Arlington. Just hours after the Major League Baseball’s first work stoppage in 26 years, the commissioner Rob Manfred and the head of the union Tony Clark They presented completely different radiographs of the negotiating positions of each side, suggesting that the lockout is going to last.
In separate press conferences at the beginning of the ninth work stoppage in the majors, Manfred said players’ claims for an expansion of free agency and salary arbitration will affect teams with fewer resources.
Clark, the first former player to lead the union, accused Manfred of “misrepresentations” in the letter to fans explaining the lockout. He added that “it would have been beneficial for the process to invest more time in the (negotiating) room than was devoted to the letter.”
“Something unnecessary to continue the dialogue,” Clark said of the lockout. “In the first instance of troubled waters, the appeal was a strategic decision to close the doors to the players.”
The conflict jeopardizes the start of spring training on February 16 and the opening of the regular season on March 31.
In various ways, after 26 and a half years of labor peace, the parties have returned to the recriminations that marked the eight previous stoppages between 1972-95, including a seven and a half month strike that caused the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. .
This lockout was decreed at 12:01 on Thursday upon the expiration of a collective contract that lasted for five years.
“If you play without an agreement, you are vulnerable to a strike at any time,” Manfred said. “What happened in 1994 is that the union chose August, when we were most vulnerable due to the proximity of huge dollar earnings for the postseason. We wanted to take that option out and force the parties to deal with these issues and reach an agreement now ”.
Since 1976, players have to serve six seasons of service in the majors to be declared free agents. The players’ union expects the wait to be five years from the break between 2023 and 2024. The age limit for entering free agency would also be lowered, leaving it at 30.5. The age would drop again – to 29.5 – between 2025 and 2026.
“We already have teams in small markets that are struggling to compete,” Manfred said at a news conference at the Texas Rangers stadium, not far from the hotel where negotiations did not go well. “Reducing the control time of the players would make it more difficult for them to compete. It is also a bad thing for fans of those markets. The most negative reactions we have occur when a player leaves through free agency. We do not believe that moving forward and making it more expeditious (free agency) is a positive thing. “
“The players association, as is its right, submitted a series of very aggressive proposals in May, and has refused to compromise on the gist of those proposals,” Manfred said. “Things like a shortened reserve period, a $ 100 million reduction in revenue sharing, and salary arbitration for players in a second year are bad for baseball, bad for fans, and bad for competitive balance.”
An agreement would need to be reached before mid-March in order to have a full regular season.
“Guessing on deadlines right now is not productive,” Manfred said. “I will not do it”.
The head of the players union, Tony Clark, called a press conference later.
Negotiations have made little progress since they started last spring. Manfred said that the closure is the only mechanism that the bosses have at their disposal to speed up the process.
The focus of the tug of war in the negotiation turns on the union’s desire for more teams to bid for players, which would lead to more competition on the field and higher salaries. The owners want to contain salaries to prevent the richest clubs from hoarding the stars.
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