Deadline Looms

While everyone is still reeling over the impressive MLB World Series, it’s the time of the year when the players are focused on the December 1st deadline with negotiations for a new labor deal in the MLB.

Some say it’s possible that an agreement can be reached prior to the owners imposing a lock0ut on the players, while others are taking a wait and see attitude.

This past Tuesday saw negotiations extend to the early hours, but apparently both sides are at odds for the past few weeks over several issues and most notably an international draft.

As well as the elimination of draft-pick compensation for teams that sign free agents as well as a new tax/revenue sharing formula, which is of major concern for both sides.

Let’s face it, the industry is a $10 billion industry, which is at least 10 times what it was in 1994 along with an average salary of $4 million.

The December 1st deadline was mentioned this past week in a report by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, which some believe to be true and others are waiting to see which side hits the home run.

MLB had eight labour stoppages from 1975-1995, five of which were player strikes, three were lockouts and the last one in 1994 killed the season for the MLB.

It’ll be interesting as this is the first CBA negotiated with Tony Clark a former player as head of the MLPBA, in addition to the first in which Rob Manfred has been Commissioner, somewhat different from Bud Selig’s Chief Labour negotiator.

ESPN reports that various sources on both sides believe that threat of a lockout represented a “hard deadline” to make a deal, rather than just a soft deadline that could be easily extended.

The December 1st lockout wouldn’t necessarily result in lost games, but rather place all typical offseason activity in a deep freeze, as well as cut off funding of benefits to players.

For the past while players have tried to put an end to a system that forces teams to surrender their first-round draft pick if they sign high-profile free agents.

As a concession for this sources say that owners have held firm on their insistence on the need for a “worldwide” draft of foreign-born players.

In a report last Tuesday from Richard Justice the make-up of the association has changed and almost 31 percent of Major League players are Latino or Asian.

This is a complicating factor particularly when it comes to discussing the concept of the international draft, in which (currently) only US, Canadian and Puerto Rican-born players are subject to the draft.

One has to ask what will happen if there is no agreement by December 1st, which would shut down the off-season business for baseball as we know it.

The first hit would effect MLB teams and officials pulling out of next months winter meetings and the second might just be free agents forced to wait a few weeks for possible offers.

It’s still a fair way off opening day for ball, so let’s see if the boy’s can play nice and share the sandbox.

We’ll either get a strike out or a long ball home run, but this time it’s not up to the umpires to make the call!!