Baseball Prospectus Writer Goes Off on Buster Olney Over MLB-MLBPA Standoff
By Max Smith
On Sunday, ESPN's Buster Olney wrote an article on the future of the MLB. Many are arguing that within the article, he takes the side of commissioner Rob Manfred and the league as a whole. One writer, Baseball Prospectus' Eugene Freedman, went off on Olney on Twitter.
Freedman called Buster Olney "Union Buster" because of his loyalty to the league. When reading the article, it's clear to see that Olney's solution benefits the owners more. Olney suggests that there should be an 81 game season that doesn't allow the players to get 100% of their prorated salaries.
I wonder if we should just start calling him Union Buster. This is one of those purported two-sided columns that is egregious. I'll explain why in this thread.
— (((EugeneFreedman))) (@EugeneFreedman) June 8, 2020
Buster think that Tony Clark's actions are brinkmanship. There's no evidence for that, yet he states it repeatedly. 1/ https://t.co/YGrAYlk8Ft
This is one of the main points of contention between Freedman and Olney. Because the MLB and MLBPA already negotiated the salaries, Freedman believes there is no liability to return to that negotiation. The players already agreed to full prorated salaries, but now the owners want to pay them less.
Freedman goes on to dissect how Olney doesn't report on the issue completely. He notes that Olney mentioned nothing that evaluates Manfred's tactics or anything about how other leagues were able to reach agreements.
Sunday notes: The internal audit and frank assessment the owners and players desperately need as they try to understand how they got to this time of self-destruction. https://t.co/e26sMFMWFb
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 7, 2020
Freedman closes by stating that this article may be a "trial balloon" for the commissioner. Should that be true, look out for another plan that looks like Olney's in the next few days.