Data ownership issues have generated a significant amount of concern at camps this springGETTY IMAGES
The MLBPA has identified player data as a "key issue in the upcoming labor discussions," as "how that data is used, and who has access to it, has quickly become the most contested aspect of this new technology," according to Sarris & Ghiroli of THE ATHLETIC. Sources said that data ownership issues have "generated an unprecedented amount of concern at big-league camps this spring," and there are "even more concerning data issues at hand for the most vulnerable baseball players -- amateurs and minor leaguers." Leaders on both sides of the data debate have "had open conversations, leading to some established guidelines for major leaguers." MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark said there will "undoubtedly be some confrontations" between the union and MLB with the league moving forward with data. Though player data issues will be discussed in the negotiations for the next CBA, the MLBPA's stance "will not change." MLB VP/Communications Michael Teevan said, "Generally speaking, clubs and players use a number of advanced technologies that aim to improve player performance and health and reach mutual goals." Reds 1B Joey Votto "shrugged off any worries about data coming from tech he was wearing." Votto: "I wouldn't care. ... It doesn't matter to me. I've got too much money" (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/21).
OPEN SEASON: ESPN.com's Howard Bryant wrote now that Padres 3B Manny Machado and Philliers RF Bryce Harper "have their money and their jobs, the beginning of baseball's real season -- the border war between owners and players -- can begin." MLB's CBA expires in '21, and so far this year, despite Machado's and Harper's combined $630M in contracts, players have "sounded like Occupy Wall Street when discussing a 'broken system'" of free agency. Bryant: "They're not wrong." The owners have "made their moves to rebalance a sport they believe has tilted toward the players." The Machado and Harper "megadeals obscure the fact that jobs for the middle class" of players are being "squeezed out by front offices that seem comfortable paying the big stars and filling in rosters with less expensive, less experienced, more controllable players." MLB's ownership is now "reaching a brazen point." The new "generation of Ivy League GM's ... have crossed two lines: The first is their philosophy of no longer paying players for what they've done." The second is "controlling players for six full years and then refusing to pay them once they reach their free agent seventh." The system is "broken, but it won't change until players resume a fight in which this generation has yet to throw a punch" (ESPN.com, 3/21).
WHY RISK IT? SI.com's Gabriel Baumgaertner noted Cardinals 1B Paul Goldschmidt signed a five-year, $130M contract extension with the team Thursday, the "latest evidence that even the game's best players want to avoid free agency." A player of Goldschmidt's caliber "would have earned" over $200M had he been a free agent after the '16 season. But now, teams are "refusing to pay for past performance and longer." Instead, they have "seemingly boxed their best players into accepting underwhelming extensions instead of facing free agency" (SI.com, 3/21).
