MLB quickly reneged on its promise (from only two days ago) to present a counteroffer to the Players Association. Instead, it requested federal mediation, which is nothing but a lame public relations stunt.
Giants pitcher Alex Wood asked: "How can MLB request for there to be a mediator from the Federal Government to help with negotiations when they literally haven't even done any negotiating up to this point?"
That seems like a reasonable question. After MLB imposed the lockout on December 2, 2021, it spent six weeks refusing to negotiate. Over the past three months, an unimpressive total of five hours has been spent discussing the issues. And now, rather than honor its promise to continue to negotiate, MLB is pretending it has done everything it can and — what other choice do we have? — must now call in a mediator.
Twins catcher Mitch Garver sees through the bullshit, calling it "a ploy . . . to show they are bargaining in good faith. . . . The league wants the public to think they are doing everything they can."
As Craig Calcaterra put it, MLB is acting "like a kid pouring a whole box of soap into the washing machine, watching bubbles go all over the house, and then yelling for his mom to help".
Ian Happ summed it up:
MLB Steps to Negotiating:
1. Commit to making a counter
2. Refuse to make that counter
3. Say they need a mediator
The Players Association rejected MLB's mediation stunt. Several players pointed out to MLB that in order to agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, both sides must . . . umm . . . bargain.
2 comments:
Great article on the farce being performed by the owners.
It's good to see which players support their union.
You'd think that with all the hand-wringing about the State of Baseball and the shrinking fan base that MLB would do everything it could to bring negotiations to a conclusion. But then, you'd be thinking of rational decision-making, and that has never been in MLB's wheelhouse.
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