hogan873

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?

They spent a lot of time well into the night yesterday working on a deal. I think (hope) they're closer than it seems. I'd be surprised that, after working so hard yesterday, they'd walk away at 5:00 and say "Oh well."

So, we were all glued to Twitter and SoxTalk yesterday (especially last night), and we'll be glued to both today. Then once the lockout is over, it's going to be a feeding frenzy for signings and trades, so we'll be glued to Twitter and SoxTalk again. If the lockout ends today, I'm not getting much work done the rest of the week.

I would think I'm more radical, but I see some of the suggestions and I realize I'm not that radical. However, I like most of the suggestions I've read. What I'd like to see: - Universal DH - A more balanced schedule (I know I'm in the minority, but 76 games against their own division is too much) - Limit pick off moves (maybe more than 3 in an at-bat equals a ball) - More scheduled double headers - Expanded playoffs - Salary floor (tanking has got to be stopped - too much meaningless baseball down the stretch) And more ways to speed up the game. As someone else mentioned, keep the batters in the box during an at-bat.

I see this being a years-long "war". I don't think we'll see much in the way of western/US forces being involved, nor do I think there should be. The war in Afghanistan should be a warning for other countries thinking about getting involved. I don't think Putin cares what the rest of the world thinks. I'm not sure what sanctions and condemnations will do.

It is a sequel, and there's a few minutes of backstory referring to the original.