hogan873

This whole disagreement about the international draft, and the publicity of it, could be what ends the lockout. The purported importance of the draft was rather sudden, and both sides feel strongly about it. However, it seems like there's a very vocal, albeit smaller, group of players who are vehemently against it that seem to be the driving force behind the MLBPA's stance. Scherzer's tweet was a bit telling as it sounds like it was brought up in Florida, and at the time the union was told it wasn't a bargaining chip. Now it seems to be THE bargaining chip. Both sides are now blaming the other (nothing new there), and each are playing dumb about who brought it up first. The owners are probably still the bad guys here, but public perception has changed a bit after yesterday. Many of us armchair general managers look at the international draft as a way to get the lockout ended and our teams back on the field. And there's enough information out there for us to know that the current system for getting Latin American players into baseball is pretty corrupt. The draft is not THE solution, but it probably makes the situation better...if done properly. I think the players' last minute proposal, which ironically and supposedly was Manfred's proposal, is a good one because it allows the league and analyze it and hopefully implement a draft that actually improves the process. One thing is clear after yesterday: They should have been having these day long bargaining sessions a month ago. There's a lot of fan mistrust of both sides now, and that can't be good for the sport.

By God! It's Manfred with a steel chair! *cracks chair over owners' heads* That killed them! As God as my witness they're broken in half!

In further tweet, Jesse Rogers stated that MLB is offering the options: 1) Sign the CBA, eliminating the draft pick compensation and take some time to evaluate the international draft. If the union won't implement by '24, the CBA can be reopened 2) Do the entire package without draft and no draft pick compensation 3) Take the original deal. League gets the international draft and draft pick compensation is eliminated What's not clear is what deal they're referring to.

I think, at least from what's being reported, if MLBPA agreed to the international draft MLB would come up more and get very close to the players' ask. Otherwise, yeah, your suggestion makes complete sense. If that's all that's holding up a deal, that is complete horseshit.

So they want to tell us they can’t get to a deal from this? So much closer than last week.

What bugs the shit out of me is the two sides meet face to face and discuss stuff, then one side leaves a written proposal with the other. The receiving party reads the proposal and says, "Damn, this sucks." They then go to the media and say there are huge gaps, a counter proposal may not even be coming, a vote won't even be necessary, etc. Discuss this shit when you're meeting in person. Say, "Here's where you are, here's where we're at. What can you give, and what can we give?" This is all theater to make the other side look bad. They both look like assholes right now.

I think they were hoping the players would blink first, and they didn't. I still don't get the months that went by without formal negotiations.

Why am I fearing another statement from MLB along the lines of "MLBPA's tone changed drastically from last night. We were thinking a deal could be completed today. It's unfortunate that we'll have to cancel another week of games."

With Hawk doing color commentary. "What's Joe doing now? He needs a break, that's what he needs."

Yeah, I agree. At Least with what's being reported, it seems like MLB has made quite a few concessions while the MLBPA stuck to their guns on some key issues (rightfully so). I would hate to think the deal gets torpedoed over the international draft. You'd think there could be some safeguards implemented to at least alleviate some of the concerns.

"There's a lot of mutual respect here." "At the end of the day, we both want the same thing." "The fans and what they want have always been at the forefront of our minds." "We're just excited to get back to business. This was a long road, but a necessary one."

And there will be significant gaps when a deal is reached. Eventually each side will likely cave on multiple issues as a compromise. We'll hear how MLB gave up this and the MLBPA gave into that. If there weren't significant gaps, we'd be tracking spring training and talking about how fat some player got instead of watching this damn soap opera.

If we learned anything from last week, don't put much stock in what the media is reporting. It does seem like the sides are much closer than they have been, but depending on who you listen to/read: 1) A deal seems likely today 2) More games will be cancelled, and there was never going to be a deal 3) Passing out bagels to hungry people is cool

Not sure if it’s even plausible, but is there a situation where they’re close enough and only need a few final tweaks, and they end the lockout and continue negotiating, knowing a deal will be done in the next few days?

Ah shit. Bob just doomed us.

Definitely much less public than last time. Maybe they actually do realize the urgency of the situation vs. just saying they do.

It's been eerily quiet. One meeting so far today and not a peep since. Even Nightengale has resorted to tweeting pics of Liam "Man of the People" Hendriks instead of throwing out inaccurate play by play of the meetings.

Safe bet is under. How about how many times we'll hear "Best and final offer" today?

I'm not going to get my hopes up. We all learned the hard way last week when things looked promising Monday night, and our hopes and dreams were dashed on Tuesday. However, seeing the MLB finally move on the CBT is encouraging. To me, anyway, it seems like they're within striking distance of a deal. That, coupled with MLB stating they can save the 162 game season, makes me think they're going to be more serious this time. Regardless, it's another day I won't get much accomplished at work. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson not to follow the news so closely, but no. I'm anxious to see what happens when/if a deal is made. If they make a deal today, players will report by Friday to ST. That means there could be an historic amount of moves this week. Again...not getting my hopes up. Well, that's a lie. I can't help but think about what the Sox will do.

It’s almost too bad there’s so much press coverage around the lockout. After every session we’re hearing each side say how disappointed they are with the other side, and that negotiations are going no where. Lock yourselves in a room, figure it out, and stop whining to the press. Cone back to us when there’s a deal.

I love baseball season from beginning to end. It's nice to be able to turn on a game in the evening, even if it isn't the Sox. This just sucks.

There is absolutely no reason for them to not be talking daily. If they're not, it's clear that neither side is in a hurry...obviously for different reasons. The players will wait out the owners, hoping for a move in their direction. The owners have already said they're cool with cancelling a month of games.

This informal sit down needs to lead to some actual progress. But I doubt we'll see much movement for a while.

Manfred is already backing off that the last offer yesterday was the "final and best offer" by saying they told the MLBPA that it was the final and best offer before the deadline. I'm pretty sure they used the language that insinuated the deal was their best offer, but we all know they can do better, and they will continue to negotiate.

If MLB is truly okay with cancelling a month of games, I think that's what we're going to see. Who knows when they'll actually get together again and negotiate. Question is, will the league cancel games in blocks of one week or just cancel games until May 1st?