Andrus said younger players want to become more involved in negotiations than in past yearsGETTY IMAGES
The MLBPA yesterday met collectively with the Rangers, Dodgers and White Sox, as players are "concerned enough about the slow current economic environment to start showing solidarity," according to Evan Grant of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The union met with the clubs collectively instead of "meeting individually" with them, as has been customary in Spring Training. The change in plans was made "only in the last week." Grant wrote it is "not hard to understand the symbolism" of the joint meeting, as players are "prepared to show unity." Rangers SS and union rep Elvis Andrus said there is a "sense of urgency for the young guys to get to know the situation." Andrus: "We want everybody to have knowledge of what is going on. We have a lot more unity" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/24). USA TODAY's Gabe Lacques wrote players are "increasingly prepared to walk away" after the current CBA expires in '21 in order to "take the power back." Phillies P Pat Neshek said, "Right now, there's going to be a strike, 100 percent, after '21. I won't be around, so I don't have a horse in the race. I don't want to see a strike." He added, "But there's always kind of been that handshake agreement where we're still going to value the older guys and not just totally (expletive) on them. And that's what's happening. So, I think you're going to have to burn the whole system down and start with that. (Owners) have a lot more to lose than us" (USATODAY.com, 2/23).
GAMED BY THE SYSTEM: In DC, Thomas Boswell wrote under the header, "Bryce Harper And Scott Boras Are On The Verge Of The Least Satisfying Nine-Figure Deal Ever." Boswell noted no one ever "will convince me that Harper, if he had known everything five months ago that he knows now, would not have worked out a deal" with the Nationals. He also wrote no one ever "will convince me that Boras hasn't done one of the worst jobs of any agent in misjudging the free agent market, leading his client into a box canyon -- and finding no way out." Harper and Boras "followed a playbook that has worked for 40 years." But no one "told them there is a new final chapter with a heck of a surprise twist." When the history of free agency is written, there "may be no more stunning and unexpected chapter" than the offseason when Harper became a free agent and "assumed the whole baseball world would bid for him -- but only the Phillies did" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/23).
