The MLB lockout hits day No. 99 after things turned ugly on Wednesday.
Despite moving ever so closer on the core economic issues, those being minimum salary, CBT thresholds, and pre-arbitration bonus pool money, a new roadblock emerged, which derailed talks.
The hurdle in question was the international draft that was proposed by the owners.
The owners elected not to continue talks until the union made a decision about how to handle the draft.
As things return to a stalemate, MLB Network insider Jon Heyman has quite a grim prediction for the union if this drags on any longer, that these negotiations could officially break the union.
While there’s a very vocal minority of players dead set against an international draft, and players have stuck together so far, many baseball people predict if this drags on players will begin to question why they are giving up pay/service time to save the corrupt current system.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 10, 2022
Bad News
This is a very grim, yet very real possibility.
By now, everyone knows what the owners’ true intentions are, and they clearly do not intend on reaching a fair deal.
If this drags on, it’s going to be bad news for the union, who have been fighting as hard as they can in order to reach a fair deal for both sides.
At that point, they may not want to continue fighting for the corrupt system as Heyman notes.
And who can blame them?
But it would be a catastrophe if the owners do indeed succeed in actually breaking the union, and unfortunately, it looks like it could happen.
Even with the gaps closing on the core economic issues, the two sides are still in war mode.
It seems as though it’s just one thing after another with this lockout, and this is just the latest holdup in what could be a long few months of negotiating.
But if the owners win this round, the union is in serious trouble.
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