Clark and the union already had concerns regarding competitive integrity before the pandemicGETTY IMAGES
The "inconclusive dispute" between MLB owners and the MLBPA, which will see an abbreviated '20 season imposed by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, "could signal years of labor discord ahead," according to Jared Diamond of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. All of this was a "preview of what may be an even more contentious negotiation" following the '21 campaign, when the current CBA expires. Before the coronavirus and the recent negotiations, a work stoppage "already seemed possible, if not probable, because of growing tension between the two sides over stagnant spending on free agents and union concerns over competitive integrity." The entire ordeal of the past few months "represents an enormous disappointment for a sport struggling to maintain its longstanding place in the fabric of American life" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/23).
PLAYERS' POV: The players believe that the existing CBA -- which expires in December '21 -- is "far too favorable to management." In N.Y., Tyler Kepner notes owners "seem unlikely to spend lavishly on free agents this off-season, and could try to flood the market by letting go of many players eligible for salary arbitration." The "combined impact of all these factors -- the failed negotiations of the last three months, a potentially looming depressed free-agent market, the union’s resolve to gain ground in the next CBA, and the mutual distrust between Manfred and the players -- makes for an ominous landscape for baseball’s near future" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/23).
BATTLE ON THE HORIZON: In Minneapolis, Phil Miller writes baseball "desperately needs the focus to return to balls and strikes, home runs and double plays, after a month spent bickering over the terms of its return." However, yesterday's actions "leave the sport in line for a protracted labor battle" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 6/23). In St. Louis, Ben Frederickson writes from the start, Manfred and MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark "should have made it clear this process was about 2020, not 2021, and not the negotiations that will come after that." Manfred, Clark and their constituents spent three months "providing a preview of the baseball war that will likely make this battle look like a blip" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/23). In Philadelphia, Scott Lauber writes, "All along, what should have been an all-for-one, one-for-all effort to bring back baseball in unprecedented circumstances turned into a pre-negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement that is 17 months from expiring" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/23).
