MLBPA SETS STRIKE DATE

[Guest franchise632]

Well after saying on Monday that no strike date had been set, both sides of the MLB Labor issue met on Tuesday saying that a deal could be possible in the next few days. However if negotiations should take a turn for the worse the Players have set a date to walk out. That date is Aug. 30th.

 

DAMN THEM, DAMN THEM!!!

 

Its the sterioded up millionares vs the book cooking billionares

 

I just hope some sort of agreement can be made, another strike could kill baseball. I will still watch no matter what but I know many wont.

[Agent_Bond34 0]

I do not like baseball, however, I will add this..

 

Baseball just shot itself in the foot by allowing it's players to set a strike date. They can kiss the playoffs and the World Series goodbye.

 

This strike is not going to help baseball's cause at all.

 

I wonder how long it will take them to recover from this strike.

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

Don't know how many of you heard this, but the owners have another, more important than just love of the game incentive to get this thing fixed up:

 

No postseason = Fox getting half a billion dollars from the MLB.

 

We all know what the owners are caring about, and its not if we have a postseason or not. Maybe the 500 million might change their tune.

[Guest bob_barron]

This Just In....

Football has become America's pastime

[Guest LexLugerRules]

THIS JUST IN! FUCK MLB!

 

FUCK THEM UP THEIR STUPID ASSES!

 

I WAS WAITING FOR MINNESOTA TO WIN THE WORLD SERIES, BUT NOOO THEY GOTTA STRIKE,.

 

FUCK THIS, FUCK THE MLB, FUCK THE PLAYERS, NOW I AM GONNA TAKE A SHIT!

[Guest bob_barron]

Braves have the best record in baseball and they may strike-

 

Ridiculous

[Guest The Amazing Rando]

For people that supposedly LOVE the game....they sure want a lot of money to play it.....

 

I am a mark for the game of LIFE....but I don't ask my parents for 20 bucks every time I play it...

 

I also am quite a good 9-ball player....and yet I don't play in tournies or anything because I don't care about getting paid. Heck...*I* have to pay to use a table at my local poolhall...

 

When I was in little league, my parents had to pay for a uniform, glove, bat, etc....i'm sure that is no problem for MLB players...and it wouldn't be a problem for me either if I had millions of dollars coming to me a year....

 

So as far as I am concerned....the MLBPA and the Owners can go take a flying f*ck at a rolling donut....because they think they are doing what is best....but they are trying to do what is most profitable....

 

BULL..........SHIT!

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Setting a Strike date doesn't really mean anything. One reason they do this is to speed up negotations.

 

The Twins aren't making it out of the first round. Their inexperienced in postseason play and will have probably have to face Seattle or New York.

 

One of the many problems with Players Union is I find it hard to believe that every player would vote for a strike. You only have 30 guys voting, if you took secret ballot of all players my guess would be a majority would be against a strike. Especially the players on postseason contenders.

[Guest bob_barron]

Well they better speed up the negoitations quick or else they're gonna lose a fan if they wipe out the postseason

[Guest Vern Gagne]

What right do the players have deciding how much revenue sharing MLB should have?

 

The players need baseball alot more than the owners do. They made their money in other ways, baseball really means nothing to them.

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

Here's the disgusting stat of the day for you:

 

If the players go on strike, A-Rod loses over 114,000 dollars PER DAY. PER DAY!

 

And they're striking!?!?!?!? Look at what Marshal Faulk got in his deal. He's probably getting underpaid, considering he's one of the best players in the game.

 

Yes Bob, I'm feeling it too, buddy. We finally got a closer and a killer 3-4-5, so lets go on strike. *Sits in the corner and weeps*

 

Oh, but if we do have a postseason, I think the Twinskies got a shot in the first round. Definitely against Seattle and if they can keep the Yanks in the park, there, too.

[Guest alkeiper]

The problem is that if the players don't do anything, the owners can lock them out after the playoffs and then the players are basically fucked. Setting a strike date doesn't really change anything. It's just another step in the negotiating process.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Vince has this idea for the XMLB - Xtreme Major League Baseball, where fights are encouraged and the walls are only 180 feet away..

[Guest Shaved Bear]

This Just In....

Football has become America's pastime

this just in, 1994 called, and thy said its been he pastime since then

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

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.

[Guest bob_barron]

Ummmmmmmm uh-oh-

From the AP by Ronald Blum

 

Baseball's labor talks hit a snag when the sides delved deeper into the key economic issues, leaving the union's executive board on track to set a strike date Friday.

 

 

AP Photo

Slideshow: Major League Baseball Labor Issues

 

 

 

 

Rob Manfred, the owners' top labor lawyer, has repeatedly expressed optimism, but even he admitted little headway was made at the bargaining table Wednesday.

 

"Occasionally in this process, you have bumps in the road. Today probably would be a bump in the road," he said.

 

When it met Monday in Chicago, the union's executive board deferred a decision on a strike date, preferring not to add pressure to talks when they were at a delicate stage.

 

The board is to hold a telephone call Friday, and without progress probably would set a strike date, most likely Aug. 30, according to a person familiar with the players' deliberations who spoke on the condition he not be identified.

 

"I think Friday is a big day," Seattle pitcher Paul Abbott said. "Setting a date would spark some negotiating."

 

Union officials did not comment after the day's second bargaining session. Players and owners moved only slightly on the key issues, according to several people on both sides of the talks. Thursday's bargaining will determine what the board does Friday.

 

"I'm hopeful we'll get back at it tomorrow and move the process ahead," Manfred said.

 

Management's proposal for a luxury tax on the payrolls of high-spending teams, as expected, is a divisive issue, one that could cause baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972.

 

Owners have proposed a 50 percent tax that would start with teams over $100 million, including 40-man rosters and benefits, with the full rate phased for the very highest spenders.

 

The union has discussed a tax that would start with teams over about $140 million — only the New York Yankees project to be above that next year — with a much lower tax rate.

 

Management wants the tax to restrain spending and salaries, while the union maintains a tax must be looked at in conjunction with revenue-sharing, both part of a system to transfer money from high-revenue teams to low-revenue teams.

 

"I don't believe that difference is an impediment to an agreement at this point," Manfred said.

 

But the difference in numbers is. Players fear that a large increase among the teams in the amount of shared locally generated revenue, when combined with a stiff luxury tax, would drain so much money from the high-revenue teams that it would cause a significant drop in salaries.

 

"Negotiations are never easy. You work every day to make steady progress," said Boston's Tony Clark, the AL player representative. "I'm cautiously optimistic. It's touch and go."

 

Manfred said the sides moved closer on drug testing Wednesday. While the union has proposed mandatory random resting for steroids only, owners also want testing for nutritional supplements like the testosterone-booster androstenedione ( news - web sites) and for "recreational" drugs such as cocaine.

 

The sides, who spent part of Wednesday discussing licensing rules, also have unresolved differences on changes owners want in the amateur draft and salary arbitration, plus management's desire for a $45 million minimum payroll — a figure only Montreal and Tampa Bay were below this year.

 

"They have been opposed philosophically to the minimum club payroll and have maintained that position," Manfred said.

 

On Tuesday, Manfred had said he thought an agreement was possible "in the next several days."

 

"My overall view has not changed," he said Wednesday, "despite that I recognize that today was somewhat of a bump in the road."

 

Fehr has refused to gauge the daily mood of the talks.

 

"I know Rob is out there preaching whatever he preaches," Fehr said Wednesday. "When I have something to say, everyone will know."

[Guest alkeiper]

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.

[Guest Human Fly]

I still am holding out hope, they can't be that stupid can they?

 

MLB will never go out of business, but if they stirke I wouldn't be surprised if teams do. If they do strike the owners might as well give up contraction, because teams like Montreal, Florida, Tampa Bay etc. can't afford to piss off their core fans. Can you imagine those places with less attendance? I don't think the teams bottom lines will either. According to Bud some teams struggled to make payroll this year. If that is true those teams couldn't afford to take the attendance hit that going on strike would cause.

[Guest alkeiper]

Bud Selig could tell me the sun is going to rise tomorrow and I wouldn't believe him.

 

Anyone notice the Expos are outdrawing the Marlins? Jeffrey Loria has got to be the most imcompetant owner ever. It can't just be a coincidence that Expo attendance rises after he leaves, and Marlins attendance plummets. What a joke.

[Guest DrTom]

Setting a strike date, in and of itself, is just a negotiating tactic. I don't think either side honestly wants a strike, which is why they're negotiating so much now. The players also know they're backed into a corner, since the owners can declare an impasse after the season, lock them out, and basically impose any economic conditions they want.

 

I'd love to see MLB lose its antitrust exemption.

 

If there is another work stoppage, who's going to save the game this time? There's no Cal Ripken, chasing a record no one thought would ever fall, to bring people back to the game, kicking and screaming, to see history being made. Roger Clemens goes for 300 wins? BFD, no one likes Clemens. Baseball has no savior this time, and the players would do well to remember that.

[Guest Human Fly]

If there is another work stoppage, who's going to save the game this time? There's no Cal Ripken, chasing a record no one thought would ever fall, to bring people back to the game, kicking and screaming, to see history being made. Roger Clemens goes for 300 wins? BFD, no one likes Clemens. Baseball has no savior this time, and the players would do well to remember that.

 

They'll make a big deal of Bonds going after Aaron's record. But, that's still a few years away if he ever gets close at all.

[Guest bob_barron]

But everyone seems to hate Bonds

[Guest HartFan86]

Fuck MLB. I hope they pay even more than 500 million dollars. They are all a bunch of greedy bastards. One of the only things that saved baseball was the Sosa/Big Mac HR chase in 1998. That was at lesat something people enjoyed and most people forgot about 94. I can tell you they need a hell of alot going on if they go on strike. I find it quite gay they play a whole season for nothing.

[Guest alkeiper]

The doesn't have to be a single person to save baseball. Exciting pennant races and playoff games would also renew interest in the sport.

[Guest Some Guy]

They would Al but it would take a lot longer for people to care about them.

 

As Tom and Bob said no one likes Roger and no one likes Bonds. And I can't think of any other records that anyone would even care about. Besides where's the story behinf those two guys? Sosa came out of relative obscurity, blew up in June '98 and never looked back, McGwire was nearly going to retire because of injury and came back hit 58 in 97 and then 70 in 98, Ripken busted his ass for years to attain his record. What have Barry and Roger done to provide a heart warming back story? Throw at guys heads, throw bats at people, fight with their teammate in the dugout, act like arrogant assholes for their entire carreers? Sorry people don't like that shit. Besides Bonds doesn't even get pitched to enough to break Aaron's record, he liklely won't hit 50 Hrs this year.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I just don't see how rich people can fight over money.

[Guest alkeiper]

Fighting over money is how they get rich in the first place.

[Guest LexLugerRules]

I personally believe Bonds can break Aaron's record. he basically has to average 40 home runs till his 40 and he can break it.

 

Bonds can do that.

 

Plus they could make a big deal of Randy Johnson trying to break Ryan's record.

[Guest alkeiper]

Johnson will likely hit 4,000 strikeouts next year, which only Ryan and Steve Carlton have done.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Randy Johnson is a long way from breaking Nolan Ryan's streak.

 

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

 

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

 

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.