The Major League Baseball Players Association’s weaknesses were often discussed in analysis as the 2017 free agency period developed. The union must have absorbed some of the criticism from the corner it had backed itself into because it finally made a move.
The Major League Baseball Players Association wants to hold Major League Baseball accountable
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball is about the MLBPA and 100 MPH fastballs.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Times reported the MLBPA filed a grievance with MLB targeting four revenue sharing recipients — the Rays, the Athletics, the Pirates, and the Marlins — for not complying with collective bargaining agreement rules specifying how revenue sharing money is to be used.
Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though. Subscribe to our daily MLB newsletter and let us do the heavy lifting for you each morning to find the things you need to see.
The CBA states “each Club shall use its revenue sharing receipts (including any distributions from the Commissioner’s Discretionary Fund) in an effort to improve its performance on the field.” So, what the MLBPA must prove is the four named teams did not use its money to improve on-field performance. The whole thing, typical of legal matters, is sticky.
The union will have to make a unique case against each of the teams. For example, though the Rays shipped off Evan Longoria and company, they also added players like Denard Span and high-ranking prospects like Christian Arroyo. The Pirates traded away big contracts, too, but they also added prospects and claimed to have sunk money into their player development system. The Athletics, on the other hand, accused of pocketing revenue sharing money in 2016 and thus beginning to be phased out of the program under the CBA, had a quiet offseason. The Marlins, made to raise payroll and divide their shares with the MLBPA in 2010, only brought on minor league contracts and traded everyone who has ever come within 100 yards of Marlins Park.
A party popper failing to pop is one of the more disappointing of the noisemaker malfunctions. The puller of the string tenses up in anticipation, and then when nothing comes, the tension is deflated instead of popped. That’s a bit like what this past offseason was. The drought of free agent signings left the remnants of frustration and rightfully brought on criticism of the MLBPA as talk of collusion swirled. Though at this point in the process, likely outcomes haven’t revealed themselves yet, we do know MLB will probably push this before an arbitrator, as they responded by saying the grievance is without merit. We also know that the MLBPA technically did something to hold the billionaire owners to their share of the responsibility for baseball’s poor economic state for the players.
- Noah Syndergaard started his spring training with a bunch of 100-mph fastballs. This happened on Monday. But I want you to know about it because Grant Brisbee did a good job telling you about it.
- Guess what? Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single also happened on Monday. I want you to know about it because this is Ohtani, and we should all be very excited about him.
- What’s nice about the news of today’s Lucas Duda signing, is that he’s basically already won a World Series for them.
- Ah, the not-Dodgers. Every Giants fan’s favorite team just landed Tim Lincecum.
- Breakout players are like Whack-a-Mole. You don’t know where or when they might pop out. But they might! Here are five potential breakout players for the Red Sox.
- The Phillies are interested in signing Jake Arietta to a three-year deal, which would put him on the field for probably their first year of being not bad as all the other pieces start to align.
- Tommy Joseph almost went to Asia, which is selfish because it would have made a great children’s book.
See More:
