MLB Players Should Threaten to Strike if Owners Keep Gaslighting Them
By Michael Luciano
The 2020 MLB season still hasn't properly kicked off, as owners are trying to institute a drastically shorter season and fight for every nickel in negotiations rather than getting a meaty amount of games on the schedule.
While the owners keep claiming the reason they can't pay the players fully prorated salaries over the length of games they are asking for is all down to finances, that sentiment rings hollow now that they just signed a billion-dollar deal with Turner that gives Turner the rights to the National League playoffs once again.
Oh good so...we can play now, right? Seems there is plenty to around here. Seems there is plenty of money being made by the league and the teams. Given than players are the product, I’m sure some of this can be distributed to them, right? Yay for baseball! https://t.co/PwNhDHBhip
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 13, 2020
Crying poor doesn't exactly work as a negotiating strategy when one party just got a 10-digit influx of cash.
This is the perfect combination of circumstances that brings about a strike, which we haven't seen in baseball since the 1994 postseason was cancelled. Players have shown they are willing to go to extreme measures if they feel like ownership is gaslighting them and not taking them seriously, and refusing to play until their demands are met could be the kick in the butt the owners need to finally move an inch in negotiations.
Messing with profits is the only thing that will register with the owners, so this might be the only option left if negotiation doesn't work out.
This is very much like when Mr. Burns claimed he wasn't that rich just as the ceiling collapsed and all the gold and jewels fell on him. https://t.co/mEnAGEhX0G
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) June 13, 2020
The NFL in 1982 and 1987, as well as the MLB themselves in 1981 and 1994, proved the power of striking. It seems like the only way for owners to realize exactly how ridiculous they sound at the moment is for the players to sit out the 2020 season and let a bunch of Shane Falcos play.