Why are they not playing baseball ?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Seven

It's 100% on the owners.

It's easy to be pissed off at both sides, Because it's the Millionaires Vs. The Billionaires, but there's genuine problems. The owners have more or less imposed a de facto salary cap, average player salary has more or less stayed the same over the past decade, while revenue and profits have gone through the roof. The commissioner of the sport is grossly out of touch, referring to the crowning achievement of the sport as a "piece of metal"

None of the players demands are truly unreasonable either. They want to lower the amount of service time before free agency, they don't want draft bonuses to be capped, they want the luxury tax raised so teams can be more competitive.

Further than that players expressed the willingness to play under the old CBA for this season, until an agreement could be reached, but the owners refused. It was the owners that locked out the players, not the other way around.

Completely agree. It's 100% on the owners.

One of the main things the players are upset about is the manipulation of service time. Kris Bryant is the poster child for that. Teams hold off bringing up players that are clearly ready for the majors until after a certain date so they can get another year of that player's services before free agency. It's anti-competitive, it artificially lowers salaries, and it's just wrong.

Along with that, players are also upset that teams are tanking. And, as always, they're upset that teams who receive revenue sharing aren't spending it on players as they're supposed to.

It's also worth noting that MLB cut the draft in size and eliminated 1/4 of all minor league teams - just because. What they've done to minor league baseball is just criminal.