Tag Archives: MLB

2021 CBA Wishlist

The Collective Bargaining Agreement that governs the relationship between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association expires at 11:59 p.m. on 01 December 2021. If a new agreement is not in place, the thirty owners can break a labor peace that has existed since 1995 and lock out the players. MLB owners locking out the people most responsible for creating public demand for the league’s entertainment product would match recent trends in other North American pro sports leagues’ negotiations with player unions, including the 2012–13 NHL lockout, 2011 NBA lockout, 2011 NFL lockout, 2004-05 NHL lockout, and 1998-99 NBA lockout.

The consensus assessment of the 2016 CBA seems to be one that turned out heavily skewed in favor of the interests of owners, one in which the MLBPA was out-negotiated, due in part to untimely death of executive director Michael Weiner. Consequently, MLBPA has hired a new lead attorney, Bruce Meyer (formerly of the NHL Players’ Association), to assist Weiner’s successor Tony Clark and sweat the fine details. The owners are represented by a labor issues committee chaired by Dick Montfort, the Rockies’ owner who makes fans of his team yearn for competence rivaling the late Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko era Soviet leadership. Meanwhile, Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred has been at turns viewed by players (and fans) as adversarial, avaricious, dismissive, meddlesome, & neglectful. Manfred has been involved on MLB’s side of labor issues since the 1980s; his legal team is headed by MLB COO Dan Halem, lead negotiator of the 2016 CBA.

Let’s say you were the Baseball Ombuds — some hypothetical job with the distinct charge to do what you view is in the best interest of baseball. The CBA governs the sport’s economics, labor issues, and rules, including when and under what conditions new rules can be imposed. Of course, negotiations involve parties making concessions to reach an agreement that can be durable for a number of years, but let’s give ourselves the freedom to dream of a CBA that governs the 2022–2026 seasons.

What changes or additions would you like to see to the next CBA that balance the needs and interests of fans, players, and owners, and which create the conditions for an appealing on-field product with a sustainable business model? What needs fixing, and how do you propose fixing it?

Game 161: Tigers @ twins

We're almost there. For the first time in seven years, there WILL be October baseball that means something.

I'm hoping that this isn't my last game log for the year. It will be really nice if I need to half bake something for a game against the Spiders next Saturday.

Even if I don't get that opportunity, though, this year has been a success that I don't think any of us saw coming. There will be plenty of time to speculate about the best course moving forward, but for now, the best course of action is to drink another beer and watch the Twins beat up on a team that is decidedly tensing in the opposite direction.

Tonight, Slegermania takes hold again. I hope he's able to pitch however far into the game as the plan dictates. Also, some dude named Sanó gets to hopefully play his way into the Tuesday lineup.

If this it, then I've half-baked my last game log for the year. Go Twins!

Game 23. Detroit at Minnesota. 7:10pm.

The NFL started its THREE DAY draft yesterday. 3 days to go through 8 rounds. The over coverage of every slightest bit of smoke GMs send out (99% of it is false info) gets blasted on ESPN. One tries to tune out the sports nets, but it gets filtered trough social media. Its all very annoying. Am I'm saying this as a person who still likes to watch football (although my fandom is waning the older I get). I do dislike everything else that surrounds the game.

Why am I bringing this up? I am very happy that baseball's draft hasnt become this huge spectacle of banality. I get heavy coverage of the first round, and to an extent the second (its where the bigger contracts are offered) but after that, its just a bunch of names and the hope that a few of them sign to fill out minor league rosters and hope you hit a gem.

This is all a half formed idea, but it comes down to this : I really dislike draft coverage of all sports.

 

On to the game.  If you take out the 0-9 start to the season, the Twins are 7-6. Thats not bad! Most games have been watchable (although heart pounding and clenched teeth when the Twins have a lead late and the bullpen starts to come in). Maybe the Twins can claw their way to .500 by the 4th of July.

I am also very happy Joe Mauer is back to Joe Mauer Super Baseball Player . Coming into the game he is leading the American League in OnBasePercentage (.459) and is just off the leaderboard in OPS (.907).

2013 MLB Playoff Brackets

okay, bracket time again (here’s a link to last year’s game). i’m not married to the scoring, so if anyone has any strong ideas about it, let me know.

(don't forget to guess who wins game 163 for an extra bonus point. respond to the post in the cup of coffee. deadline is monday, 7:07pm CT)

Wild Card Game 1 pt.
ALDS/NLDS 2 pts. (best of 5)
ALCS/NLCS 4 pts.
World series 6 pts.

AL Wild Card Game (One game playoff)
TB/TEX v. CLE

NL Wild Card Game (One game playoff)
CIN v. PIT

ALDS (1) (Best of 5)
___ v. BOS

ALDS (2) (Best of 5)
DET v. OAK

NLDS (1) (Best of 5)
___ v. STL

NLDS (2) (Best of 5)
ATL v. LAD

so, reply to this post with your picks, all spoilered like, please. be sure to include the score to the wild card games (3 points instead of 1 if you guess right), and the number of games played for each series (x2 points of you guess right)

AL Wild Card Game:
NL Wild Card Game:
ALDS (1):
ALDS (2):
NLDS (1):
NLDS (2):
ALCS:
NLCS:
World Series:

DEADLINE: Tuesday, 1 October 2012, 7:07pm CT

2012 MLB Playoff Brackets

okay, bracket time again (here's a link to last year's game). i'm not married to the scoring, so if anyone has any strong ideas about it, let me know.

Wild Card Game 1 pt.
ALDS/NLDS 2 pts. (best of 5)
ALCS/NLCS 4 pts.
World series 6 pts.

AL Wild Card Game (One game playoff)
BAL v. TEX

NL Wild Card Game (One game playoff)
STL v. ATL

ALDS (1) (Best of 5)
___ v. NYY

ALDS (2) (Best of 5)
DET v. OAK

NLDS (1) (Best of 5)
___ v. WAS

NLDS (2) (Best of 5)
SF v. CIN

so, reply to this post with your picks, all spoilered like, please. be sure to include the score to the wild card games (5 points instead of 1 if you guess right), and the number of games played for each series (x2 points of you guess right)

AL Wild Card Game:
NL Wild Card Game:
ALDS (1):
ALDS (2):
NLDS (1):
NLDS(2):
ALCS:
NLCS:
World Series:

DEADLINE: Friday, 5 October 2012, 3:30pm CT

SPREADSHEET

2011 MLB Playoff Brackets

i was daydreaming and had a fun idea: MLB playoff brackets, anyone?

how about this: predict the winner of each series, and win the points. double points if you correctly guess the amount of wins for both winning and losing team.

ALDS/NLDS 1 pt. (best of 5)
ALCS/NLCS 3 pts.
world series 5 pts.

ALDS
DET v. NYY (1)
TB v. TEX (2)

NLDS
STL v. PHI (1)
ARI v. MIL (2)

whoever has the most points wins. pretty simple, huh?

if anyone has any suggestions to tweek the rules, let me know. otherwise, post your guesses below. i'll compile them on a spreadsheet and make it available to everyone.

copy and paste the below part:

ALDS(1):
ALDS(2):
NLDS(1):
NLDS(2):
ALCS:
NLCS:
World Series:

DEADLINE: friday, 30 september 2011 3:00PM CT