seat behind the dugout. Besides, you have to consider that baseball teams play a 162 game season. At 25,000 a game, thats over 60 million fans in the ballparks every year. Honestly, if hockey played 162 games, would they sell out every game? Probably not.

they will be in the same boat as baseball, but you don't play hockey year round, 162 hockey games is suicide to anybody because of the physical toll you take on the body, where as baseball there is no physical toll on the body except in the extreme heat and the pitchers.

[Guest bob_barron]

Wow, the Yankees have homegrown 5, possibly 6 out of a 25-man roster! Let's dance! I don't believe Giambi or Raul or Mussina or Clemens or Ventura are homegrown. Yanks Suck.

 

I don't see how even small market teams can't be freaking rich, since I go to a Pirate game and it costs me 10 bucks for a Code Red and a cheeseburger.

 

And if baseball strikes, they're gonna lose a ton of fans. Twice in 8 eight years? Who wants to follow a sport where every so often they just pack up and leave. And you know the other sports are just gonna milk this thing for all its worth to steal as many viewers as possible. You can't replace baseball, but they're sure gonna try.

 

I hope they don't strike. I hope everyone realizes what this will do to America. No baseball on 9/11 because they're so concerned about money and drug testing? I thought we were all supposed to stop caring about little things like that. Not the billion and millionaires.

Ventura sucked his last two years with the Mets and the only reason the Yankees made the trade was to get rid of Justice and to have a decent 3B cause Henson wasn't ready. So getting Ventura wasn't a big bold move by the Yanks.